Men who talk on a cellphone for at least an hour every day double their risk of infertility, says a new study which indicates that the electromagnetic activity and heat coming from cell phones lower levels of healthy sperm so much that fathering a child could be difficult.
Several studies have found that the quality of sperm is decreasing in Western countries. Low sperm quality is considered to be the problem in 40 percent of couples having difficulty conceiving. Numerous studies have put at least some of the blame on cellphones.
The latest study, which was conducted at Haifa, Israel's Technion University, found that men who talked on their cellphones for more than an hour a day had a 60.9 percent chance of having abnormal sperm counts compared to 35.7 percent of the general population. Men who talked on their phones while they were charging had an even higher risk — 66 percent.
Where cellphones are kept also affected fertility. The study found that sperm levels were negatively affected in 47 percent of men who kept cellphones in their pants pocket compared to only 11 percent of men in the general population. Even keeping the phone beside their beds lowered sperm counts.
"We analyzed the amount of active swimming sperm and the quality and found that it had been reduced," said Professor Martha Dirnfeld, of the Technion University in Haifa.
"We think this is being caused by a heating of the sperm from the phone and by electromagnetic activity," she told the Daily Mail.
The Israeli study backs up previous studies which found cellphones affected fertility. Research in seven countries found that young men who are heavy users of cellphones drastically lower their sperm count.
"All the research shows the same thing," award-winning scientist Devra Davis told the Daily Mail. "Sperm exposed to mobile phone radiation in the lab is sicker, thinner, and less capable of swimming."
"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," Dirnfeld told the Telegraph.
Researchers suggest that men shorten the length of their calls, avoid carrying cellphones in their pants pockets, place the phone well away from their bodies while sleeping, and refrain from using the phones while they're charging.
The new study is published in Reproductive BioMedicine.
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