Last updated April 12, 2019
Cell phones may be the cause of low sperm count in some men, with studies suggesting that men who want children should switch off their old cell phones. Researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada, believe that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by used cell phones could be leading to decreased fertility in males.
“Our study is an eye opener that electromagnetic waves may have an effect on fertility,” reckons sexual medicine researcher Dr Rany Shamloul, who led the research. “It’s not a done deal, but it’s a red flag that more research needs to be done.” Shamloul and his fellow researchers discovered that levels of the luteinizing hormone, a hormone vital to the male reproductive system that is produced in the brain, were lowered by exposure to cell phones; a result that Shamloul says could have a long-term effect on men’s reproductive abilities.
The study, which followed over 2000 men who attended an Austrian facility clinic in the 14 year period between 1993 and 2007, has just been published in the online edition of the journal known as Andrologia. The study found that there was a “significant difference” in the sperm counts of men who used cell phones and those who did not. “The initial sperm count decreased,” Shamloul, notes. “Even the ability of the sperm to move decreased over time.”
Devra Davis from the US Environmental Health Trust is unsurprised by the results of the study. “The evidence that cell phone radiation can damage sperm and DNA is growing,” she says.