Health

Sperm count river pollutant link

by LotusFlower | January 20, 2009 at 02:09 pm

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Male infertility is a growing problem and this new study links low sperm count with pollutants in rivers that also cause sex change in fishes.

The chemicals have not been positively identified but they act as anti-androgenics and chemicals that behave this way include agricultural pesticides.

If these chemicals are in the rivers then they are in many people's drinking water too and could be the cause of male infertility problems.

The rise in male infertility and the decline in human sperm counts could be linked with chemicals in the environment known as anti-androgens which block the action of the male sex-hormone testosterone, a study has found.

Scientists have identified a group of river pollutants that are able to stop testosterone from working. These anti-androgens have been linked with the feminisation of fish in British rivers and could be affecting the development of male reproductive organs in humans, it found.

The study has established a link between anti-androgens released into rivers from sewage outflows and abnormalities in wild fish where males develop female reproductive organs. It is the first time that anti-androgens and hermaphrodite fish have been linked in this way.