Mobile phones linked to small drop in sperm quality

Keeping mobile phones in pockets can affect
two important measures of sperm health, a study suggests.

To help clarify
whether radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones
can cause male fertility problems, researchers at the University of Exeter reviewed ten separate studies.

Sperm
quality was assessed by measuring motility (movement),
viability (number of sperm that are alive) and concentration of sperm cells in semen,
all of which are commonly used in the clinic to assess fertility. The researchers
found that while a control group had 50 to 80 percent normal movement, exposure
to mobile phones led to an eight percent drop in average motility. Mobile
phones also led to a nine percent drop in viability. The effects on
concentration were however unclear.

'This study strongly suggests that being
exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation from carrying mobiles in
trouser pockets negatively affects sperm quality', said lead researcher Dr Fiona Mathews.

The studies that were analysed looked at a total of
1,492 samples from men attending fertility clinics and research centres, and
comprised of both experimental in vitro and
observational in vivo studies.

However, the study has come under
criticism, with many pointing out that the results from such meta-analyses can
be problematic if the individual studies have inconsistencies.

Professor Neil McClure, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen's University Belfast, was not involved in the study. He said:
'This paper has
taken a number of much smaller papers and grouped them together. However, the
quality of data that has been pooled is flawed'.

'Subjects are often those who are already attending
an infertility clinic and subjects have self-reported their use of mobile
phones: it is not clear if this is continuous or intermittent usage. It would
be difficult to see how holding a mobile phone to one's ear could have a
significant pathological effect on sperm quality'.

Dr Allen Pacey, Senior
Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, has also raised concerns,
saying: 'There have been some crazy and alarming
headlines on this subject. But, in my opinion, the studies undertaken to date
have been somewhat limited'.

The authors of the meta-analysis have however also been cautious to point out that more work is now
needed. Dr Mathews said that 'further
research is required to determine the full clinical implications for the
general population'.

Speaking to the BBC, she added: 'This is interesting,
but we're obviously not saying that everyone who carries a phone in their
pocket is going to become infertile'.