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The Healthy Men Study, a Partnership Exploring Associations between Drinking
Citation:
Perreault, S. D., R A. Morris, G R. Klinefelter, AND D. A. Savitz. The Healthy Men Study, a Partnership Exploring Associations between Drinking . Presented at EPA Science Forum, Washington, DC, May 05 - 07, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
Scientific Research
Description:
Although the chlorination of public drinking water supplies has provided enormous public health benefits, toxicity test data regarding resultant disinfection by-products (DBPs) have raised new health concerns. Data in rats, produced by EPA and others, indicate that exposure to DBPs, especially the haloacetic acids (HAAs), results in adverse male reproductive effects including testicular toxicity and abnormal sperm quality. Importantly, the brominated species of HAAs are more potent than the chlorinated species in this regard. Based on these data, the Office of Water is interested in determining whether men exposed to DBPs at levels in drinking water might be at risk for testicular toxicity that could affect sperm numbers and/or quality, and thereby impair fertility. To explore this possibility, scientists in the Reproductive Toxicology Division (RTD/NHEERL/ORD) are partnering with the Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina ? Chapel Hill (UNC), under a cooperative agreement (A.F. Olshan, PI) to implement a male reproductive health study. The Healthy Men Study (HMS), initiated in 2002, is evaluating semen quality in 240 men and builds upon a larger UNC prospective cohort study on DBPs and pregnancy (D. Savitz, PI). The men live and work in one of three cities selected based on drinking water that is either high in chlorinated DBPs, high in brominated DBPs, or generally low in all DBPs. Weekly data on DBPs (trihalomethanes and HAAs) in finished water are combined with questionnaire data on water use to derive exposure estimates for each man. After completing a phone interview on reproductive health and history, each man sends a semen sample to the EPA laboratory using a home-semen collection kit developed and tested by NHEERL scientists. The semen is analyzed for routine measures including sperm numbers and structure, as well new tests for sperm genomic integrity and for a protein biomarker of fertility, SP22, developed recently by RTD. Comparisons among the three groups of men will be made to determine whether exposure to chlorinated and/or brominated HAAs is associated with decrements in semen quality. The HMS results, expected in 2005, will provide the Office of Water with new information regarding potential male reproductive effects of DBPs. Such information may help inform rulemaking decisions regarding Maximum Contaminant Levels for classes of DBPs, including considerations based on speciation.