?Is your cell on a belt loop or in the hip pocket?
There's a valid reason for asking this question. It might sound a bit far-fetched, but gentlemen, if you wear your cell phone or Blackberry in a hip pocket or on the belt or loop, you have 11 percent fewer mobile sperm than men who keep a phone elsewhere on the body.
The research just released by the Environmental Working Group(EWG) took a long, hard look at 10 scientific studies, and concluded that cell phone radiation damages sperm.
Dr. Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, suggests this is a wake-up call for fertility in men:
"We have enough evidence to issue precautionary health warnings," Moskowitz noted. "The evidence for sperm damage is quite consistent across many studies."
Radiation from cell phone exposure affects sperm in a few ways--in damage to DNA, through changes in sperm morphology, and as oxidative stress.
Almost six percent of men have a fertility problem, but what's surprising, is that 90 percent of male infertility cases, can be traced back to a low sperm count. And wearing your Blackberry on your belt isn't helping matters.
If you absolutely insist on keeping your cell phone in your pocket or on your belt, just turn it off, and only turn it on to check periodically for messages, suggests EWG.
Also, men should always remove their cell phone from their pockets when making a call using a headset or Bluetooth. That's when most of the radiation is emitted from the phone says EWG.
The Journal of Andrology examined the scientific reports last year, emphasizing more studies are needed for the possible link between cell phone use and decreased sperm quality.
