men in contact with BPA had a four times greater chance of suffering from ED

A study financed by the American government has shown a link between exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and higher rates of erectile dysfunction and other problems of a sexual nature in men. BPA is found in thousands of plastic products used by men on a daily basis such as dental sealants and tinned food linings.  In fact it is so commonly used in America that it has been detected in random urine samples of 93 percent of U.S. citizens.

The research was conducted on over 600 men working at four different industrial locations in China and who were exposed to significantly higher than normal levels of BPA. A control group was also set up to compare the sexual health of men working in other industrial locations where there were nonexistent levels of BPA. The study which was continued for five years saw that men in contact with BPA had a four times greater chance of suffering from erectile dysfunction and a seven times greater chance of having difficulty ejaculating.

Professor De-Kun Li from the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute explained that BPA was a synthetic type of estrogen and could therefore be unbalancing the male hormonal system which would lead to sexual problems. In some of the cases the men started to experience sexual dysfunction even after only a few months of exposure. Before you start to panic you should remember that in the Chinese factories the men were subjected to levels of BPA that were around 50 times greater than what the average American man would come across.

Nevertheless Professor Li did point out that now that they could conclusively show that high levels of exposure were dangerous it was now necessary to try and evaluate the danger from low level exposure to BPA. The study which is the first time a large human study has been conducted with BPA will send shock waves through the packaging industry because it is used in so many food and drink containers. The FDA is also likely to rethink its recommendation on BPA which was previously that it was completely safe.

The research was published in full by the journal Human Reproduction.