'Gender bending' chemical in food tins may cut male fertility

Mail Online: "Scientists have now discovered it could be lined to poor sperm quality and concentration.

Professor John Meeker, who led the study at the University of Michigan in the U.S., said: ‘Much of the focus for BPA is on the exposures in utero (in the womb) or in early life, which is of course extremely important, but this suggests exposure may also be a concern for adults.’

In one of the first human studies, Professor Meeker and co-author Russ Hauser, from the Harvard School of Public Health, recruited 190 men through a fertility clinic.

The researchers compared thelevels of BPA in urine samples with the men’s sperm quality and concentration.

They also looked for signs of DNA damage in their sperm.

Men with the highest levels of BPA had sperm concentrations 23 per cent lower than those with the least.

‘The results also suggested a 10 per cent increase in sperm DNA damage,’ said Professor Meeker.

But the researchers stressed that their findings, published in

the journal Reproductive Toxicology, needed to be repeated with a larger sample size."