A new medical study has shown that mobile phones have been linked to most bad things such as tumors, eye cancer, and an increased risk of car accidents. Now mobile phone usage could affect male fertility.
A research team led by Ashok Agarwal at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio found that heavy mobile phone use may contribute to a reduced sperm count leading to less viable sperm.
The study found that men who use mobile phones for over four hours each day were more likely to have problems with sperm viability that could lead to infertility problems and they produce 40 per cent less sperm than those who don’t use mobile phones at all.
Previous studies have shown that close exposure to radiation from mobile phones also damages sperm in the lab.
"These cells in the testes have been shown to be susceptible to electromagnetic waves in previous research in animals," said Professor Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Centre in Ohio.
"Somehow electromagnetic waves may be causing direct damage to these cells and that perhaps causes a decrease in sperm production," he said.
There are also fears that a mobile may increase temperature in the groin if carried in the hip-pocket.
"Sperm is very temperature sensitive as shown by many studies, and a short-term rise in temperature could be responsible," Professor Agarwal said.
However, Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, says he doesn't think the results prove that mobiles decrease fertility rates in men . He believes there could be other explanations for the findings.
"Maybe people who use a phone for four hours a day spend more time sitting in cars, which could mean there’s a heat issue. It could be they are more stressed, or more sedentary and sit about eating junk food getting fat . Those seem to be better explanations than a phone causing the damage at such a great distance" Pacey said.
Mobile calls put sperm on hold
Thu, 26 Oct 2006
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