Researchers Find Handling Pesticides
May Reduce Chances of Conception

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter (Wisconsin) 4sep03

Marshfield, WI—Women who handle pesticides or fungicides in the two- year period before trying to have a baby significantly increase their chances of infertility, according to a study released Wednesday.

Researchers at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation found that infertile women were 27 more times likely to have mixed and applied such chemicals than women who had become pregnant, chief researcher Anne Greenlee said.

The exposure to many farm chemicals can affect a woman's production of eggs and how they mature and can influence whether an embryo can implant, Greenlee said.

"Women contemplating pregnancy and who may be exposed to pesticides on the job should consider precautions such as respirators, gloves and protective clothing to reduce unintentional exposures," said Greenlee, of the foundation's National Farm Medicine Center.

The control study was launched in 1997 to explore the risk of female infertility because of agricultural exposures.

It involved 644 women ages 18 to 35, mostly from central Wisconsin, who had either sought treatment at Marshfield Clinic for infertility or sought prenatal care because they were in their first trimester of pregnancy and had conceived in less than 12 months of trying, Greenlee said.

The study included 233 women who lived on a farm, ranch or a rural home, she said. The rest lived in cities or villages.

About 100 women in the study handled pesticides or fungicides, some in growing plants or gardens, Greenlee said.

For the two years before a couple began trying to conceive a child, the study identified mixing and applying herbicides and using fungicides as an occupational risk to becoming pregnant.

The study also found three lifestyle choices played a role:

1. Steadily gaining weight during adult life, which can affect the cycling of female hormones.
2. Exposure to passive cigarette smoke one to five hours a week, which can influence egg quality and whether the egg can be fertilized.
3. Having a male partner older than 41, which can affect sperm and semen quality.

"Living on a farm, ranch or rural setting, drinking central Wisconsin groundwater from a private well and consuming three or more glasses of milk per day appeared to protect fertility," Greenlee said.

Those three findings suggest healthier, less stressful lifestyles could play a role in fertility and the drinking water may not be as harmful as some suspected, Greenlee said.

Results of the $600,000 study, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, were published in the July issue of Epidemiology, a professional journal that looks at environmental exposures and risks of disease, Greenlee said.

Marshfield Clinic, founded in Marshfield in 1916, is one of the largest private rural medical care and research complexes in the country. It has 40 satellite clinics scattered about the northern half of Wisconsin.