BATMAN
10-25-2006, 10:49 AM
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A study found a worrying link between poor sperm and the amount of time a man spends on his mobile.
Those who used a handset for more than four hours a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile, according to results released at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans this week.
They also had the poorest quality sperm.
Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or by the heat they generate.
The findings suggest millions may have difficulty in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones, and offer another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males, which have fallen by 29 per cent over the past decade.
The latest study backs up previous research which indicated a link between mobile phone use and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date.
Researchers in the US cities of Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, India, looked at 361 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic.
They were divided into four groups, with 40 never using a mobile, 107 men using them for less than two hours a day, 100 men using them for two-four hours daily and 114 making calls for four or more hours a day.
The main finding was that on four measures of sperm – potency count, motility, viability and morphology – there were significant differences between the groups.
The greater the use of mobiles, the greater the reduction in each measure. Motility measures the swimming ability of sperm, viability measures whether non-swimming sperm are still alive and morphology is the appearance compared to the norm.
Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the study, said: "People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be . . . mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility."
Professor Agarwal said it was too early to advise men trying to start a family about whether they should limit their mobile phone use.
He said: 'We still have a long way to go to prove this, but we have just had another study approved.'
More than 40million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones. Alasdair Philips, director of the consumer pressure group Powerwatch, said: "It's a plausible link between the amount of time spent using a mobile phone and a possible effect on male fertility.
"The eyes, breasts and testicles are the areas of the body most likely to absorb the energy and many men carry their mobiles attached to their belt."
Sending text messages uses less power than talking but it can be a more intense emission of radiation, he said.
"I've seen men on trains spending two or three hours continually texting with their mobile phones held in their laps," he said. "We advise people to send a text with their arm outstretched next to the window when travelling on a train."
He said local heating of the groin triggered by a mobile phone might also be involved in affecting sperm quality.
"Sperm is very temperature-sensitive, as shown by many studies," he said.
However, Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "This is a good-quality study but I don't think it tackles the issue.
"If you're using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer. That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?"
He said mobile phone use may be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality.
"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."
A study found a worrying link between poor sperm and the amount of time a man spends on his mobile.
Those who used a handset for more than four hours a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile, according to results released at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans this week.
They also had the poorest quality sperm.
Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or by the heat they generate.
The findings suggest millions may have difficulty in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones, and offer another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males, which have fallen by 29 per cent over the past decade.
The latest study backs up previous research which indicated a link between mobile phone use and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date.
Researchers in the US cities of Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, India, looked at 361 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic.
They were divided into four groups, with 40 never using a mobile, 107 men using them for less than two hours a day, 100 men using them for two-four hours daily and 114 making calls for four or more hours a day.
The main finding was that on four measures of sperm – potency count, motility, viability and morphology – there were significant differences between the groups.
The greater the use of mobiles, the greater the reduction in each measure. Motility measures the swimming ability of sperm, viability measures whether non-swimming sperm are still alive and morphology is the appearance compared to the norm.
Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the study, said: "People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be . . . mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility."
Professor Agarwal said it was too early to advise men trying to start a family about whether they should limit their mobile phone use.
He said: 'We still have a long way to go to prove this, but we have just had another study approved.'
More than 40million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones. Alasdair Philips, director of the consumer pressure group Powerwatch, said: "It's a plausible link between the amount of time spent using a mobile phone and a possible effect on male fertility.
"The eyes, breasts and testicles are the areas of the body most likely to absorb the energy and many men carry their mobiles attached to their belt."
Sending text messages uses less power than talking but it can be a more intense emission of radiation, he said.
"I've seen men on trains spending two or three hours continually texting with their mobile phones held in their laps," he said. "We advise people to send a text with their arm outstretched next to the window when travelling on a train."
He said local heating of the groin triggered by a mobile phone might also be involved in affecting sperm quality.
"Sperm is very temperature-sensitive, as shown by many studies," he said.
However, Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "This is a good-quality study but I don't think it tackles the issue.
"If you're using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer. That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?"
He said mobile phone use may be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality.
"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."