Scientists say that air contamination might be putting off thousands of IVF pregnancies.

Yesterday, they revealed that fertility treatment success rates have ripped in polluted regions.

The results surfaced from the largest ecological research of its type and it may help out doctors to raise women's prospects of conceiving.

The most harmful toxins are released by power stations burning fossil fuel and from diesel waste. These emit a gas known as nitrogen dioxide that has damaging consequences on the female reproductive system.

It leads to complications that stop an egg from implanting in the womb.

Over 7,000 women of child-bearing age participated in a seven-year study spearheaded by physicians from Penn State College of Medicine, in Pennsylvania, US.

Scientists collected pollution statistics from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Then they estimated the everyday levels that each woman was exposed to all the way through IVF and pregnancy.

Dr. Duanping Liao said that since IVF entails such thorough examining of the patient, they could evaluate accurately the effect of contact to pollution on treatment, and succeeding pregnancies.

According to the study findings, printed in the journal Human Reproduction, every 0.01 ppm increase cuts down the chances by between 13 and 24%.