Painters 'face fertility problems'
Painters and decorators could face a brush with infertility because of their work, it has been claimed.
A study shows that chemicals in water-based paints can harm sperm.
Men exposed to glycol ethers are 2.5 times more likely to have sluggish sperm than men with low exposure, according to the results.
Glycol ether solvents are widely used in many products, including popular water-based emulsions.
Sperm motility - the swimming ability of sperm - and the concentration of active sperm in a given sample have been shown to be important to fertility.
Size and shape of sperm, and the quality of sperm DNA, are other key factors that may be affected by chemical exposure.
The new findings are from a major collaborative UK study aimed at determining the occupational risks of male infertility through exposure to chemicals in the workplace.
Researchers based at 14 fertility clinics in 11 cities across the UK looked at the working lives of 2,118 men.
They concluded that few chemical threats to male fertility remained in today's workplace. However, glycol ethers were an exception.
The research from the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield was published in the journal Occupational Environmental Medicine.