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Phones in trousers may reduce male fertility

DUBAI — Men who keep mobile phones in their trouser pockets could be risking their fertility, health experts have warned. Experts have said that male fertility was rapidly declining worldwide, including in the region. They also asked men to break taboos and stop blaming women for all fertility related issues.

Addressing a symposium on Fertility and Reproductive Medicine organised by Lifeway Specialised Medical Centre on Thursday, experts said that male fertility had dropped by more than 50 per cent over the past 60 years mainly due to factors related to modern lifestyle.

Increasing male obesity, tobacco use, pollution, pesticides, automobiles and even occupational hazards are some of the factors leading to an increase in male infertility, said Dr Ashok Agarwal, Director, Andrology Clinical and Research Laboratories, Cleveland Clinic.

He also said that half of the fertility problems in couples are related to men.

“Male fertility is affected more due to electromagnetic waves from mobile phones than females because of the structure of their reproductive organs,” he explained.

Quoting a study carried out by Cleveland Clinic, Dr Ashok said mobile phone usage was increasing rapidly worldwide with it reaching up to 40 per cent in some countries. “The same data is applicable in the UAE as well since it a rapidly developing country,” he added.

Obesity, he said was also another cause. “An increased body mass index means a decreased sperm count and low semen quality,” he explained.

According to Dr Nabil Aziz, Consultant Gynaecologist at the University of Liverpool in the UK more and more men were now seeking help.

“Seven per cent of children worldwide are now being born as a result of invitro fertilisation or (IVF),” he said. Over the past 60 years, sperm count in healthy men has reduced by half, which Dr Nabil said, had been proved through old and new studies.

On an average, a woman in the UAE is giving birth at the age of 30, therefore, we can say that both biological and behavioural factors have compounded the problem, said Dr Nabil.

“Many idiopathic causes for infertility are still being researched clinically,” said Dr Ashok adding that increased use of chemicals and pesticides in the food we eat is also having an alarming effect.

However, men are still in a denial mode. Infertility is not a woman’s problem alone, he stressed.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com