What are the potential effects of pollution on human fertility?

Pollution is defined as the presence or introduction of waste material that could be harmful. Fertility is the natural human capability of producing offspring. There are three main forms of pollution that affects human fertility, air, water and soil pollution. Air pollution mostly comes from industrial pollution and vehicle emissions. Water and soil pollution mostly come from industry and improper disposal of hazardous materials. This is an important issue and affects the future of everyone on the planet.

The effect of air pollution on fertility Exposure to intermittent air pollution may result in sperm DNA damage and therefore increase the rates of male infertility, miscarriage and other adverse reproductive outcomes. Toxicant induced DNA damage: -According to the study in Teplice, CR, reactive metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), which is a chemical pollutant, in particulate matter (PM10) might reach the testes and react with sperm DNA to form adducts; -PAH in PM10 can enter the body and form DNA adducts. DNA repair cannot occur in condensed spermatids and epidydymal sperm in which protamine has replaced somatic histones making the DNA transcriptionally inactive (Zudova et al., 2005) Mutations: Somers et al. suggests that PAH metabolites may reach the testes and induce mutations in premeiotic germ cells (Somers et al., 2004). Summary: Exposure to relatively high air pollution may have adverse effects on semen quality, specifically on sperm chromatin integrity.

Soil Pollution Soil pollution is the contamination of soil with harmful substances that may have undesirable consequences for soil quality and the health of those living on it. A correlation has even been observed between reduced rates of fertility and the increase use of chemicals in North America. Organochlorines found in fertilisers affect semen quality and can cause abnormal menstruation in women. (Toft et al., 2004) Dibromochloropropane (DBCP), a soil pollutant, is also a proven testicular toxin. Banned in some countries, it was widely used to fumigate the soil of fruit plantations but now is a known cause of azoospermia in high doses (Goldsmith, 1997).
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Pollution in the modern world is a more important issue than ever. Modern research points towards the fact that pollution has noticeable effect on humans fertility. This pollution comes from a wide variety of sources, and extensive research has gone into discovering to what extent human fertility is affected.

References Goldsmith JR (1997) Dibromochloropropane: epidemiological findings and current questions. Ann N Y Acad Sci; 837: 3006. Toft G, Hagmar L, Giwercman A and Bonde JP (2004) Epidemiological evidence on reproductive effects of persistent organochlorines in humans. Reprod Toxicol 19, 526.