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Semen quality in men continues to decline in Western countries, but the contours of the issue remain obscure, in relation to contributing chemicals.

To obtain more clarity about the chemicals that drive the deterioration of semen quality, we conducted a mixture risk assessment based on European exposures.

We included chemicals capable of affecting semen quality after prenatal exposures, among them androgen receptor antagonists, substances that disrupt prostaglandin signalling, suppress testosterone synthesis, inhibit steroidogenic enzymes or activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. We employed the Hazard Index approach (HI), based on risk quotients of exposures in Europe and reference doses for reductions in semen quality. By summing up the risk quotients of the 29 chemicals included in the assessment we examined fold-exceedances of “acceptable” mixture exposures …