Post Date December, 03 2023
After more than 10 years of research by scientists, it has been found that phthalate plasticizers in plastics may be the culprit behind male infertility.
In animal experiments, after feeding plasticizers to mice, it was found that the weight and volume of the testicles decreased, and there were degenerative changes in the testicles, as well as a decrease in sperm count and an increase in sperm deformity rate. At a certain dose, two plasticizers were combined to act on the bone marrow micronuclei and sperm of mice, resulting in a positive reaction in the malformation test. This indicates that plasticizers are a breaking agent that can cause heritable chromosomal aberrations. Our experimental research on fruit flies also shows that after feeding with plasticizers, the reproduction rate of fruit flies decreases and their lifespan shortens.
Is there a plasticizer in the human body? Is the causal relationship between plasticizers and infertility clear? The answer is yes. At present, the excretion period of plasticizers in the human body is not clear, and its half-life is known to be 1 day, 3-4 days, or even longer. Although the human body can excrete, if consumed daily, it is easy to accumulate in the body, resulting in toxic effects.
In order to reduce the exposure of childbearing age youth to plasticizers, we suggest that childbearing age youth take the following self-protection measures:
Do not eat instant food packaged in plastic.
Do not directly heat plastic packaged food (such as bagged milk).
Do not store food in plastic containers and heat it in a microwave.
● Do not use plastic bags to place hot deep-fried dough sticks, Youbing (Deep-fried round and flat dough-cake), oil cakes, dough balls and other fried foods.
Turn away the colorful plastic bags provided by roadside food vendors. Strictly implement the plastic restriction order implemented in China on June 1, 2008. This is not only beneficial for protecting the environment and maintaining ecological balance, but also reduces the harm of plasticizers to health, especially the potential threat to reproductive capacity of male reproductive age.
(Intern Editor: Huang Jiazhen)
