February 25th, 2008
Study: talk on your cell four hours a day and your sperm count may suffer
Seems as though Ashok Agarwal, director of the andrology lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is working on a study that indicates that prolonged exposure to cellphone radiofrequency electromagnetic waves can lower a man’s sperm count.
And when that happens, fertility can be adverselely affected.
Publishing in the journal Fertility and Sterility (gee there are journals about everything, no?) Agarwal and his co-researchers note they examined 361 men under 40.
Agarwal’s team studied 361 men under 40 who were being evaluated for infertility; men whose personal or family history might explain a low count or other sperm abnormalities were excluded.
The researchers found a correlation between those who talked longest on their cell per day, and a drop in sperm count and quality.
Seems as though four hours a day is the tipping point. Longer than that, and, well, how should we put this? Those little fellers seem to have trouble swimming. Even an hour a day, and well, you know.
Agarwal says a reason for this could be heat generated by the mobiles. Sperm production is sensitive to temperature.
Although Agarwal cautions this research is preliminary, it makes you wonder. If a guy talks to his sweetheart a couple of hours during the day, and then drops by to see her most evenings, can “issues” arise?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
