Couple who couldn’t get pregnant removed chemicals from their life… then something remarkable happened

Kirstie Phillips and her husband had been trying to get pregnant for months without success.

Mrs Phillips, from Connecticut, had always just assumed they would get pregnant quickly — they were both healthy, active, in their twenties and had no family history of infertility. 

But when her doctor informed her that her ovaries were not functioning correctly, she fell down a rabbit hole of research that brought her to the conclusion that environmental toxins found everywhere in her home could be to blame.

She told the Wall Street Journal: ‘I don’t have proof but I can’t think of anything else.’

Mrs Phillips, now 30, threw away her scented candles and home fragrance plug ins due to their links to hormonal imbalances.

And she scrapped her body washes and moisturizers that contained toxic ‘forever chemicals’ which have been associated with infertility. 

The family also stopped using single-use plastics and nonstick cooking pans.

In what she and her husband consider nothing short of a miracle, Kirstie Phillips became pregnant two years later through IVF. 

Less than a year later, she was pregnant again naturally.

Kirstie Phillips [pictured with her husband] struggled with infertility and believed environmental toxins like BPA and phthalates were to blame

Fertility rates in the US have collapsed to a historic low.

The most recent CDC data showed that in 2023, the total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman. 

However, for a population to stay the same size, it must achieve a ‘replacement’ level fertility rate of 2 – a number the US hasn’t recorded since 2007, before the 2008 financial crash.

The number of women waiting to try to get pregnant until they enter their 30s- when the odds of conceiving plummet – is just one driving factor. 

Scientists increasingly believe that exposure to environmental toxins are playing a significant role. 

They have suggested for years that so-called forever chemicals lurking in everything from pots and pans to raincoats can wreak havoc on the body’s reproductive hormones, with one study finding that women with higher levels of these chemicals in their blood had a 40 percent lower chance of getting pregnant.

Bisphenol-A and phthalates have also been linked to lower egg yields in women and poor semen quality in men. 

Both common chemicals can be found in plastic containers, including baby bottles, receipts, fragrances, soaps, and lotions.

Mrs Phillips, a nurse anesthetist, was surprised to learn she was pregnant with her daughter Sage when her son Levi was just 10 months old. 

She believes that reduced exposure to chemicals helped her body self-regulate.

She tossed anything in her Connecticut home that contained chemicals known to disrupt the body’s delicate hormone balance. 

Ditching her body wash and other plastic containers reduced her exposure to forever chemicals, or PFAS.

PFAS are sealants for cookware, rugs and carpeting, waterproof clothing, food packaging, stain-removing sprays, and house paint.

These chemicals, which take years to break down naturally, have also infiltrated Americans’ water supply, with one government study out earlier this year showing that 71 million to 95 million people live in areas where their water supply is contaminated with the chemicals.

Kirstie also sought to eliminate bisphenol-A (BPA), often used as a protective lining on the inside of drink cans.

It can also be found in baby bottles, water bottles, pacifiers, and baby toys.

BPA, like PFAS, disrupts the body’s hormone system, interferes with the development of eggs in the ovaries, making them less likely to mature properly, lowers the production of estrogen, and increases the odds of early pregnancy loss by disrupting the hormonal balance needed to maintain a healthy uterus.

Phthalates are another chemical that interferes with reproduction. They are found in the kinds of home fragrances that Mrs. Phillips tossed.

Commonly used to make plastics more durable, phthalates have been found to trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, causing DNA and protein damage in the blood, ultimately impacting the quality of eggs developed in the uterus.

They also have the potential to cause ovarian failure, leading to infertility.

According to 2015 research published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology, stopping exposure to harmful chemicals may help reverse damage to the ovaries, depending on how long the exposure lasted and which follicles were affected.

However, eliminating phthalates entirely is an unattainable goal.

The researchers behind that study said: ‘Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental toxicants to which humans are exposed daily.

‘Although removal of toxicant exposure may be beneficial in restoring ovarian function, exposure to many EDCs including phthalates cannot be completely removed.’

Scientists worldwide have long warned about the consistent drop in fertility rates. By 2100, around 93 percent of countries globally are projected to see a dip in fertility rates below the levels necessary to keep population levels from shrinking.

Among the causes that international scientists have pinpointed were endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Dr Tracey Woodruff, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said: ‘This is really an important issue because it impinges on people’s ability to choose pregnancy should they want to choose pregnancy.

‘We know that the number and amount of them are increasing and we know that some of them can directly impact male and female reproductive health.’

A study published last year by doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York reported that higher exposure to PFAS chemicals was linked to a lower likelihood of clinical pregnancy and live birth in a group of Singaporean women.

After eliminating toxins from her life, the Phillips’ conceived through IVF and later became pregnant naturally

Specifically, the study revealed that women exposed to a combination of seven PFAS had 30 percent to 40 percent lower odds of achieving a clinical pregnancy within a year and delivering a live birth.

Dr Nathan Cohen, PhD, a public health researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said: ‘Our study strongly implies that women who are planning pregnancy should be aware of the harmful effects of PFAS and take precautions to avoid exposure to this class of chemicals, especially when they are trying to conceive.’