ESHRE launches factsheets to highlight environmental threats to fertility and reproductive health
2024-03-14
(Press-News.org)
Governments must act now to address the effects of climate change and air pollution on fertility rates and reproductive health, says a document published by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) today (Thursday).
The factsheets* provide comprehensive information on global warming, evidence of its impact on fertility, and calls on policymakers to promote swift prevention measures.
Priorities should be to reach net zero CO2 emissions within the next 20 years, and to keep global warming within a 1.5% increase, says the expert panel that developed the factsheets.
Countries are also urged to support research into the effects of air pollution and heat exposure on fertility and pregnancy. The ESHRE document says any new evidence could then help guide policies to protect populations.
Air pollution and extreme heat are strongly linked with compromised fertility such as lower sperm counts, reduced pregnancy rates, and an increased risk of miscarriage, says the evidence-based document.
Key data outlined in the factsheet includes:
Living within 200 metres of a major road is linked to a higher risk of self-reported infertility. Pregnancy rates increase by 3% for every 200 metres between a residence and a major road.
A total of 2.7m (18%) of pre-term births worldwide could be attributed to pollution from fine particulate matter.
Exposure to wildfires has been linked to a risk of low birth weight.
Pregnant women who are exposed to extreme heat are at higher risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight babies, and stillbirth.
Mothers exposed to heat during delivery are more likely to experience hypertension, poorer pregnancy outcomes, and longer hospital stays.
Up to around 3.6 billion people live in areas deemed “highly vulnerable” to climate change.
The document is based on recommendations** published by ESHRE last year to highlight the growing threat from climate change, pollutants, hormone-disrupting chemicals, toxic substances, and other related risks.
Professor Willem Ombelet, who helped produce the factsheet, said: “As this document shows, there is increasing evidence to link environmental factors with declining fertility rates and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
EU members are among countries that have taken action to address this concerning issue. But too often male and female fertility is not seen as a priority and more measures are needed to tackle the impact of climate change.
Swift action is needed not only to protect this generation but also the health and fertility of future generations.”
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2024-03-14
In preparation for the 2024 Olympic surfing competition, a new judging tower is being constructed in the reef lagoon at Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Researchers from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa, UH Hilo, and Arizona State University and community partners in Tahiti recently published a study in Remote Sensing that assessed the potential impacts of the tower and emphasized the importance of protecting the valuable reef—both as an integral part of the ecosystem and a resource for the local community.
“We ...
2024-03-14
DURHAM, N.H. — Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are not typically associated with water ways, like streams and rivers, but emerging research shows that water bodies play an important role in storing and releasing carbon dioxide. As many states look for cost-effective ways to mitigate climate change, scientists at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire looked at a way to optimize CO2 sensors to better measure carbon dioxide emissions in lotic, or moving, bodies of water offering a new tool that can help provide valuable information for everything from land use to climate action plans.
“These sensors, adapted for highly ...
2024-03-14
U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who suffered mild traumatic brain injury from exposure to explosive blasts were found to have changes in cerebrospinal fluid proteins that are typically seen in people who develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and VA Puget Sound Health Care System.
“While our research does not prove that veterans who experienced these injuries will develop Alzheimer’s disease, it raises the possibility that ...
2024-03-14
Cases of cancer among UK men and women aged 35-69 years have seen a modest rise over the last quarter of a century, but there has also been a substantial decline in death rates, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
The results show a fall in death rates for all cancers combined and for 17 out of 22 cancer types examined, which the researchers say is likely due to fewer people smoking, screening programmes, and improved treatment, while a rise in some less common cancers may be due to higher levels of overweight and obesity, ...
2024-03-14
A first of its kind study by Cancer Research UK reveals premature cancer death rates in 35–69-year-olds fell by more than a third over 25 years
Improvements in the UK are a result of smokefree policies, prevention measures, early detection programmes like cancer screening, and more effective treatment options
But the study paints a mixed picture with cancer cases on the rise and cancer mortality rates still too high
The charity’s manifesto, ‘Longer, ...
2024-03-14
To combine two low-energy photons into one high-energy photon efficiently, the energy must be able to hop freely, but not too quickly, between randomly oriented molecules of a solid. This Kobe University discovery provides a much-needed design guideline for developing materials for more efficient PV cells, displays, or even anti-cancer therapies.
Light of different colors has different energies and is therefore useful for very different things. For the development of more efficient PV cells, OLED displays, or anti-cancer therapies it is desirable to be able to upcycle two low-energy photons into a high-energy photon, ...
2024-03-14
Globally, more than half of patients die after infection with the neglected tropical disease, melioidosis, often before they are diagnosed1. A new rapid test could save lives by diagnosing patients in hours, rather than several days taken by current bacterial culture methods, meaning they receive the correct antibiotics faster.
The test uses CRISPR to detect a genetic target that is specific to Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterium that causes melioidosis, with 93 per cent sensitivity. It was ...
2024-03-14
Revolutionary chronic wound treatment could help millions
A team of international scientists has developed an effective treatment for preventing infection in chronic wounds that does not involve antibiotics
The treatment involves the plasma (electrical gas) activation of hydrogel dressings to produce a unique mix of different chemical oxidants that applied to the wound are effective in decontaminating and aiding healing in chronic wounds
The new method is a significant advance that could revolutionise the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and internal wounds
More than 540 million people ...
2024-03-13
AMES, Iowa – Ravindra Singh has spent years studying a gene that when missing or mutated causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a deadly disease that’s among the most common genetic disorders in children. His team’s latest work will make the search for treatments even more effective in the years to come.
Singh, a professor of biomedical science at Iowa State University, led an eight-year project to create a truncated version of the Survival Motor Neuron 2 (SMN2) gene to facilitate quicker, cheaper and less fragmented research. Nucleic Acids Research, a peer-reviewed ...
2024-03-13
Researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering have revealed critical shortcomings in recently proposed methods aimed at making powerful text-to-image generative AI systems safer for public use.
In a paper that will be presented at the Twelfth International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), taking place in Vienna on May 7 - 11, 2024, the research team demonstrates how techniques that claim to "erase" the ability of models like Stable Diffusion to generate explicit, copyrighted, or otherwise unsafe ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] ESHRE launches factsheets to highlight environmental threats to fertility and reproductive health
