Infertility: Everyday chemicals can contribute to it

“I feel like a total basket case. I feel so insecure about myself, like I am defective or something.”

These are the words of one of the more than seven million American women struggling to get pregnant.

It can be difficult to figure out exactly why a woman is having trouble conceiving. For one-third of couples experiencing infertility, complications can be traced to the man. In another third of cases, complications can be traced to the woman. And for the remaining cases, infertility complications can be traced to both or are simply unknown. Uncertainty adds to the frustration.

Emerging research suggests that chemicals found in products we use every day may be contributing to difficulties conceiving.

We use scented laundry detergent and air fresheners or handle cash register receipts without realizing we are exposing ourselves to chemicals that might interfere with our ability to have children.

Chemicals in tiny amounts

Certain chemicals can fool our bodies by mimicking natural hormones like estrogen. These chemicals can disrupt the normal function of our hormones (our endocrine system). Scientists call these hormone-mimicking chemicals endocrine disruptors. Research suggests that certain endocrine disruptors can throw off our hormones in ways that contribute to reproductive problems and reduced fertility.

Even if you avoid high levels of exposure to endocrine disruptors, you may still be at risk from low-level exposures. Animal studies have revealed that even very small amounts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals can seriously disrupt endocrine system function with damage equal to, and in some cases greater than, that caused by higher amounts.

For example, a study in mice found that the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA)—found in water bottles, food can linings, and receipt paper—can damage the reproductive tract even when only a very small dose of BPA is administered. During critical periods of development, exposure to BPA can have serious adverse effects.

Chemicals before we’re born

One of the most worrisome findings from research on endocrine disruptors is that early life exposures to such chemicals can result in long-term damage.

Indeed, these chemicals can have some of their worst consequences when exposure to them occurs prenatally. Even before a baby girl is born, the chemicals she is exposed to through her mother have potential to influence whether she’ll suffer from fertility problems when she grows up.

In animal studies, prenatal exposure to BPA can lead to physical defects in the uterus of the developing female fetus. Uterine damage can lead to infertility later in life.

The problem of phthalates

Endocrine disruptors are found just about everywhere. Members of the phthalates chemical group are found in medical supplies, plastic wrapping, varnishes, paints, cosmetics and more. In animal studies, certain phthalates have been shown to cause a number of male reproductive developmental effects that lead to decreased fertility. In other animal studies, certain phthalates have lead to spontaneous abortions and birth defects.

Scientists, can't, of course, intentionally expose pregnant women to these chemicals to confirm that the same effects occur in us. But when researchers look at what's already happening in the human population, they see troubling corroboration of the damage seen in controlled studies with laboratory animals.

Prenatal exposure to certain phthalates has been linked to reproductive defects in boys, such as impaired testicular descent. Exposure to the phthalate DEHP (Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate)—found in plastics used in floor coverings, furniture upholstery, and shower curtains to name a few products—is associated with greater frequency of cesarean section delivery.

If that weren’t troubling enough, everyday chemicals might also be interfering with pregnancies in their later stages. Certain phthalates have been linked to premature birth.

Too hard to avoid

Unfortunately, it is an impossible challenge to avoid chemicals that may harm our fertility. How can you be expected to learn and know which products contain hazardous chemicals? And even if we could avoid chemicals that scientists know are problematic, we’d still run the risk of exposing ourselves to any of the thousands of chemicals that have not been adequately assessed.

Why are we in this situation?

We need better legal protection

The Toxic Substances Control Act was enacted in 1976. It’s one of our oldest and least effective environmental laws and desperately needs to be reformed. When it was passed, it grandfathered in 60,000 already-existing chemicals without requiring that they be assessed for safety. Since then, EPA has only been able to require testing of around 200 of those chemicals.

TSCA lets companies introduce new chemicals — 20,000 such chemicals have entered the market since TSCA was passed — into products used by millions of people without requiring any health and safety data of them.

Six million American women are having difficulty conceiving a child. It is too late to protect current generations of women (and men) from endocrine disruptors or other exposures they may have experienced before they were born, but there’s still time to protect the children they hope to have.