Men who keep cell phones close to their bodies are “cooking their sperm,” according to a new study in Israel.
The study, conducted by professors from the Technion University in Haifa, monitored the sperm levels of more than a 100 men attending a fertility clinic for one year.
While the sample size was deemed too small to draw definitive conclusions, the evidence was compelling enough to warrant further study, as the researchers found reduced sperm quality in 47 percent of the men who carried their cell phones close to their testicles during the day.
Ellie Marks, director of the San Francisco based, California Brain Tumor Association, is not surprised by the report.
“In the United States the FCC requires warnings concerning these risks,” said Marks. “But the warnings are in the back of the user manuals in fine print that nobody ever reads.”
The warnings Marks refers to state that cell phones should be kept between 5 and 25 millimeters away from the body at all times due to unsafe levels of radiation exposure.
Marks, who has testified before Congress in 2008 regarding the potential dangers of cell phones, said men aren’t the only demographic affected by the radiation emitted by cell phones.
Marks cites a study conducted in 2013 suggesting that young women who kept their cell phones in their bras had a higher risk of developing breast cancer regardless of family health history.
Most studies attempting to establish a link between cell phones and cancer have been inconclusive. Fertility, however, is another issue.
One of the authors of the study, Professor Martha Derfeld, theorizes the noted effects are caused by heating of the sperm due to electromagnetic activity.
The findings, published in the journal Reproductive Bioscience, lend support to the long-suspected correlation between the increased use of cell phones and the decrease in male fertility rates.
While no long-term studies have been conducted on a possible link between cell phone use and female fertility, the Technion University study is the latest of many in recent years to examine the effects of cell phone radiation and sperm health.
In 2008 by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio concluded its research on an increase in cell phone usage corresponded to a decrease in the quality of their subjects’ sperm, as did a similar study conducted in 2014 by the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
“I keep (my cell phone) in my pocket,” said Delta College student Jeremy Menchaca, “But I think if the doctors are saying there’s a chance it causes sperm issues, then it probably causes other issues as well, so it’s something to think about.”