Wildfire smoke is associated with a growing list of health impacts. New research now ties it to reproductive harm in bulls – a finding with implications for humans.
Raising cattle is big business in the West, and breeding facilities are an important part of it. In a new paper, researchers found that for every day of exposure to wildfire smoke, the chances of bull sperm samples being discarded for quality issues rose by 4% on average, with larger increases seen among Angus and Red Angus bulls.
Study co-author and Colorado State University Professor Sheryl Magzamen said that’s a small – but still significant – result.
“These small increases add up,” she said. “Especially to the bottom line of a facility, because smoke, we know in the Mountain West, is now an all year occurrence, right?”
Magzamen also pointed out that animals are often used to detect health impacts in humans, serving as so-called sentinel species.
“What happens when you get exposed season in and season out?” she asked. “What happens to people that are exposed as an occupational hazard?”
“We're really concerned about …our wildland firefighters as well, especially hotshots over a season,” she added. “What happens to their exposure over time?”
Additional research is underway looking at reproductive health impacts to wildland firefighters.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
