January 17, 2006, The Guardian
Pesticide may reduce fertility, says study

A common garden pesticide may be harming male fertility by suppressing
levels of the sex hormone testosterone, a study has found. Researchers
measured by-products of a pesticide, chlorpyrifos, in males undergoing
fertility treatment and found that those with the lowest testosterone levels
had the most pesticide by-product in their systems.

Chlorpyrifos is permitted under EU regulations for use in agriculture and
garden insecticides and is used widely in Britain, but has been subject to
stringent control in the US since 2000 because of concerns over its effects
on brain function.

John Meeker at the University of Michigan and co-workers at Harvard
University and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
took urine samples from 268 male partners of couples undergoing treatment at
a Massachusetts fertility clinic between 2000 and 2003. Samples were
analysed for traces of a substance called TCPY, a breakdown product of
chlorpyrifos. The results showed that levels of TCPY varied, but men's
testosterone levels decreased steadily the more TCPY they had in their
urine. Men with the most TCPY in their systems typically had 10% less
testosterone than men with the least TCPY.

The study does not prove a link between the pesticide and reduced fertility,
but Dr Meeker believes further tests on the pesticide are urgently needed.
"Because it's so common and so many males are exposed to this pesticide, it
could be having some negative effects," he said. "A decline in testosterone
throughout a population could potentially lead to adverse reproductive
health outcomes." The study appears in the January issue of the journal
Epidemiology. (Ian Sample, science correspondent)
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1688040,00.html


Wed Jan 11, 2006, Reuters Health
Insect spray may lower testosterone levels in men

While infertility may be caused by a number of factors, new study findings suggest that exposure to nonpersistent, or short-lasting, insecticides may play a role in male infertility.
"Environmental exposure to chlorpyrifos or its metabolite (TCPY) may be associated with reduced levels of circulating testosterone in adult men," lead study author Dr. John D. Meeker, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, told Reuters Health. "A decline in testosterone throughout a population could potentially lead to adverse reproductive health outcomes," he added.
Until 2000, chlorpyrifos was one of the most common insecticides used in homes. The Environmental Protection Agency restricted its residential use to reduce children's exposure to the chemical after research revealed it can affect the central nervous system. Just one year earlier, however, up to 19 million pounds of the chlorpyrifos were used in the United States, and recent investigations suggest that individuals still experience environmental exposure to the substance, despite EPA restrictions.
The Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals found that more than 90 percent of men had detectable levels TCPY in their urine.
In a previous report, Meeker and his colleagues found that higher levels of 1-naphthol (1N) in men's urine are associated with decreased sperm concentration and motility and increased DNA damage in sperm cells. 1N is a breakdown product of carbaryl, a lawn and garden insecticide known as Sevin, and the compound naphthalene, which is found in cigarette smoke, diesel fuel and other combustion byproducts.
Meeker and his colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta explored the association between TCPY and 1N, and reproductive hormone levels in 268 men who were recruited at an infertility clinic between 2000 and 2003.
Men with higher urine levels of TCPY and 1N had lower levels of the sex hormone testosterone, the researchers report in the journal Epidemiology. The association with TCPY was dose-dependent, such that testosterone levels decreased along with increasing levels of TCPY.
Higher TCPY levels were also associated with a decreased free androgen index, a marker of lower testosterone concentrations, the report indicates.
"Although the decrements in testosterone related to TCPY were relatively small," Meeker acknowledged, "they may be of public health concern because of widespread human exposure among men."
The researchers also found some evidence that higher TCPY and 1N levels may be associated with decreased levels of luteinizing hormone and a decreased free androgen index, but more studies are needed to confirm this finding.
If TCPY and 1N are associated with decreased levels of both testosterone and luteinizing hormone, the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, rather than the testes, may be involved in the mechanism by which certain pesticides affect sperm quality, Meeker speculates. "But there are several other potential mechanisms as well," he said.
According to Meeker, "This is the first human evidence of an association between chlorpyrifos or its metabolite (TCPY) and testosterone levels, so other studies would be needed to substantiate our findings." (By Charnicia E. Huggins, SOURCE: Epidemiology, January 2006)

Coalition against BAYER-dangers (Germany)
www.CBGnetwork.org
 CBGnetwork@aol.com
Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911
please send an e-mail for receiving the English newsletter Keycode BAYER free of charge. German/Italian/French/Spanish newsletters also available.

Advisory Board
Prof. Juergen Junginger, designer, Krefeld,
Prof. Dr. Juergen Rochlitz, chemist, former member of the Bundestag, Burgwald
Wolfram Esche, attorney-at-law, Cologne
Dr. Sigrid Müller, pharmacologist, Bremen
Eva Bulling-Schroeter, former member of the Bundestag, Ingolstadt
Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, construction biologist, Neubeuern
Dorothee Sölle, theologian, Hamburg (died 2003)
Dr. Janis Schmelzer, historian, Berlin
Dr. Erika Abczynski, pediatrician, Dormagen