Toxins and Fertility…..scary stuff!

I have recently posted on my Facebook page about my growing interest in toxins and the affect these chemicals have on Fertility. My interest has been further ignited by reading the book ‘Origins: how the nine months before birth shape the rest of our lives’ by Annie Murphy Paul. I was initially interested in reading Annie’s book because if the 9 months before birth have an affect on our lives, then so too must the months prior to conception. We know that what we expose our bodies to pre-conceptually affects the quality of a woman’s eggs and men’s sperm. Therefore if children are conceived of sub-optimal egg and sperm are we already disadvantaging the future of our children even before conception?

Having just read this paragraph to my husband, he quite rightly made the point that 11 years ago we had our first child and two years later our second. We were not aware of the affect of Toxins and our children have turned out fine. He also said that “we can’t live our lives in a bubble” and of course he is right. However what we can do is make choices about what risks we are prepared to take and which we would like to be a bit more informed about and avoid as much as we can.

In her book, Annie talks Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical found in many plastic products, such food and water containers. Toxins found in plastics have recently courted a great deal of press (RCOG guidelines - www.rcog.org.uk/news). Researchers say that BPA is an endocrine disruptor, and that even in small amounts it mimics that action of our own bodies’ hormones. As a synthetic oestrogen it has been found to be linked with the increase rates of breast cancer.There js concern that BPA could harm the foetus, babies and children. Research found that BPA exposure on the eggs of female mice changed the egg abnormality rate from 1 % to 40%. Is this one of the reasons why infertility rates in the UK are increasing?

The dangers of BPA have seemed to have divided opinion across the world. For example, in Canada BPA has been officially declared as a toxic substance but in the EU it’s use has only been banned from babies bottles and remains in much of our everyday plastics.

So, now despite I personally no longer need to worry about fertility, I do have a vested interest in my own Breast cancer risk. I am walking around my house, looking suspiciously at everything made of plastic. In to a bin liner goes plastic cups my children used and still use, plastic tubs we often use for storing and reheating foods, plastic coated plates that again were used by the children when they were younger and now the large roll of cling film has caught my attention. In it goes, never to be replaced. The question remains - melamine? Is that also a culprit? If so, what am I going to do about our family camping trip in a couple of weeks!!??