TRAFFIC MAY AFFECT MALE FERTILITY

[Drkheyre]

TRAFFIC MAY AFFECT MALE FERTILITY
Source; Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
http://www.jrsm.org/

Fumes from cars and other vehicles may damage male fertility, a study suggests. Researchers in Italy have found evidence that traffic pollution reduces the quality of sperm in young and middle-aged men, They believe nitrogen oxide and lead in exhaust fumes may be to blame. Their findings suggest that men who are exposed to traffic pollution every day, through work for example, are most at risk.

Traffic fumes Dr Michele De Rosa and colleagues at the University of Naples examined the sperm of 85 men employed at motorway tollgates. On average, they were exposed to traffic fumes for six hours a day.

They compared their findings to results on tests on 85 men of the same age living in the same area, who were not exposed to traffic pollution in the same way. They found that the tollgate workers had poorer sperm quality and, in particular, had lower sperm motility, which means they are less likely to be able to fertilise the female egg. "In general, the sperm of the study group was feebler and less active so it has a lower fertility potential," Dr De Rosa said.

The researchers concluded that exposure to exhaust fumes were to blame for the damage to the men's sperm. ?Our study demonstrates that continuous exposure to traffic pollutants impairs sperm quality in young and middle-aged men? said Dr Michele De Rosa University of Naples. The tollgate workers, which included young and middle-aged men, were exposed to substantially higher levels of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and lead.