A pre-clinical animal study has found adverse links between high exposure to PFAS and male reproductive health.

For 12 weeks University of Newcastle researchers exposed mice to "environmentally relevant" levels of PFAS in their drinking water.

The levels of PFAS mirrored a sample of groundwater taken in 2019 from a contaminated site at Williamtown, near Newcastle.

Researchers found the mice's daily sperm production decreased, as did their testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels.

Testosterone and DHT are vital hormones for sperm production and fetal development.

"When we looked closely at the sperm, they kind of looked normal, they swam well, they were capable of fertilising an egg," one of the study's lead researchers Jacinta Martin said.

"But when we really dug into how

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