Interesting Facts on Your EVERYDAY household cleaners and your fertility

Everyone: I just wanted to post about babynr's and candie's post above about our "unexplained" infertility and how it used to be back in the day. I was reading a Concieve (conceive) Magazine at my RE's office last week... Thought some stuff was interesting about how to creat a "FERTILE ENVIRONMENT"

Fragrances: Synthetic fragrances in cleaning products such as laundry detergents, are often bonded by chemicals called PHTHALATES - Also found in vinyl flooring, plastic shower curtains, cosmetics, shampoos, pharmaceutical and herbal pill coatings, medical equipment such as IV bags. Even at low levels, phthalates seem to affect estrogen and testosterone. In animal studies, researchers have observed irregularities and impaired fecundity (increased time to pregnancy). When a male fetus exposed, malformations of the reproductive tract and decreased semen quality have been documented in human as well as animal reports.

Chemicals called ALKYL PHENOXY ETHOXLATES (APE's)  - Common in laundry detergents and fabric softeners. APE's have been associated with reduced sperm count and testicular size. One member of APE chemicals is nonoxyl-9 which is a spermicide.

SOLVENTS: Glass cleaners, capet cleaners, hard surface cleaners, oven cleaners, anything that contaings EGBE or 2-butoxeyethanol which evidence links to fertility problems in lab animals. It says what people don't consider is that a solven tthat tells you ti cuts through grease is alo something that easily gets through the skin and into the body. Studies have been done in China and it is linked to decreased fertility in woman with high exposure to these chemicals.

BPA - bisphenol -A: Common chemical compound that forms the building blocks of polycarbonate (hard) plastics and epoxy resins.  It's found in plastic food containers, water bottles, baby bottles, and the linking of many metal food cans, cd cases, eyeglasses and some dental sealants. BPA binds to estrogen receptors and has been implicated (in animal studies) in accelerating puberty and raising the risk of miscarriage as well as having adverse effects on male reproductive development.

PERC - PERCHLOROETHYLENE: The main chemical used in dry cleaning. Studies have shown that men and women who work in or live near dry-cleaning businesses take longer to conceive and report much higher rates of m/c. PERC is now believed to be a spermato-and ovotoxicant (sperm and egg poison).

PBDES and PFOS: Flame retardents in furniture and carpet paddings., clothing, and coating of cooking pans. PBDE's have been linked to reduced sperm production and testicular size in adult men and altered brain development in developing fetuses. PFC'S are potential hormone disrupters.

Mercury: Old dental fillings and thimerosol preservatives throughout air, water, soil and in many types of fish. Even at low levels it may disrupt menstrual cycles, cause egg and sperm damage, and affect a growing fetus' brain and nervous system development.

Lead: The same metal now banned from gas and paint. Even found in lipsticks or older homes hot water pipes. Lead is persistant in human tissue and is associated with early onset or delayed puberty in girls. High blood and semen lead levels in men have been associated with decreased sperm fertility potential, whether through natural conception, AI, and/or IVF.

I know this is extremely long and sorry, but thought it was worth posting. So it does seem that with all this "new technology" it is harming us and our natural ability to procreate. I am seriously thinking about going green at least in cleaning products. It try to buy hormone free milk and some natural things. The milk brand REITER's farmers pledge not to use any hormones on their dairy cows..... UGH, why can't we have all natural things like back in the day????  And why does eating better or natural have to be expensive???