Study links in utero ‘forever chemical’ exposure to low sperm count and mobility

PFAS, now found in nearly all umbilical cord blood around the world, interfere with hormones crucial to testicle development

A new peer-reviewed Danish study finds that a mother's exposure to toxic PFAS forever chemicals" during early pregnancy can lead to lower sperm count and quality later in her child's life.

PFAS - per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - are known to disrupt hormones and fetal development, and future reproductive capacity" is largely defined as testicles develop in utero during the first trimester of a pregnancy, said study co-author Sandra Sogaard Tottenborg of the Copenhagen University hospital.