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World:
Health, Education, Science and Welfare:
Persistent pollutants slow the time to pregnancy in couples.
Buck Louis, GM, R Sundaram, EF Schisterman, AM Sweeney, CD
Lynch, RE Gore-Langton, J Maisog, S Kim, Z Chen and DB Barr.
Context
Human and animal studies suggest a link between exposure
to persistent environmental chemicals and decreased fertility.
These chemicals include a number of synthetic compounds used
in industrial and agricultural settings as insulators, lubricants,
pesticides and fungicides.
Many of the worst are called persistent organic pollutants
(POPs). Most POPs were banned from use decades ago under
the worldwide Stockholm Convention. These "dirty dozen"
chemicals remain in the environment because they degrade
slowly, accumulate in fat tissues, and can biomagnify – or
concentrate – in the food chain.
Other types of persistent chemicals are still used in
products and industrial settings. Flame retardants – known as
PBDEs – slow burning of clothes, furniture, electronics and
other household items. Perfluorinated compounds – commonly
called PFCs – repel stains and water. Some chemicals in both
groups are being voluntarily phased out because of health
concerns.
People, however, continue to be exposed to these chemicals
in daily life. In fact, these persistent chemicals are routinely
detected in human blood, urine and even within the reproductive
tract (Jirsová et al. 2010; DeFelip et al. 2004).
Couples exposed to high levels of certain persistent organic
pollutants took about 20 percent longer to get pregnant than couples with
lower exposures. This study, which followed couples from Michigan and