Male reproductive health: cause for concern?
A substantial body of evidence has accumulated in recent years that human semen quality may be deteriorating. This has been associated with evidence of other changes in male reproductive health, including increases in congenital malformations and testicular cancer in humans, and similar problems in wildlife. Unfortunately, the evidence remains inconclusive. It has been suggested that these changes may be due to environmental xeno-oestrogens acting during development. Although there is now a large quantity of data indicating that this is a plausible hypothesis, evidence of causality, rather than association, remains to be provided. The potential importance of these changes for human health is considerable and urgent research is required to clarify the situation.
Irvine
D S
DS
MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, Edinburgh, UK. d.s.irvine@ed.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000453:epidemiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000002:abnormalities; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012098:Reproduction; D012744:Sex Ratio; D013076:Sperm Count; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology