by “All the men were exposed to unsafe combined exposures and the most exposed in the study had levels 100 times greater than the acceptable values, with the average being 17 times. “Our assessment reveals alarming exceedances of acceptable combined exposures,” the researchers concluded.
The researchers were also able to rank the chemicals, with BPA being the biggest driver of risk, followed by dioxins, paracetamol and phthalates. However, removing BPA did not bring down the combined exposure to acceptable levels.
Acetaminophin / Paracetamol has been shown to cause a decline in sperm quality in laboratory animals and increase risk of non-descending testes in boys born to mothers using the painkiller during pregnancy. In 2021, a review backed by 90 scientists said: “We recommend that pregnant women should be cautioned at the beginning of pregnancy to forgo [paracetamol] unless its use is medically indicated, and consult with a physician or pharmacist if they are uncertain.”
Research Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412022002495
“We predict substantial detrimental effects on semen quality due to current combined exposures to BPA, BPF, BPS, PCDD/F and paracetamol, with some contribution from phthalates. Although exposure reduction measures targeting BPA will lead to significant improvements of this situation, exposures to the remainder of the chemicals investigated here also present serious problems. Our analysis has the character of a prediction which could be verified in suitably designed epidemiological studies of semen quality. However, regulatory action such as a ban of BPA from food contact materials should not be delayed until such verifications are available which may take some time.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412022002495
