Environmental pollutants may affect male fertility. The persistent organochlorine pollutants (POP) present in the environment can cause changes in the sex ratio of the children of the people who remain exposed to them for long.
Two environment pollutants, hexachlorobiphenyl (CB 153) and dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE) had affected the X-Y ratio of the sperms of people aged 27 to 65 years. The study done by the scientists of Sweden had investigated 149 Swedish fishermen and came to conclusion that pollutants do affect the fertility of males. The Y part of the X-Y chromosome gets affected by the pollutants that increase the y factor and may lead to higher chances of males children being born to the people affected by the pollutants. However, researchers did not say that whether actually there were more male children born in comparison to females.This is the newest study to say that environment pollutants like POP are directly linked to male fertility, enough to alter the sex ratio of the newborns.
As the environmental pollutants are increasing more research needs to be done to find out the extent of human health being affected.
