Early exposure to BPA in plastics may negatively impact male fertility

Plastic bottles have more potential to do harm than originally expected, another reason to pay careful attention to looking for alternatives because of the negative impact on humans new research underlines.

" Exposure to environmental levels of the industrial chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, in the womb and early life has been found to cause long-lasting harm to testicular function," according to a new study conducted in animals.  The Endocrine Society will be presenting the results of their study on Monday at their 92nd annual meeting in San Diego.

“We are seeing changes in the testis function of rats after exposure to BPA levels that are lower than what the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency consider safe exposure levels for humans,” said Benson Akingbemi, PhD, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at Auburn (Ala.) University. “This is concerning because large segments of the population, including pregnant and nursing mothers, are exposed to this chemical.”

Many hard plastic bottles and canned food liners contain the chemical BPA, as do some dental sealant.  . BPA acts in like the female sex hormone estrogen and has been associated with female infertility. This chemical is present in placenta and is able to pass from a mother into her breast milk.

Akingbemi and colleagues saw harmful effects of BPA at the cellular level in male study participants, specifically in Leydig cells. These cells in the testis secrete testosterone, the main sex hormone that supports male fertility. After birth, Leydig cells gradually acquire the capacity for testosterone secretion, Akingbemi explained.  This is what is negatively impacted by BPA.

What scientists discovered is that early exposure in the infancy and what would be the childhood of what they used for experiments, which was rats, showed up in the adulthood of these animals.

Akingbemi said. “Therefore, the early life period is a sensitive window of exposure to BPA and exposure at this time may affect testis function into adulthood.”