Infertility is a serious problem made worse by certain contaminants that disrupt reproduction not only in humans, but in animals as well, says the co-chair of an international conference taking place in Montreal this week.
Infertility among couples aged 18 to 29 was five per cent in 1984 but jumped to 13.7 per cent in 2010 according to one Canadian study. Some of that increase has to do with obesity and women delaying getting pregnant until they are older.
Plastic cages rendered mice sterile
The pesticide DDT was banned after 1960s research found it interfered with reproduction in eagles and peregrine falcons. More recently, the compound used in plastic, Bisphenol A (BPA) has been removed from water bottles and baby bottles. This happened after researchers bought new plastic cages for their mice and found they stopped reproducing. Their investigation fingered BPA as the cause of the problem.
Research is now targeting flame retardant chemicals as well as other substances. “I have a colleague in Florida whose studies of alligators show that male alligators’ reproduction is compromised if they live in lakes where there’s a lot of run-off from pesticides,” said Bruce Murphy, professor at the Université de Montreal and conference co-chair. “So there’s a lot of issues…
© Leo Gimeno/Radio Canada International
“Environmental deterioration in my lifetime, we’ve seen lots of it. I don’t think we’ve learned… the effects frequently are cumulative and they need to be addressed. If we don’t address them they’re going to get worse.”
Father’s diet affects baby’s health
The nutrition of both mother and father prior to conception affects the heath of newborns according to another study presented at the conference. “If, in fact, there is a protein-deficient diet not only in the mother but also in the father they can demonstrate effects on the offspring,” said Murphy. “That was very exciting.”
Another researcher asked how one sperm manages to beat out some 20 million others in their race to fertilize an egg. It was previously thought that the egg has some capacity to attract certain sperm, but his new paper suggests it’s more about how well sperm overcome obstacles in travelling through the female reproductive tract.
Yet another paper will talk about preserving eggs for women who have declining numbers of ova or who will undergo cancer therapies which can wipe them out.
Some 1,200 scientists from around the world are attending the Society for the Study of Reproduction annual meeting taking place July 22-26 in Montreal.
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