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More on EMF and effects of the cell phones, personally considering going off the grid of technology for good…bye bye phone, computer network and anything wireless for that matter. Snowlion
Mobile calls put sperm on hold
Elizabeth Gosch
OCTOBER 25, 2006SOME men see them as a status symbol, but research has found mobile phones could be destroying that other badge of masculinity – fertility.
Men who spent hours talking on their mobile phone had significantly lower sperm counts than usual, according to a study presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference.
Ashok Agarwal, from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio in the US, examined 364 male fertility patients and found heavy mobile phone use led to men producing fewer and poorer-quality sperm.
“There was a significant decrease in the most important measures of sperm health,” Dr Agarwal said.
“People use mobile phones without thinking what the consequences may be. It’s just like using a toothbrush – but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility.”
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He found that sperm count, viability, motility and shape declined as mobile phone usage increased.
Within the study group, those men who did not use mobile phones were found to have average sperm counts of 86million per millilitre. This dropped to 69 million per millilitre for men with mobile phones who used them less than two hours a day, 59million per millilitre for usage of two to four hours and 50million per millilitre for more than four hours a day.
A normal sperm count is considered to be anything from 20 million per millilitre to 150million per millilitre.
“The effect of mobile phones on sperm may be due to the electromagnetic radiation the devices emit or to the heat theygenerate,” Dr Agarwal said yesterday.
However, IVF Australia founder and reproductive medicine specialist Geoff Driscoll said other factors such as lack of exercise could be involved.
“People who spend more than four hours a day on their mobile phone are probably not doing physical work. They’re probably sitting down for long periods of time, which increases heat to thescrotal area, which affects spermproduction,” Professor Driscoll said.
“Without wanting to dismiss the study, I would want to look at the other factors involved.”
Professor Driscoll was in Sydney yesterday for a fertility conference, which heard from University of Melbourne researchers that IVF parents were less confident and more likely to seek help with their newborns than parents of naturally conceived babies.
The study found 17 per cent of women who gave birth after assisted conception sought help in caring for their baby compared with 6per cent of the general population.
Karin Hammarberg surveyed almost 200 women who conceived with assisted reproduction in Melbourne during late 2001.
She found that, compared with women who gave birth after spontaneous conception, IVF parents were more likely to feel anxious about baby care and more likely to be admitted to residential early parenting services in the first 18 months after birth.
“Infertility affects self-esteem and self-confidence,” Ms Hammarberg told the Fertility Society of Australia’s annual conference.
“A significant proportion of women who gave birth after ART (assisted reproductive technology) lack confidence in their ability to care for their baby.”
The Australian
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