Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Reproductive Hazards
Reproductive hazards are substances that affect the reproductive health of men or women. They also include substances that affect the ability of couples to have healthy children. These substances may be chemical, physical, or biological. Some common types include:
- Alcohol
- Chemicals such as pesticides
- Smoking
- Legal and illegal drugs
- Metals such as lead and mercury
- Radiation
- Some viruses
You may be exposed to reproductive hazards through contact with your skin, breathing them in, or swallowing them. This can happen anywhere, but it is more common in the workplace or at home.
The possible health effects of reproductive hazards include infertility, miscarriage, birth defects, and developmental disabilities in children. What type of health effects they cause and how serious they are depends on many factors, including:
- What the substance is
- How much of it you are exposed to
- How it enters your body
- How long or how often you are exposed
- How you react to the substance
For a man, a reproductive hazard can affect the sperm. A hazard may cause a problem with the number of sperm, their shape, or the way that they swim. It could also damage the sperm's DNA. Then the sperm may not be able to fertilize an egg. Or it could cause problems with the development of the fetus.
For a woman, a reproductive hazard can disrupt the menstrual cycle. It can cause hormone imbalance, which can raise the risk of diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, and certain cancers. It can affect a woman's ability to get pregnant.
A woman who is exposed during pregnancy can have different effects, depending on when she was exposed. During the first 3 months of pregnancy, it might cause a birth defect or a miscarriage. During the last 6 months of pregnancy, it could slow the growth of the fetus, affect the development of its brain, or cause preterm labor.
To try to avoid reproductive hazards:
- Avoid alcohol and illegal drugs during pregnancy.
- If you smoke, try to quit. And if you are not a smoker, don't start.
- Take precautions if you are using household chemicals or pesticides.
- Use good hygiene, including handwashing.
- If there are hazards at your job, make sure to follow safe work practices and procedures.
It sits within Women, Pregnancy and Reproduction, Men, Poisoning, Toxicology, Environmental Health, Sexual Health Issues, Female Reproductive System and Male Reproductive System.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Male Reproductive HazardsNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Maternal ExposureNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Pregnancy HazardsNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Maternal Exposure, Paternal Exposure. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Reproductive Hazards, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.