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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/a-threat-to-male-fertility/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/a-threat-to-male-fertility/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="6" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:24.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">A Threat to Male Fertility<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">By
<a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/author/deborah-blum/" title="See all posts by DEBORAH BLUM">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">DEBORAH BLUM</span></font></a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">To study the impact of everyday chemicals on fertility, federal researchers
recently spent four years tracking 501 couples as they tried to have children. One of the findings stood out: while both men and women were exposed to known toxic chemicals, men seemed much more likely to suffer fertility problems as a result.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The gender gap was particularly wide when it came to phthalates, those
ubiquitous compounds used to make plastics more flexible and cosmetic lotions slide on more smoothly. Women who wore cosmetics often had higher levels of phthalates in their bodies, as measured by urinalysis. But only in their male partners were phthalate
levels correlated with infertility.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“It’s the males in the study that are driving the effect,” said Germaine
Buck Louis, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and lead author of the report,<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24534276" title="Abstract of the study"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue"> published
in February</span></font></a> in Fertility and Sterility. “They’re the signal.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"><img border="0" width="50" height="50" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CF482D.347F4D40" alt="Poison Pen"></span></font><font color="black"><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="1" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:7.5pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold"><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/category/poison-pen/"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Poison
Pen</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Deborah Blum writes about chemicals and the environment.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Phthalates belong to a group of industrial compounds known as endocrine
disruptors because they interfere with the endocrine system, which governs the production and distribution of hormones in the body. The chemicals have been implicated in a range of health problems, including
<a href="https://www.endocrine.org/~/media/endosociety/Files/Publications/Scientific%20Statements/EDC_Scientific_Statement.pdf">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">birth defects, cancers and diabetes</span></font></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">But it is their effect on the human reproductive system that has
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24534276"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">most worried researchers</span></font></a>. A growing body of work over the last two decades suggests that phthalates can rewire the male reproductive system,
interfering with the operation of androgenic hormones, such as testosterone, that play key roles in male development. That mechanism, some experts believe, explains findings that link phthalate exposure to changes in everything from testicular development
to sperm quality. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“I wasn’t surprised at all by this finding,”
<a href="https://www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/divisions/pharmtox/faculty/gore.html"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Andrea Gore</span></font></a>, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas, and editor in chief of the journal
Endocrinology, said of the new report. “We see the cell studies, the animal studies and now the human epidemiology work, and they are all showing us a similar picture.”
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The focus on male fertility dates back to the early 1990s, when researchers
in the United States and Europe published a paper suggesting <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1883354/">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">chemical exposures could be linked to a steady decline in semen quality</span></font></a>. One of the authors, Niels Skakkebaek, a reproduction researcher at the University of Copenhagen, has since suggested that
an increase in malformations in male reproductive systems, which he calls “testicular dysgenesis syndrome,” may be
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1600-0463.2003.11101031.x/abstract">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">linked to environmental exposure to compounds including endocrine disruptors like phthalates</span></font></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">More recent studies in the United States have also suggested
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241569/%20"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">links between phthalate exposure and apparent sperm damage</span></font></a> in men. The findings are supported by a host of animal studies, particularly
in rats, which have shown that the compounds <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0463.2001.tb05776.x/abstract">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">can interfere with masculinization of young animals</span></font></a> and result in odd
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706654/#B35"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">physical changes to male reproductive tracts</span></font></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“They interfere with how testosterone is made,” explained Heather Patisaul,
a biology professor at North Carolina State University who is studying the effect of endocrine-disrupting compounds during puberty. “Anything you can think of that’s testosterone-dependent is likely to be affected.”
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Women also have androgenic hormones, but to a lesser degree, and according
to some theories this accounts for the smaller but still observable effects of phthalates on female fertility. (Testosterone, for instance, is part of the cascade of hormones
<a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1104016/"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">that leads to egg production</span></font></a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">There are plenty of uncertainties in this picture. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention notes that while studies suggest that phthalate exposure is “widespread in the U.S. population,” it’s difficult to know what those levels are. Health effects from very low levels
<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/phthalates_factsheet.html"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">are still not well understood</span></font></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">While the “evidence for an effect on male fertility is compelling,”
said Tracey Woodruff, director of the program on reproductive health and the environment at the University of California, San Francisco, it’s still difficult to gauge the impact. “We are still pulling the tricky aspects together.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">There are different kinds of phthalates complicating the picture; some
seem to have a much larger effect than others. And these are far from the only factors, chemical and otherwise, that influence human fertility. Dr. Buck Louis’s group is looking at a broad range of industrial compounds, including heavy metals like lead and
cadmium, that tend to accumulate in the body. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Phthalates, by contrast, tend to be metabolized within a few hours.
Their impact would not be so profound if it were not that people are constantly exposed from multiple sources.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">These include not only cosmetics and plastics, but also packaging,
textiles, detergents and other household products. Phthalates are found in the tubing used in hospitals to deliver medications; in water flowing through PVC pipes; enteric coatings on pills, including some aspirin; materials used to create time-release capsules;
and countless other products. In 2008, the government banned them <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/phthalates">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">in children’s toys</span></font></a>, and the European Union is also moving forward on restrictions.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“The W.H.O. called them ‘pseudopersistent’ in one report,” Dr. Woodruff
said, because continued exposure keeps phthalates in the body. But here’s the silver lining: the transient nature of these compounds also means that consumers
<a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/assets/docs/j_q/phthalates_the_everywhere_chemical_handout_.pdf" title="Some suggestions">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">can take fairly simple measures</span></font></a> to reduce their phthalate levels.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">One is to read the labels on cosmetics and other personal care products
and to choose those without phthalates. Another is to be cautious with plastic food containers, and to avoid using them to heat food and drink, as the phthalates in them may get transferred to what you consume.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“These compounds leach from plastics,” Dr. Buck Louis said. “You can
switch to glass for drinking. You can cook your frozen dinners on paper plates.”
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Studies have shown that these kinds of actions do make a difference;
experiments have found measurably lower levels within several days in people who make these changes.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“Lifestyle has an important place here,” said Dr. Buck Louis.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">
<hr size="3" width="100%" align="center">
</span></font></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">This post has been revised to reflect the following
correction:</span></font></i><font color="black"><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic">Correction: March 24, 2014</span></font></i></b><font color="black"><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">A photograph of Tupperware food containers that
accompanied an earlier version of this article was published in error. Tupperware says its containers are not manufactured with phthalates.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
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