Particulate Air Pollution Exposure Associated With Lower Sperm Quality, Study Finds
Lower sperm quality in men and exposure to particulate matter air pollution are linked, according to a new study published in BMJ Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
While the clinical effect (as identified in this study anyways) may be relatively limited, the extremely widespread nature of particulate air pollution exposure in the modern world makes the work notable.
“Particulate matter contains many toxic chemicals such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have demonstrated harmful to semen quality in laboratory and animal studies,” explained lead author Xiang Qian Lao, in an interview with Reuters Health.
Reuters provides more: “They looked at both short-term and long-term exposure to the very fine particles in air pollution known as PM 2.5, which are 2.5 microns or less — about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. These fine particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream.
“This kind of particle pollution can be found both indoors and outdoors and most often comes from vehicle exhaust, the burning of wood, crops, coal, or heating oil, and from emissions given off by power plants and other industries.”
Check out the Reuters link above for more on the methodology the researchers used.
Despite often being within the “safe range,” every short-term exposure level increase of 5 micrograms brought an 18% increase in the risk of abnormally shaped sperm, and every long-term exposure level increase of 5 micrograms brought with it a 26% increase in the risk of abnormally shaped sperm. Worth noting is that these exposure level increases also brought with them slight increases in sperm concentration — for whatever reason.
While the study was a controlled experiment, and perhaps has some flaws, according to Lao: “Given the ubiquity of exposure to air pollution, a small effect size of PM 2.5 on sperm normal morphology may result in a significant number of couples with infertility. Thus, global strategies are necessary to minimize the impact of air pollution on reproductive health.”
Well, that’s assuming that one considers human infertility to be a “problem” in any real way. Perhaps referring to it as a “necessity” at this point would be more helpful. And perhaps it makes sense for heavily polluted humans to become infertile.
That said, this new study is yet another example of the way that air pollution levels considered to be “safe” by most regulators are in fact having very negative effects on human health (and no doubt the health of other animals and plants as well).
Photo by Anton Rusetsky
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