A new study has found that keeping mobile phones in pants pocket adversely affects men's sperm quality due to the continuous exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
A new study claims that keeping a cell phone in pants pocket can have a negative impact on male fertility. According to the researchers from the University of Exeter, the radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) emitted by mobile phones impact the quality of the sperm.
The research, led by Dr Fiona Mathews of Biosciences at the University of Exeter, looked at 10 previously conducted studies on male fertility. Seven out of ten studies in the past widely investigated the sperm quality in three categories, motility, viability and concentration. Motility is the ability of the sperm to properly move towards the female reproductive tract and viability is the proportion of the live cells in sperm. Concentration is defined as the number of sperm per unit of semen.
The research also included men patients at fertility clinics and a control group with 50 to 85 percent of sperm with normal movement.
Out of 1,492 samples, the researchers found that the exposure to cell phone EMR lowered sperm motility by 8 percent and viability by 9 percent.
"Given the enormous scale of mobile phone use around the world, the potential role of this environmental exposure needs to be clarified," Mathews said in a press statement published by EurekAlert. "This study strongly suggests that being exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation from carrying mobiles in trouser pockets negatively affects sperm quality. This could be particularly important for men already on the borderline of infertility, and further research is required to determine the full clinical implications for the general population."
As alarming as the study findings sound, a leading fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, Dr Allan Pacey told Daily Mail that the results are based on unrealistic scenarios and need further investigations.
"In my opinion, the studies undertaken to date have been somewhat limited," he said. "That's because they have either sperm kept in a dish irradiated at frequencies used by mobile phones - which is not realistic - or they have made assessments of men's phone habits without adequately considering other aspects of their lifestyle."
The findings of the study are published online in the journal Environmental International.
