Chemical exposure and sperm health

So, my mind is spinning as usual. Especially after having a chemical pregnancy last week. For the past few weeks, they have been replacing the roof at my husband’s workplace and he says the fumes are so strong, and it gives him headaches daily. It’s a small building and there’s only maybe 8 people total including my husband who work in the building. When they started the work on the roof, my husband asked the roofer if it was safe for staff with all the chemicals. He wasn’t too sure, but said no cars are allowed in the parking lot (due to possible chemical damage to windshields) and the chemicals could affect eyeglasses as well. My husband gave his staff off the first day, but was then informed it could take a few weeks and there’s no other building they can stay in until the job is finished. I told him to talk to his supervisor or HR about the safety, but he said he spoke to maintenance who’s giving him a hard time and no one seems to care[emoji853]

Googling sperm lifespan, it seems to live for 74 days in a man’s body. My question would be would these chemicals affect his sperm and possibly cause miscarriage or birth defects? Do I need to wait a few months after the roof is finished for the chemicals to leave his body before ttc again? We also are 36 and 43, so ttc ASAP. But we don’t want to increase chances of genetic or birth defects due to chemical exposure. Not sure if this is just me being a worry wart or if we need to worry about this. Thank you for any info you can provide!


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I'm sorry for your loss. I doubt the fumes are toxic enough to impact his sperm. However, I don't know what chemicals people are being exposed to and at what level. I will say this though, chemical pregnancies are actually quite common. Most people don't even know about them since many don't test until AF is late. They're not caused by anything you did or didn't do and same goes for your DH. It's just crappy luck unfortunately. It's really a miracle healthy babies are even conceived at all!

The reason why the cars can't be in the parking lot is almost certainly due to the chances of overspray and not just fumes in the air.

I want to take you back to your concerns about the MRI machine. There are thousands of guys spraying roofing materials all day long every day for years on end. If there was that strong an effect that even an incidental exposure of one time of a person in a building who wasn't even handling the stuff could cause massive damage to the sperm those guys doing that job all the time would have no kids and the whole world would know about it. There would be no way they could have run a worldwide cover up hiding that information. My husband has handled (personally handled) lots of that kind of thing at various jobs and in our day to day lives and we have 5 normal healthy kids (including one we got when he was 42).

I would not ever tell someone to hold off for that kind of thing.

Ksmom thank you so much for your support. That really helps to know that it’s very common, and helps to get rid of the guilt I’ve been feeling. I keep thinking what did I do wrong, out in the sun too much maybe or did I lift something that was too heavy etc. New life really is a miracle!

Thank you Atomic! It’s such a relief to hear you personally had experience with this sort of thing, but no health issues to any of your babes. Especially at our age, everything seems to worry me. That is such a great point that there would have been info on people who work with chemicals being infertile or having kids with birth defects. I really need to start thinking that way so I don’t make myself worry so much. That really will help me think logically. I need that lol [emoji854]


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