We are often told that environmental toxins can damage fertility, but it is not something fertility doctors usually rush to suggest as a cause of an individual's fertility problem as it is often impossible to tell exactly what might be to blame.
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have been investigating the way synthetic oestrogens, which are sometimes found in plastics, can impact on our future fertility. They exposed mice to a particular type of synthetic oestrogen, DES, which is actually no longer widely used but which they believe has a similar effect to other products we may often encounter. They found that the synthetic oestrogen alters the gene which is necessary for uterine development. The future fertility of the female offspring of the mice exposed to DES was found to be affected.
There seems to be growing evidence that some of the fertility problems we are experiencing today date back to our mother's wombs, but what is possibly more alarming is the worry that we could still be unintentionally putting the fertility of future generations at risk. You can see more about the Yale research on their website www.yale.edu
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