Do Cell Phones Affect Sperm Quality?

(WebMD)  There just might be a connection between a suspected decline in male fertility and increased cell phone use, but experts say much more research is needed to confirm an association.

In a study led by researchers from The Cleveland Clinic, men who used their cell phones the most had poorer sperm quality than those who used them the least.

The lowest average sperm counts seemed to be in men who had the most cell phone use (more than four hours a day); those who didn't use cell phones seemed to have the highest. Although the sperm count appears to go down with increasing cell phone use, the difference in numbers wasn't significant.

The findings do not prove a link between cell phone use and semen quality, researcher Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D., tells WebMD.

Unanswered Questions

Agarwal presented the study in a poster session at the 62nd annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in New Orleans.

"This is still very preliminary and I would not want these findings misinterpreted as showing that cell phone use is a definite cause of decreased [male] fertility," he says. "There are still many unanswered questions."

About a billion people worldwide now use cell phones, and some projections suggest that within the next five years that number could double.

A link between cell phone use and reduced sperm counts has been suggested in several earlier studies, but none has been considered conclusive.

Sperm Quality and Cell Phones

The new study included 364 men being evaluated for infertility between September 2004 and October 2005.

In addition to undergoing tests to determine sperm quantity and quality, the men answered questions about their cell phone habits.

Most of the men had sperm counts that were well above the 20 million sperm per milliliter level that is considered the lower limit of normal. But the more the men in the study used their phones, the lower their sperm count tended to be.

The average sperm count among men who said they did not use cell phones was 86 million per milliliter, compared with 76 million/mL for men who used cell phones less than two hours a day and 71 million/mL for men who used cell phones two to four hours a day.

Men who reported using their cell phones more than four hours a day had the lowest average sperm counts — 66 million/mL.

Significant downward trends were seen when other sperm-quality parameters were measured, such as percentages of sperm swimming well, alive sperm, and normal sperm shape.

Laptops and Diapers

Cell phones are not the only modern conveniences suspected of influencing sperm counts. At least one study has suggested that wearing disposable diapers as a baby can influence adult fertility, and another proposed a link between laptop use and sperm quality.

But none of these suspected environmental influences has been proven to influence male fertility, says Rebecca Sokol, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology.

Her own research suggests a link between air pollution and declining sperm quality.

Sokol calls the cell phone study "provocative" but far from conclusive.

"This is an interesting observation that may lead to larger, more controlled studies to see if the observation holds up," she tells WebMD.

But she acknowledges that such studies may be difficult to do.

An infertility specialist at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, Sokol says there isn't a lot she can tell patients when they ask about suspected environmental influences on male fertility.

"I tell them what we know, which isn't a lot," she says. "We know that high (scrotal) temperature is bad for sperm, and we think that smoking, drinking, and marijuana use are probably bad. But we still have a lot to learn."

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SOURCES: 62nd annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine New Orleans, Oct. 21-25, 2006. Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D., director, Clinical Andrology Laboratory and Reproductive Tissue Bank; director of research, Reproductive Research Center, The Cleveland Clinic. Rebecca Sokol, M.D., Ph.D., president, Society for Male Reproduction and Urology; professor of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.

By Salynn Boyles
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D

[Syndicate]

I agree how'bout some mandatory science classes too. Lets think about this a cell phone will not fry your brain but it will cook your nuts?? How were they using these phones? Never mind. I don't want to know.

[rsabbatini-2009]

Modern societies live in a state of fear. Fear which is stoked (and with a good measure of gasoline to increase the fires) by poor scientists and ignorant journalists and editors. The study reported here is very bad, because well trained scientists should know better that epidemiological associations such as this have no value at all. It could be that low sperm count and use of cell phones are correlated to a third (so-called intervenient) variable, such as both groups taking too much cofee on disposable plastic cups (which release estrogens, i.e., feminine hormones, widely regarded as risk substances for sperm production). Shame on them, this is sensationalism, not science. Second, because gullible or science-ignorant (or worst) editors agree to divulge such kind of science. Enough is enough. I am in favor of mandatory statistics classes for media people (and for some scientists too)...

Low sperm count is probably the reason for, rather than the result of, overuse of cell phones. Males with higher sperm counts are probably doing something more productive than sticking a cell phone in their ear.

[noelconsy]

No, I do not think cell phones affect sperm quality. I do not think Americans today are the same from 39 years ago . . . . during the baby boom generation. And eggs can be fertilized and placed in a mother to be's womb.

Sperm quality is not any longer a vital issue of our day. And, ultimately, most people only wanted to have children because they were told we don't live forever. . . . .

[hocuspocus69]

I have been using cell phones for many years. I have six kids, each of which is gender questioned and exhibit cycloptic tendencies, but I don't blame cell phones for morphing my sperm. Face it. We live in a volital society. Look at how screwed up women are since the 1950's. No one blames it on a diet low in Pork. A little twisted chemistry may be the price we have to pay for the modern conveniences we all love, like projectile salad makers, self draining pasta pots and of course the devil itself...television. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[random_radar]

The subtle message of the article is that real men don't use cell phones. I am throwing mine away today and see if it helps my love life.

[jecca25]

When will the media realize that a study where the results are not "significant" means just that? In case you don't get the point, it means that statistically and thus, in reality there is NO DIFFERENCE between the two samples (ie the guy who used his cell phone for 4 hrs and the guy who never touched it). Why, I then ask, does this article even exist? Oh yes, I know, to make people afraid of something that isn't real...

[cathaleen]

Where do they find this stuff? That's insane.

[vegaslife1]

Okay that is probably the most ridiculous thing I have heard. Why would you be doing a study on sperm count and what the factors are that might make it low??? Really that is just silly!!!

[random_radar]

When you take statistics, they teach you a classic case of false causality. In the summer, crime rates go up. Ice cream sales also go up. Therefore, eating ice cream causes crime.

Just because you can find a correlation doesn't imply a causal relationship. This study is similar to the recent study implying a relationship between autism and television watching. Unless you can elucidate the causal factor, it is merely numerical sleight of hand.