Mobile phones ring alarm bells over male fertility

By MARTIN JOHNSTON AND THE INDEPENDENT

The fertility of men who make long calls on a cellphone or just carry one in a trouser pocket may be at risk, new research has found.

Regular cellphone use can reduce sperm counts by up to 30 per cent, say Hungarian scientists.

A New Zealand fertility scientist, Dr John Peek, said it was an interesting study but was only the first stage of research. More powerful studies would be needed to establish the link it suggested.

Some 2.8 million people in New Zealand have mobile phones.

Telecom said last night that cellphone use remained safe.

"We understand from media reports to date that the study is small and its findings are not consistent with the bulk of evidence so far on the health hazards of mobile phones," said Telecom spokeswoman Sarah Berry.

The Hungarian study, being presented in Berlin today at a European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting, adds to health concerns about mobile phone use.

Dr Imre Fejes, from the University of Szeged in Hungary, said the study found that men who carried a phone with them on stand-by throughout the day had a significantly lower sperm concentration than men not continually exposed to cellphone radiation.

Sperm motility - swimming power - was similarly affected by mobile phone transmissions.

The numbers and motility of sperm affect a man's ability to father a baby.

The research is the first to show that male fertility may be damaged by electromagnetic signals from mobile phones.

"The prolonged use of cellphones may have a negative effect on spermatogenesis and male fertility that presumably deteriorates both concentration and motility, " Dr Fejes said.

But he admitted that further studies were necessary to confirm the results.

Experts have not yet reached firm conclusions about the safety of mobile phones because study findings have been contradictory.

The World Health Organisation says current evidence indicates that mobile phone radiation is unlikely to cause cancer and no special user precautions are necessary, but further research is needed. It suggests concerned individuals limit call length or use hands-free devices to keep the phone away from the head and body.

Professor Hans Evers, a past chairman of the society and a gynaecologist in the Netherlands, urged caution when interpreting the new findings. He questioned whether the results could have been influenced by lifestyle, social background and age.

THE STUDY

221 participants.

Studied for 13 months.

Divided into the men who carried a mobile phone for most of the day and those who did not own one.

Average sperm counts 59.11 million sperm per millilitre of seminal fluid in men who carried a mobile phone on standby all day.

82.97 million in those without a mobile phone.

Swimming power 36.31 per cent of sperm were rapidly mobile in men who made lengthy calls.

51.34 per cent were rapidly mobile in men who made no calls.