Chemical Present in Plastic Bottles, Canned Products Linked to Male Reproductive Problems

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used for more than three decades to make plastic bottles and is also a component in the lining of canned goods. De-Kun Li, from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (USA), and colleagues studied factory workers in China with high occupational exposure to BPA. Compared to workers with no occupational exposure to the chemical, the BPA-exposed men were four times more likely to report erectile dysfunction, low sexual desire, and less than optimal satisfaction with their sex lives, and seven times more likely to report problems with ejaculation.  As the first study to link BPA exposure to reproduction problems in humans, the researchers conclude that: “Our findings provide the first evidence that exposure to BPA in the workplace could have an adverse effect on male sexual dysfunction.”