Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility

[Herman Munster]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=412179&in_page_id=1770

Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.

A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yest at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.

The findings suggest millions of men may encounter difficulties in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones and offers another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males.

[kestrel91316]

1. This:

"Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate."

.....makes me wonder WTF they are doing with the phones. Personally, I hold mine up to my ear. But that's just me.

[SoCalDem]

3. Phnes are so small these days, they are often carried in pockets

just sayin...

[Generic Other]

5. Makes sense. Radar guns used to cause problems for cops

Wasn't it testicular cancer risk for them? I never see one hold those things near his groin area anymore. They point them far away from their crotches.

The phones are on when in they are in men's pockets, aren't they? It shouldn't take the brains of a rocket scientist for a person to get a clue.

[doc03]

7. They studied that and found it was in direct proportion

to their donut consumption.

[kestrel91316]

17. They are emitting radiation when they're not even turned on?????

I assume when they are in a pocket they are off.

Except the new hands-free ones?? Sheesh.

Sometimes I think the Amish are going to win out over time. Technology seems to keep coming back to bite all of us modern folks in the patootie.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. They have to stay in touch with the cellular stations

so that it's known which cell the phone is in. Leave a phone near a radio, and every few minutes you can hear beeps on the radio, as it sends an "I'm still here" message to the nearest mast. Not constantly, though.

[meldroc]

19. Exactly.

If you want your phone to receive calls, you leave it turned on when you're not actively using it. When a cell phone's on like that, it's receiving and broadcasting data on a frequent basis.

[TahitiNut]

2. So, a low sperm count causes guys to use their cellphones, more, huh?

:dunce: That figures.

[doc03]

6. It also causes guys to buy Hummers,Viagra and vote GOP.

[survivor999]

4. Typical stupid correlational study

With 1000 other variables correlating with cell phone use.

[Vidar]

12. Quit making so much sense.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

15. One key mediator might be frequency of intercourse. To whom would

men be talking for more than four hours a day? If a substantial proportion of people on the other end of the line that much are, as I'd suspect, people with whom the man are having intercourse, then the talky men very likely would be having more sex than the other men. And having intercourse more frequently is associated with lower sperm counts.

I haven't read the article, but I'd hate to think such an obvious explanation for the "findings" is being ignored, perhaps wilfully. Research "findings" are pretty ridiculous when they don't include careful analysis of probable cause and effect relationships.

I said the same thing in yesterday's thread on this, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2464690&mesg_id=2465335 .

[clu]

20. a well-designed study would rule those out

this was a follow-up study to elaborate on older data that showed a link between cell use and sperm count. hopefully it's legitimate.

[slaveplanet]

8. How to cook an egg with your cell phone-

Weekend Eating:
Mobile Cooking
http://www.wymsey.co.uk/wymchron/cooking.htm

with Suzzanna Decantworthy
additional research: Sean McCleanaugh

Many students, and other young people, have little in the way of cooking skills but can usually get their hands on a couple of mobile phones. So, this week, we show you how to use two mobile phones to cook an egg which will make a change from phoning out for a pizza. Please note that this will not work with cordless phones.

To do this you will need two mobile phones -they do not have to be on the same network but you will need to know the number of one of them. The only other items you will need are:

1. An egg cup, (make sure that the egg cup is made of an insulating material such as China, wood or glass - plastic will do. DO NOT use stainless steel or other metal).
2. A radio, AM or FM - you can also use your hifi.

3. A table or other flat surface on which to place the phones and egg cup. You can place the radio anywhere in the room but you might as well put it on the table.




How To Do It:

1. Take an egg from the fridge and place it in the egg cup in the centre of the table.

2. Switch on the radio or hifi and turn it up to a comfortable volume.

3. Switch on phone A and place it on the table such that the antenna (the pokey thing at the top) is about half an inch from the egg (you may need to experiment to get the relative heights correct - paperbacks are good if you have any - if not you may be able to get some wood off cuts from your local hardware shop).

4. Switch on phone B and ring phone A then place phone B on the table in a similar but complementary position to Phone A.

5. Answer phone A - you should be able to do this without removing it from the table. If not, don't panic, just return the phone to where you originally placed on the table.

6. Phone A will now be talking to Phone B whilst Phone B will be talking to Phone A.

7. Cooking time: This very much depends on the power output of your mobile phone. For instance, a pair of mobiles each with 2 Watts of transmitter output will take three minutes to boil a large free range egg. Check your user manual and remember that cooking time will be proportional to the inverse square of the output power for a given distance from egg to phone.

8. Cut out these instructions for future reference.

Note: We cooked our egg during the evening using free local calls, if you were to cook an egg for lunch it would cost £3.00 - not cheap but you do have the convenience.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Chronic use of any type of RF transmitter in close proximity to vital organs is probably not a wise course of action.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Yes, but that is from a parody website

so doesn't really prove much - see eg http://www.wymsey.co.uk/openguv/index.htm .

There is a small amount of induced heating in the brain of someone using a mobile phone, but nowhere near enough to boil an egg - just raise the temperature by a fraction of a degree (see Google search, though the full text is only available on subscription). However, the effect of radio frequency radiation on the constantly-dividing cells in a man's testes might be a different matter, and would, I think, bear investigation.

[Tesha]

13. There's no possibility that that will work with modern mobiles.

There's no possibility that that will work with modern mobiles.

It *MIGHT* have worked in the old days when "bag phones" could
put out 3W of radio power, but handsets have never been much
above 0.6W. And modern digital phones don't have their transmitters
on all the time.

You can figure out the maximum possible average radio power of your
handset pretty easily if you know the phone's battery capacity and
its maximum "talk time". Just take the batter capacity in Watt-hours
and divide by the talk time in hours. Your phone can't pssibly
be putting more than that amount into radio waves (and is likely
putting a lot less into radio since it also has to run all the
internal circuitry, the display, etc.)

Tesha

[KFC]

9. I don't talk with my dick or use it for text messaging

So I figure I don't have anything to worry about.

[shadowknows69]

11. I think I may be the only man on the earth

who doesn't yet own a cell phone. Perhaps I'll become the savior of the human race when y'all are done completely zapping your fishes. Ladies the line starts on the left. B-)

[Tesha]

14. Mr. Tesha and I don't have cell phones.

He used to have two, but he "cut back".

Tesha

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. Ruh Roh! Now the anti-choice sheeple will want cell phones banned!

Men, hide your phones! Your killing our pre-conceived babies!