Recent preliminary research shows that spending large amount of time on the cell phone daily could affect the quality of sperm produced.
Cleveland Clinic researchers took into account 361 men from their infertility clinic and found an association between the patient’s usage of the cell phone and sperm quality.
On an average, it was seen that the more hours the men spent on their phones the lower was their sperm count and the higher the percentage of it being an abnormal sperm.
The research published in the Fertility and Sterility journal posed questions about the health effects of cell phones and other wireless devices. Some studies though also showed that long term usage of cell phones increase the risk of brain tumors.
The concern is that the electromagnetic energy emitted by the cell phones could theoretically harm body tissues including damage to the DNA.
New findings do not actually prove that damage to the sperm is solely caused by cell phones but there is an eminent risk.
Lead researcher Dr. Ashok Agarwal said “Our results show a strong association of cell phone use with decreased semen quality. However, they do not prove a cause-and- effect relationship,”
Agarwal and his colleagues based the findings on semen samples from the 361 men who came to their clinic over one year who were all questioned about the cell phone habits.
Overall they found that the sperm count and quality tended to decline as the daily cell phone hours increased. The men who were said to use their cell phones for around four hours or more each day had the lowest average sperm count and had the fewest normal, viable sperm.
“We infer from our results that heavy cell phone use … is associated with a lower semen quality,” Agarwal said.
Agarwal said he and his colleagues have two studies underway aiming to shed light on the issue. One of which includes exposing semen samples to electromagnetic radiation from cell phones and observing what effects, if any, occur.
But whether cell phones did directly affect men’s fertility is still not clear. More studies will be needed to prove this.
The second study will be a follow-up to the current study that will assess a larger group of men, Agarwal said. This study will be rigorously designed and will take into consideration certain other factors like lifestyle habits and occupational exposure that might also affect sperm quality.