Taxonomy term

When it's most successful, in vitro fertilization, or IVF, yields far more embryos than a couple could ever use (unless that couple is the offspring-obsessed Duggar family). There are frequently frozen embryos left over, and the options for what to do with them are limited: destroy them, donate them to research — or, rarely, to other couples — or continue storing them in liquid nitrogen for a fee. There is very little consistency in terms of how fertility clinics ask patients for their preference.

A new study suggests a chemical widely found in a variety of household products may reduce the success of in vitro fertilization and damage human eggs.

Researchers at UC San Francisco analyzed the blood of 26 infertile women and their eggs. The eggs had been collected for in vitro fertilization.

The team found that those women with the most bisphenol-A (or BPA) in their blood had the least viable eggs, and vice versa. Indeed, as the blood levels of BPA in the women doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent.