PCBs may impede IVF success: Failed embryo implantation linked to exposure

Abstract

Although banned from production in the United States and other developed countries in the late 1970s, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) remain widespread environmental contaminants found in measurable amounts in the general population. These compounds have been linked to longer time to pregnancy and increased pregnancy loss in both epidemiologic and experimental research. A new study pinpoints failed embryo implantation in the uterus as a possible mechanism for these outcomes [EHP 119(7):1010-1016; Meeker et al.].