You may want to put down your cell phone if you’re planning on having kids anytime soon. According to an article in the latest Journal of Andrology, recent reports have suggested there is a “possible link between cell phone use and semen quality.” The author of the article, Dr. Sandro La Vignera from the University of Catania, refers to one 2008 report which studied 361 men in an infertility clinic, which concluded that there was a direct link to the “duration of cellular phone possession” and decreased semen quality. One study performed on rabbits found that those who were exposed to a mobile phone emitting at 800MHz for 8 hours a day over 12 weeks had a decrease in sperm concentration just six weeks into the study. Sperm motility, or how properly a sperm can swim towards can egg, began to falter in the tenth week. Similar results were found in rats and mice, too. Read on for more.
In general, clinical studies have concluded that cellular use is “associated with decreased sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and viability.” According to La Vignera, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (EF-EMR) “reduces testosterone biosynthesis, impairs spermatogenesis, and damages sperm DNA.” Despite the evidence, however, the author concludes that more studies are still necessary. For example, Dr. Joel Moskowitz of the Center for Family and Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley told CNET that it’s still unclear whether GSM or CDMA handsets are better for sperm health. “If more research is done, and we have more solid results, consumers could be presented with a choice,” Dr. Moskowitz said. “there might be phones or cell services that have less impact on our productive organs than others.”
[Via CNET]
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