Scientists looked at data from 25 studies and found a clear association between exposure to two insecticide classes and lower sperm concentrations.
New research this week suggests that humanity’s war against insectkind has had some unintended consequences: declining sperm counts. The study, a review of the existing data, found a clear association between increased exposure to insecticides and lower sperm concentrations in adult men. The authors say that the evidence is strong enough to warrant new regulations that would reduce people’s exposure to these chemicals.
Several studies indicated that men’s average sperm count has steadily declined over the past half-century, particularly since the early 2000s. Scientists speculated on many possible reasons for this worldwide drop, such as increased rates of obesity or greater exposure to environmental toxins, insecticides included. Researchers at George Washington University, George Mason University, and Italy’s Ramazzini Institute wanted to get a better sense of the data linking insecticides to sperm quantity so they decided to perform a systematic review of relevant studies around the world.
They analyzed 25 studies that were conducted over the past 25-plus years that looked at men’s occupational and environmental exposures to two widely used classes of insecticides: organophosphates and N-methyl carbamates.
