Does wildfire smoke exposure affect male firefighter reproductive health?

Fort Collins, CO — A team of researchers from Colorado State University is recruiting 100 active male wildland firefighters for a two-year study of the reproductive health effects of wildfire smoke.

Lead researcher Luke Montrose, an assistant professor in CSU’s Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, previously found a link between wildfire smoke exposure and altered sperm in mice. For the new study, the researchers will examine semen samples taken from participants before, during and after the wildfire season to look at sperm count, motility and evidence of epigenetic changes.

In addition, the team plans to produce targeted messaging on reproductive health for workers in the wildland firefighting field. Such messaging has “historically been generic and needs to improve,” researcher Ashley Anderson, associate professor in CSU’s Department of Journalism and Media Communication, said in a press release.

The Boise, ID-based National Interagency Fire Center has documented approximately 70,000 wildfires a year in the United States since 1983. Previous research notes that temperature changes, drought and snowmelt – especially in the late 1990s – may have contributed to warmer, drier conditions fueling more wildfires in parts of the Western United States.

“Our intention as a research group,” Montrose said in the release, “at a time when wildfires are getting worse and we need more firefighters than ever, is to be good stewards of risk communication and to help firefighters feel like they are able to do their job in a way that does not sacrifice important things like being able to create a family.”