Headline of the week

Guys, your smartphone is ruining your sperm

Exactly how much the cell phones are contributing to lower-quality sperm isn’t clear yet — the researchers note that how long the phones are kept in pockets, as well as how much EMR the phones emit (most are legally required to stay below 2.0 W/kg) are also important things to consider when figuring out an individual’s risk. But the lab-dish studies do show that sperm are affected by the exposure, and that provides enough reason to investigate the possibility that cell phones may be contributing to lower-quality sperm and potentially some cases of infertility. 

actually  the sperm count has been going down for over 50 years, but if you check the count in people in rural farms eating organically, the count is almost as high as it was in 1930.

So I figure it might be the pesticides and plastics, the same things that cause metabolic syndrome and obesity.

Also, has anyone checked if birth control hormones present in the sewage run off get into the water supply?

as for electromagnetic waves: They decrease logarhytmically, so an inch or two might negate the problem here. But what about those living near microwave towers?

I remember back in 1971, when I had a patient die of lymphoma. He was in the USAir force, and his wife informed me that he and six guys treated with him all worked with microwaves or radar. Then you have the head of the CIA dying of brain lymphoma (almost an unknown disease before HIV hit: making some docs wonder if he had a double life...but now we wonder if he was using cellphones or if the microwaves etc. at CIA headquarters caused it.)

Something else to ponder: When I was in medical school, we still saw stomach cancer but part of the differential diagnosis was lymphoma of the stomach. Since that time, in the 1960's, I haven't seen a stomach cancer (thought to be due to smoked or dried meat/fish: It still is very common in Japan). But in the 1990's I saw two cases of stomach lymphoma. Of course, I worked in rural areas with Native Americans, who aren't exposed to as much pollution (except for the lead thanks to the power plants down wind).

Anyway, all this worry about the sperm count makes me think of "Children of Men". Quite a sad movie...