Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical primarily used in plastic production (it's in everything from baby bottles to the inside of food and drink containers to sex toys). Its use is so common that in one study of BPA levels in the U.S. adult population, it showed up in more than 90% of urine samples. The main human health concern about BPA is its impact on reproductive health and reproductive systems. There are also environmental concerns about the amount of BPA that is seeping into the water system and its negative effect on both plants and fish.
So far research has looked at BPA exposure in animals and BPA levels in humans, but hasn't offered direct evidence for a link between levels of BPA and sexual or reproductive harm in humans. A study published this month in the journal Human Reproduction has done just that.
The study compared workers who were exposed to high levels of BPA in a factory with workers who had no such exposure. They found that those exposed had a significant increase in sexual dysfunction, specifically reduced sexual desire, erectile difficulty, ejaculation difficulty and a reduction in sexual satisfaction. They also found that the greater the exposure, the higher the risk of sexual dysfunction.
The researchers point out that this study needs to be replicated and that the levels of BPA exposure in this study is around 10 times higher than what most men are exposed to, two factors which call for some caution in interpreting these results.
There's a secondary sexual link to this story, which is that BPA is likely used in the manufacturing of many sex toys. As always, it's hard to get information from the major manufacturers about what's in their toys, but the Danish Environmental Protection Agency report on sex toys did find levels of BPA in some of the sex toys they sampled. If it is in sex toys the next question would be if, and how, BPA could migrate from the toy to the person during use. The answer may be that it doesn't, the problem for me is that I doubt testing sex toys is high on anyone's list. Maybe knowing that almost 50% of adults have used a sex toy might push this consumer product group a bit further onto health researcher's and government radar. Maybe.
Read more - AFP: Chemical in plastic linked to sexual dysfunction
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