Blog written by Laboratory Staff Nisha
We have all heard about how cell phones may be linked to brain cancer. I recently came across a study which now links cell phones to a decrease in sperm quality. In a study done at an infertility clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, 371 men were put into groups based on daily cell phone usage. The study found that men who did not use cell phones daily had a much higher sperm count, motility, viability, and morphology than those who did. Further more, these sperm quality factors declined more as cell phone usage increased among the groups.
Of course this study has its flaws, as does every study. The researchers didn’t actually keep track of how much the men used their cell phones during the study. The grouping was done solely based on previous usage. They also didn’t consider where these men kept their phones when not in use. Cell phones that are on though inactive still transmit signals, and every guy that I know keeps his phone in his pocket or clipped to his belt. The study also stated that each cell phone – depending on the carrier company and type of phone – transmits electromagnetic waves of different lengths, but they did not look into how these varied wavelengths affect sperm quality. The researchers do address some likely reasons as to how cell phones interrupt spermatogenesis, but only through speculation and not actual research.
Because there are so many holes in this study it opens doors for new ones to occur. An article in the February 2011 issue of Scientific American points out that cell phone radiation’s effect on tissue temperatures should also be looked into. This makes sense because spermatogenesis uses enzymes that function at lower temperatures than enzymes found elsewhere in the body, which is why the male reproductive organs are located externally. We often see that in the summer, donors are more likely to produce sperm samples that do not meet our high standards, and this is probably why.
Not only would I like all of the aforementioned issues addressed, but I’d like to see how female fertility is affected as well. I don’t normally carry a purse, so my Blackberry stays in my front pocket all day. It seems unlikely to get everybody to stop using cell phones as much as we do, but even if that were possible what would we do about all of the wireless internet signals and other electromagnetic waves travelling through the air that we never think about?
The published study discussed in this post can be found at: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/reproductiveresearchcenter/docs/agradoc239.pdf
