Fertility and child development

Exposure to everyday chemicals at sensitive periods of development holds clues to falling fertility rates, and rises in adverse changes in sexual and cognitive development of children.

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Fertility levels have been falling for the last 50 years at alarming rates, with evidence emerging about the links between exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and falling fertility rates, especially amongst men.

Fertility

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals could be a factor in the continuing rise in early female puberty, genital malformations in boys, and lower fertility rates in adulthood.

Professor Shanna Swan, a world expert in human fertility, has gathered enough evidence over the last 20 years to leave no doubt that everyday chemicals are having a negative, devasting impact on human fertility, especially in men.

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in early life could also be a factor in early puberty. For example, phthalate exposures could be disrupting hormone balances during pregnancy and reproductive development of infant girls and boys.

Child development

Chemicals have been detected in maternal urine, placental blood, and amniotic fluid, revealing that the safe barrier between mother and child can be crossed by substances that could adversely affect foetal and child development.

Rises in childhood conditions such as ADHD, asthma, cancers, and delayed cognitive development have led researchers to search for clues about the role that exposures to everyday chemicals might be playing.

Exposure to pesticides and other chemicals during pregnancy and infancy are linked to a wide range of developmental issues and neurodevelopmental diseases, such as low foetal growth rate, low birth weights, autism spectrum disorder, and ADHD.

Phthalate exposure is linked to disrupted thyroid function in mid-term pregnancy, suggesting a ‘strong probability’ that phthalates could contribute to rising rates of neurodevelopmental diseases in children during later life.

Sources

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Chemical Exposures and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Human Fetal Growth Glyphosate exposure in early pregnancy and reduced fetal growth: a prospective observational study of high-risk pregnancies DNA methylation at GRIN2B partially mediates the association between prenatal bisphenol F exposure and cognitive functions in 7-year-old children in the SELMA study Evidence for Prenatal Exposure to Thyroid Disruptors and Adverse Effects on Brain Development Thyroid-disrupting chemicals and brain development: an update Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Their Effects during Female Puberty: A Review of Current Evidence Exposure to Environmental Endocrine Disruptors and Child Development Associations between urine phthalate metabolites and thyroid function in pregnant women and the influence of iodine status Prenatal Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Asthma and Allergic Diseases

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