Posted on 10/24/2006 10:54:22 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Mobile phones are a serious hazard for sperm, according to a new US study which shows fertility plummets in men who use their mobiles a lot.
The study, released at a medical conference in New Orleans this week, demonstrated a clear connection between hours spent chatting on a mobile and sparse and lazy sperm.
Men who used mobile phones for more than four hours a day were found to have 25 percent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile.
The sperm quality was also poorer in those who frequently used mobiles, with the sperm swimming ability a crucial factor in conception down by a third.
Professor Ashok Agarwal, who led the study that tested 360 men from the US and India, told The Daily Mail that electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets may be damaging cells vital to fertility.
"These cells in the testes have been shown to be susceptible to electromagnetic waves in previous research in animals," said Professor Ashok 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 are proof that mobiles are decreasing 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 theres 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.
It was reported that men who wore boxer style underwear had a more ventilated scrotal area and high sperm motility.
Conversely men who wore jockey shorts were less jocular, (Jock_error). ((pun for the day))
I wonder if a combining of the two data sets will provide some pregnant knowledge!
Any pics?
Since I'm too old to be having children now anyway, it's really not a problem.
Where do you guys normally put your cell phones when your not using them?
In your pants pocket?
Maybe that is the problem.
Did the study consider where the phones are when not in use but turned on?
BTW Some of these answers are pretty comical.
Kilts, anyone?
You self-centered person, you!
My four kids all agree I don't have this problem.
I wish I could say that the hat was a "hair raising" experiene but we all thought that this item was not a "man thing!" so they were in the trash cans before 4th of July!
Maybe a air cooled cup might work. Kilt? Gotta be a "Braveheart" to wear one of them. I did run across of picture of Queen Elizabeth surrounded by her Scotish Guard. She was seated and so were the guards to the left and the right. The guard immediately to her right didn't know how to "sit like a lady" and did reveal that, "You don't wear underwear under a kilt!"
Well now we know for sure your not Larry King or that fellow from the Odd Couple posting here. : )
LOL!
Yes. A girl. ;)
*applause*
Too many phone sex chat lines?
Just gonna look that up! lol!
Hah! I believe you when #6 kid shows up. : )
BTW... I don't even own a cell phone.
Sorry...won't happen. My wife shopped around and found me a great rate on a little urological procedure, it cleared that kid-production process right up.
It only cost us a couple bags of dog food, and I had to go to the clinic on the third Thursday of the month. I still don't know what that paper cone around my neck was all about...
...oh...and it came with a free rabies shot.
LOL! Hey, that kind of looks like the business end of that tool used to unclog toilets. :>
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