"Do Cell Phones Lower Sperm Counts?"
Are men talking their reproductive health away?
There have been unexplained declines
in semen quality reported in several countries.
Might cell phones be playing a role as radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation
from these devices could potentially affect sperm development and function?
The cell phone industry bristles at the "r" word, radiation,
preferring the more innocuous sounding RF-EMFs.
They do have a point though about it being used by snake-oil hucksters
of radiation "protection" gadgets.
Radiation need not be atomic bomb gamma rays,
but just the warm glow of sunshine on your face; that's radiation, too.
The question is: does the specific type of radiation
emitted by cell phones affect male fertility?
After the World Health Organization declared
that cell phones could possibly cause brain cancer, many folks were like,
no problem, I'll just keep it in my pants and use Bluetooth or something.
Away from the brain, but close to the gonads.
Put all the studies together, including nearly 1,500 semen samples and—
Exposure to mobile phones was associated with reduced sperm motility and viability,
though not necessarily sperm concentration.
How much less could they swim?
Sperm motility only appeared to be about 8% less,
and so that alone may not actually translate into reduced fertility,
unless you're starting out with a marginal sperm count in the first place.
So especially for men who already have fertility problems,
it might be better to avoid keeping an active cell phone
next to your crotch for long periods of time.
Cell phones may just be one of a bunch of things that could potentially add up.
For example, Wi-Fi may be an issue.
So researchers got semen samples from more than a thousand guys,
and the total number of swimmers—motile sperm—
were decreased in a group who used wireless internet.
OK, but these were all just observational studies.
Maybe men who use Wi-Fi just tend to smoke more or do more horseback riding
or something and that's the reason for the apparent link.
You don't know until you put it to the test.
Unfortunately, many of the studies are like this: on rats.
So while the microwaves emitted from a cell phone
do not appear to affect rat testicles,
it can be argued that you can't necessarily extrapolate
from these animal models since, for example,
their scrotums are nonpendulous, meaning their testicles
are more inside their bodies rather than out swinging around.
So at least until proven otherwise, it's recommended
that men with fertility issues may not want to keep their cell phones
in their front pants pocket, in close proximity to their testicles.
Even when not in use, cell phones emit radiation
to keep pinging their location, though the main exposure is during talk mode,
where it may still remain in the pocket thanks to headsets these days.
And then what happens
when you have it in proximity to other common metal objects?
Here's a cross-section at crotch level.
There's the phone.
You may have a metal zipper, key ring in your pocket.
You know, when all three objects were added,
the S.A.R., the amount of radiation absorbed into the testicles,
was generally increased, even approximately doubled.
But that's only a problem if the radiation does actually damage sperm.
How hard is it to just design a study where you just wave a cell phone
over some human sperm in a Petri dish to see if it's an issue?
And...here we go.
Significantly more DNA fragmentation in sperm
exposed to cell phone radiation, starting within an hour of exposure.
Such a dramatic effect that they suggest
women might not want to pocket their cell phones for a few days
after trying to get pregnant so as to not put the sperm at further risk.