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Household chemicals may cause infertility in men
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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New evidence has emerged that household chemicals, commonly found around us, can cause a reduction in the fertilizing ability of male semen. For example, testing of rams that were systematically exposed to common household chemicals such as cosmetics, detergents and various pollutants showed that 42% of the animals had disorders that could lead to a sharp decrease in the number of live sperm in the ejaculate.
Details of the study are published in the International Journal of Andrology.
Some man-made chemicals can interfere with the body's communication system and potentially have negative effects on health and well-being. It is also thought that some of them may be responsible for the decreased fertility of male semen; this may also explain the increased demand for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Scientists from the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, the James Hutton Institute (all UK) and the French National Institute of Agricultural Research turned their attention to the testicles of rams that were constantly exposed to household chemicals typical for the average person in terms of spectrum and concentration, to which we are exposed from conception to puberty. According to the researchers, they were extremely surprised to find in 42% of the animals a variety of abnormalities that could lead to infertility. Moreover, the changes detected, firstly, were not the same for all the affected individuals, and secondly, were not noticed during any indirect tests, including a test for the level of male hormone in the blood.
Now scientists are wondering why the effects of these "everyday" chemicals have such a negative impact on some individuals and not on others. In addition, I would like to emphasize once again the obvious conclusion reached by the authors of the study: although the concentration of each individual chemical in the environment around us can be extremely low, it is hardly possible to predict with certainty all the health consequences that can result from constant cumulative exposure to a complex mixture of such substances...