This chemical could be stopping you from getting pregnant. What is it?

• Author: Omer Yerushalayim/Walla!
• Published date: 05 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

For several years now, phthalates, dangerous chemicals found in various plastic and care products, have been marked as a possible cause of the general decline in fertility around the world. Now Israeli researchers have discovered that these chemicals are being absorbed into women's ovaries. What does this mean?

In recent years, there has been an alarming phenomenon of a significant decrease in fertility throughout the Western world, and about 15% of all women are unable to become pregnant without medical assistance.The reasons for this are varied, and include, among other things, exposure to a wide range of chemicals from various sources which disrupt the body's natural hormonal activity.

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A new and groundbreaking Israeli study found that one group of chemicals called phthalates, which are in so many plastics, cosmetics and other consumer products that it's almost impossible to avoid them completely, are being stored in women's ovaries.

Phthalates are a family of synthetic chemicals developed in the last century for use in plastics manufacturing industries (mainly for softening and increasing flexibility), solvents and care products, and are therefore found in a wide range of products we use daily such as plastic packaging (including food packaging), cosmetics, building materials, cleaning products, pesticides, fragrances, toys, paints, medical devices and textiles. In fact, phthalates are so common that they have been dubbed the "ever-present chemical."

Phthalates are considered endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), substances that mimic or inhibit the activity of various hormones in humans and thus disrupt normal hormonal activity, which impairs, among other things, the fertility of men and women.

Over the years, scientific evidence has accumulated that shows that phthalates have various negative effects on everyone's health. This has been shown in experiments on animals where they were found to cause numerous hormonal disorders such as impaired development of the male reproductive system, congenital malformations of the reproductive system and genitals, lower testosterone levels in the stages of puberty, premature puberty in females and low sperm count as well as low birth weight and premature birth.

Research also showed a link to impaired development of the male reproductive system, impaired brain development and an...