Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part B (2024)

Chlordecone, also identified as Kepone, is an organochlorine pesticide which was formerly used worldwide from 1972 to 1993 especially in the French West Indies for protecting banana plantation against weevil attack that has been banned to production and was included in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants due to its various toxic effects. As per literature, a variety of animals, including humans, rats, and birds, are affected by the neurotoxicity, cumulative and delayed toxicity, and as well as reproductive impairment caused by kepone. Concerns have been expressed regarding this's possible impacts on human health, especially in respect to how it may affect both male and female reproductive systems in terms of fertility, pregnancy, and levels of reproductive hormones. Testicular size may decrease due to chlordecone, and the quality of the sperm may also decline. Due to its estrogenic effects both in vitro and in vivo, chlordecone is also an endocrine disruptor. Recent epidemiological studies have demonstrated that exposure to chlordecone is linked to the development of poor health outcomes, including prostate cancer. Genes involved in cell division, DNA repair, and chromosomal segregation are also altered by ketone in the testis. Male reproductive system harmed by kepone, which led to a reduction in the number of progeny, a lengthening of generation times, and a fall in fertility and reproductive rate. Furthermore, the male reproductive toxicity of kepone can be passed on to the progeny. We seek to ascertain the scope of the effects of chlordecone exposure on reproductive health and discover any probable mechanisms behind these effects by reviewing the body of research already available on the subject.