More and more studies conducted in recent decades around the world seek to examine the influence of environmental factors on women's fertility and the environmental damage on women's ability to conceive. In a study conducted for the first time in Israel, by the researchers of the Fertility and In Vitro Fertilization Unit at Sheba Hospital and in collaboration with researchers from Harvard and Columbia Universities in the USA, it was shown that exposure to high concentrations of a number of Chemicals from the group of phthalates found in food packaging and in the packaging of many care products (for example in liquid soap, shampoo, creams, nail polishes, perfumes, cosmetics, hair spray, etc.) negatively affect women's fertility.
The study conducted on a group of 300 women who undergo fertilization processes in the in vitro fertilization unit, found that exposure to these chemicals results in damage to the quality of eggs and embryos, even among fertile women, who undergo fertilization processes for the purpose of genetic diagnosis of the embryos before implantation in the uterus.