Men who keep cell phones in their pocket are significantly more likely to suffer with infertility.
A new study has shown that having a cell phone close to the testicles or within a foot or two of the body can lower sperm counts to the point where conception becomes difficult. This has led fertility experts to caution men over their use of cell phones. Even keeping the phone on the bedside table was close enough to impair sperm quality.
The study showed a serious impairment in sperm quality in 47 percent of cases. According to Professor Martha Dirnfeld, of the Technion University in Haifa, “We analysed the amount of active swimming sperm and the quality and found that it had been reduced. We think this is being caused by a heating of the sperm from the phone and by electromagnetic activity.”
Professor Dirnfeld went on to say “If you are trying for a baby and it doesn’t happen within a year you might want to think of whether it could be your mobile phone habit that is to blame.”
Sperm counts have been falling dramatically in the last 60 years, and if they continue at the same pace we may end up with more infertile men than fertile men. According to the World Health Organisation, a normal sperm count is more than 20 million sperm per millilitre of semen. It is interesting to note that the so-called normal reference values have been falling in recent years; they have had to, otherwise very few normal men would be able to satisfy these criteria. Not only are sperm counts falling; levels of sperm with abnormal shape or movement are increasing.
A survey of 1,350 sperm donors in Paris found a decline in sperm counts by approximately two percent each year over the past 23 years. Interestingly younger men had the poorest quality semen.
For information on improving both male and female infertility see the book Infertility: The Hidden Causes.
References:
R.M.Sharpe, Current Evidence- Another DDT Connection, Nature, vol. 375, 15th June 1995
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12167957/Mobile-phones-are-cooking-mens-sperm.html
Men flying at one particular hilltop hang gliding site in Japan with an array of antennas found they were infertile, and when they investigated, their sperm were found to be severely damaged. This occurred only after the introduction of digital mobile phone systems. Prior to that, the pilots (I was one) had concerns over the antennas they were flying in front of, because we had all heard rumors of carcinogenicity, but we experienced no recognizable ill effects until digital signals were introduced about 20 years ago. I last flew there about 25 years ago.