Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at Sinai Medical School, co-authored a 2017 meta-analysis that found that sperm counts in Western countries have decreased by 59% since 1973. The findings sparked widespread concern about potential environmental factors impacting male fertility. (Swan et al., 2017)

In 2006, research found an association between higher phthalate levels in pregnant women's urine and an increased risk of spontaneous abortion. A more recent study from Harvard in 2016, strengthened these results, finding women with the highest concentrations of a phthalate called DEHP, were 60% more likely to lose a pregnancy prior to 20 weeks. (Messerlian et al.; S.S. Swan et al.)

A trio of papers from UC Berkeley, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and Columbia University in 2011 showed an association between pesticide exposure and childhood IQ. Every 10x increase in measures of organophosphates detected during a mother’s pregnancy corresponded to a 5.5 point drop in overall IQ scores in the 7-year-olds. (Bouchard et al.)

A surprising study showed that men who ate greater amounts of fruits and vegetables with pesticides — 1.5+ servings per day — had 49% lower sperm count and 32 percent less normal sperm than men who ate less. They also had less ejaculate volumes. (Y H Chiu et al.)