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Review

Environmental Erectile Dysfunction: Can the Environment Really Be Hazardous to Your Erectile Health?

From the Department of Urology, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.

Correspondence to: Dr Arthur Burnett, Department of Urology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N Wolfe Street, Marburg 407, Baltimore, MD 21287-2411 (e-mail: aburnett{at}jhmi.edu).

Abstract

The proposal that exposures to environmental or occupational substances may affect erection ability is a tenable one and would add to a growing list of pathogenic risk factors associated with erectile dysfunction. Several lines of evidence gained by clinical epidemiologic and biomedical research investigations lend support. Several environmental toxicants to include lead, organic solvents, and pesticides have been implicated as possibly hazardous agents. Effects on the nervous and hormonal systems have been proposed as the leading mechanisms by which environmental toxicants adversely impact erectile function. Synthesis of the current evidence supports a possible risk association between environmental exposures and erectile dysfunction. However, scientific support is lacking to establish a direct causal association at this time. More scientific work is needed to identify specific environmental agents that may harm erectile function and define their exact mechanisms of action in this regard.