Pesticides Implicated in Infertility

Pesticides have be suspected to be contributing to reduced human fertility for some time now and a recent studies adds further support to this hypothesis.

A study that was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, evaluated factors known to affect reproduction. The researchers estimated each participant’s pesticide exposure based on a food questionnaire.

Compared to women with the lowest pesticide exposure, women with the highest amounts of pesticide exposure had an 18% lower IVF success rate. They were also 26% less likely to have a live birth if they did become pregnant. The researchers estimate that exchanging a single serving of high-pesticide produce per day for one with low pesticide load, may increase the odds of pregnancy by 79% and the odds of having a live birth by 88%.

Senior investigator Dr. Jorge Chavarro, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health told Time magazine:

“I was always skeptical that pesticide residues in foods would have any impact on health whatsoever. So, when we started doing this work a couple of years ago, I thought we were not going to find anything. I was surprised to see anything as far as health outcomes are concerned. I am now more willing to buy organic apples than I was a few months ago.”

Research also shows sperm concentration and quality have dramatically declined in recent decades and the evidence suggests endocrine disrupting chemicals are largely to blame. While there are many sources, pesticides, including glyphosate (Roundup), are well known endocrine disruptors.

The most significant declines were found in samples from men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Overall, men in these countries had a 59.3% decline in sperm count.

1. Peaches

2. Carrots

3. Strawberries

4. Green Beans

5. Sweet Bell Peppers

6. Hot Peppers

7. Tangerines

8. Nectarines

9. Cranberries

According to recent research, washing your produce will help remove surface pesticide residues. An effective method is to wash your produce using a mixture of tap water and baking soda. Soaking apples in a 1% baking soda solution for 12 to 15 minutes was found to remove 80% of the fungicide thiabendazole and 96% of the insecticide phosmet.

The reason thiabendazole was not effectively removed is because it penetrated the apple to a depth of 80 micrometers.

It is interesting to note that the "industry standard" for cleaning apples is treating them with a bleach solution for two minutes was ineffective in comparison to the baking soda solution, is also not toxic.

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