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Men using mobile phones at increased infertility risk

LAHORE: A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The report said that those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Doctors believed the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generated, it said.

The findings suggest millions of men might encounter difficulties in fathering a child because of the widespread use of mobile phones, and offer another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males.

According to the report, sperm counts among British men had fallen by 29 percent over the past decade, a drop that had also been blamed on increasing obesity, smoking, stress, pollution and ‘gender-bending’ chemicals, which disrupt the hormone system.

The latest study backs up previous research that indicated a link between the use of mobile phones and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date.

US researchers in Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, looked at more than 360 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic who were classified into three groups according to their sperm count, the report said.

Men who used a mobile for more than four hours a day had a 25 percent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile, the report said, adding that the men with highest usage also had greater problems with sperm quality, with the swimming ability of sperm — a crucial factor in conception — down by a third, it added. .

They had a 50 per cent drop in the number of properly formed sperm, with just one-fifth looking normal under a microscope.

Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who led the study, said, “Almost a billion people are using cell phones around the world and the number is growing in many countries at 20 to 30 percent a year. People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be. It is just like using a toothbrush, but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility. It still has to be proved, but it could have a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of our lives.”

It said that 361 men in the study 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, or appearance — there were significant differences between the groups.

The greater the use of mobile phones, the greater the reduction in each measure. Prof Agarwal was quoted as saying, “This was very clear. Many in the lowest group for sperm count would be below normal as defined by the World Health Organisation.”

According to WHO, a normal sperm count is above 20 million per millilitre of seminal fluid. “There was a significant decrease in the most important measures of sperm health with cell phone use and that should definitely be reflected in a decrease in fertility,” he said.

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.

According to the report, he said that although the men were seeking fertility treatment at a clinic in Mumbai, not all would have had a problem — it could be their partners.

Prof Agarwal said the most likely mechanism was damage to sperm-making cells in the testes caused by electromagnetic radiation or heat, although a fall in hormone production could also affect sperm motility and sperm DNA.

“These cells in the testes have been shown to be susceptible to electromagnetic waves in previous research in animals. Somehow electromagnetic waves may be causing direct damage to these cells and that perhaps causes a decrease in sperm production,” he added.

Mobiles may also increase temperature in the groin, if men wear it on a belt or carry it around in a pocket.

Prof Agarwal said it was too early to advise men trying to start a family whether they should limit their mobile phone use.

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 used less power than talking, but it could be a more intense emission of radiation, especially on trains, he added.

He said local heating of the groin triggered by a mobile phone could also be involved in affecting sperm quality.

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 was quoted as saying that mobile phone use could be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality. daily times monitor

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