A new study has found that the sex hormone estradiol which is commonly found in birth control pills has an even greater impact on sperm count than the chemical found in plastics known as Bisphenol A or BPA.

The Daily Mail is reporting on the new study which found that estradiol, a birth control hormone that is able to pass through sewage plants and enter the water supply, has a direct effect on sperm count.

Estradiol is a human sex hormone and steroid produced especially in the follicles of female ovaries that regulates the estrous and menstrual cycle and the development and maintenance of female reproductive cycles. A chemical derivative of estradiol, known as ethinyl estradiol, is a major component in hormonal contraceptive devices and pills. Trace amounts of estradiol, found in the urine of women who are using hormonal devices or certain kinds of birth control pills, can be found in the water supply because sewage plants are unable to filter this chemical.

According to the research of Dr. Pat Hunt of Washington State University and published in the online journal Public Library of Science Genetics, estradiol has an even greater impact on sperm counts than BPA, a chemical found in items such as plastic water bottles and CDs.

Dr. Hunt, who has a long history of working with BPA, conducted much of her work on its effect on female reproduction but has found that “estrogen disruptors” found in the environment are also at play.

“This provides some real insight into what exactly might be going on,” Hunt says about sperm rates, which have fallen as much as 38 percent in the last decade. “It's kind of bizarre because we got into it through a back door, not really starting out to look at that question.”

In the new study, Dr Hunt and her colleagues gave newborn male mice oral doses of BPA and also exposed them to synthetic estrogen ethinyl oestradiol and found that more sperm died. This has led researchers to conclude that sperm production is directly disrupted by the effects of both BPA and estradiol.

Declining male fertility rates have been a concern since the 1990’s when Danish researchers reported “a genuine decline in semen quality over the past 50 years”. Two years ago, a large Spanish study found that sperm counts fell at an alarming rate of up to 38 percent in just the past decade with diet and lifestyle determined to be mostly to blame.

These new findings only add more concern to this problem, especially because both estradiol and BPA are in such widespread use. This means that sperm counts will continue to fall with each exposed generation.

"We've seen effects over the course of several decades," Dr. Hunt said. "What about several generations? Infertility is becoming more common. Are we creating the perfect storm?"

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