Recent study has shown that perfluorinated chemicals can lead to fertility problems and delay in pregnancy in women. These chemicals are used in food packaging, pesticides, clothing, upholstery, carpets and personal care products.

Research team led by Dr. Jorn Olsen, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA's School of Public Health studied data collected from 1,240 women who had participated in the Danish National Birth Cohort. Researchers questioned these women on the time it had taken them to become pregnant, while they also collected blood samples.

Researchers measured that the blood levels of PFOS and PFOA in the blood samples. The study subjects were divided into four groups. Data analysis showed that women in from three groups with the highest levels of PFOS had taken from 70 percent to 134 percent longer to get pregnant as compared to women with the lowest PFOS levels.

UCLA researcher Chunyuan Fei, the study’s co-author said: “Perfluorooctanoate and perfluorooctane sulfonate were considered to be biologically inactive, but recently, animal studies have shown that these chemicals may have a variety of toxic effects on the liver, immune system and developmental and reproductive organs.”