The doctors have now come to the conclusion that the increase in infertility rate is 100% linked to the environmental toxicity but which can be resolved by a few medical suggestions. One in five couples trying to have children in the United States today is struggling with infertility challenges, yet a large number of them can find no clear medical cause. This number has skyrocketed over the last three decades; with one measure of fertility, average male sperm count, dropping more than 50% during that time. For those experiencing infertility, the pain and longing for a child can be an awful day and night reality. Many studies now point to one or more of the triple factors of environmental toxicity, lifestyle, and emotional health that appear to be precursors to the problem. Now, however, infertile couples and health professionals can learn about non-medical and complementary strategies for offsetting this outbreak of lowered fertility. "I began to research the large amount of literature on the non-medical causes for infertility during my own fertility challenge several years ago," says Karin Clark Edmiston, a Northern California author of the recently published Get Pregnant Naturally: The Workbook. "In regard to environmental toxicity, there are many non-medical techniques that infertile couples can use to reduce exposure to chemicals with known effects on fertility and thereby greatly increase their likelihood of conceiving." Clark Edmiston points out that current studies specifically show the need for people trying to conceive to avoid exposure to coffee, smoking, the food additives MSG and BHA, alcohol 24 hours before conception, alcohol and marijuana in combination, exposure to solvents, PVC plastic and the pesticides chlordane and Dursban. While the exact mechanism that decreases fertility is still unclear with many food based and environmental chemicals, others such as chlordane, Dursban, BHA, and PVC plastic have been found to reduce fertility by confusing the body's estrogen receptors, and are often referred to as "environmental estrogens."