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 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.
Whew, lucky I'm Italian!
See I always said I don't know why people freak out about cell phones messing with your brain. Mine spends way more time in my pocket. And what good is a brain without things down by your pocket?
Self centered? Me? I raised my four already. Why would I want more?
I never said I was unable. I'm just not willing to start the child rearing all over. I've already raised four, and currently raising a grandchild as well.
And you don't want your four to raise any of their own??
I would prefer that they raised their own. However, sometimes people's priorities are not where they should be, and someone has to be responsible.
This is exactly the reason why I refused to get my sperm its own cell phone.
Excessive iPod use causes hearing loss!
Chief cause of poverty low wages!
Any man using a cell phone four or hours a day is a woman anyway. :-)
You are a very Blessed man
Your wife is better cooler than you too.
Keep in touch with your lil rascals and don't buy a big screen tv because they will throw a baseball thorugh it.
Note to readers: please don't stick your arm out of the train, though! ;-)
So...does this take care of the bulk cell-phone purchases? Terrorists using cell-phone triggers will drop their reproductive rate? ;-)
Dang guys, I never knew we carried our sperm around in our ears. You younger dudes need to be very careful what you listen to.
Men think with their testicles, everyone knows that.
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