[Environmental factors which impair male fertility]

Introduction of new technologies involving many chemicals does not remain free from the effect on the human health. Occupational acute poisoning is rare now-a-days, but we often face many problems arising out of the late sequel to exposures, such as mutations, neoplasms or reproduction disorders. Numerous research institutes of occupational medicine are involved in the evaluation of the effect of environmental factors on the workers' health. Many recent publications emphasise that the quality of the human semen is gradually decreasing which is manifested by the lower number of spermatozoons (1 cm3) semen, a higher proportion of morphologically impaired spermatozoons and a higher per cent of motile spermatozoons. The quality of the semen is affected not only by the hazards present in the general environment, but also by the factors occurring in the work environment. Occupational exposure induces sometimes infertility of couples but more often impairs the reproduction, and this is one of important issues which be addressed by occupational medicine.