Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome and Phthalates: Where do we Stand?

Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome and Phthalates: Where do we Stand?

In the last two decades, several researchers from different parts of the world have been investigating the effects of endocrine disruption on male reproductive system. There are serious reports and epidemiological studies showing the decline in male fertility as well as the incline in congenital reproductive tract anomalies (cryptorchidism and hypospadias) and late-life testicular cancers. The “testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) hypothesis” proposes that a proportion of the male reproductive disorders–cryptorchidism, hypospadias, decline infertility (or loss of fertility) and testicular cancer–may be symptoms of one underlying developmental disease, TDS, which is most likely a result of disturbed gonadal development in the embryo.