Study finds potential link between fossil fuels, fertility rates – The Hill

A study has found that fossil fuels and chemicals associated with it could be playing a role in a decline in fertility rates over the past five decades, The Hill in Washington, D.C., reported Dec. 15.

According to a study published in the science journal Nature, there could be a link between fossil fuels that serve as "drivers of modern industrialization" and decreasing birth rates in industrialized countries, which for the past fifty years have seen a drop in sperm count and quality, as well as an increase in testicular cancers, infertility rates and frequency of unintended pregnancy losses from miscarriages and stillbirths, The Hill reported.

Fossil fuels — which include energy sources such as coal, oil and natural gas — are also the basic raw materials used in the production of over 100,000 synthetic chemicals found in polluted environments and in products used directly by humans, the report cited the study as saying. The study further noted that the potentially toxic chemicals in the products have been found in samples of bodily fluids from humans.

"It is well established that these chemicals have become part of our tissues and fluids," The Hill quoted the study as saying. "But do they contribute to the current epidemic of infertility? We know that they can be a threat to wildlife. Unfortunately, too little has been done to uncover their role in humans."

While the study acknowledged biological, social and economic factors that can have an impact on changes in fertility, it also found that those "changes have occurred over a period of only a couple of generations, [suggesting] that environmental factors have a role," The Hill reported, quoting the study's authors.

The study also raised the need for public health authorities to further investigate the declining trend in fertility, adding that if it is proven to be at least partly due to activities causing increased exposure to harmful chemicals, there could be a need for regulatory actions, according to the report.