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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Scientists warn of declining male fertility as sperm counts fall

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Guardian News
Scientists warn of declining male fertility as sperm counts fall
Dec 5th 2012, 00:00

Prof-Oladapo-AshiruWHY are more men 'firing blank'? Why are some men having low sperm counts? Why are some men not able to get their wives pregnant?

A study published online Wednesday in the Journal of Human Reproduction revealed that sperm counts and quality have fallen sharply since the start of the 1990s.

According to the French study, between 1989 and 2005, average sperm counts fell by a third in the study of 26,000 men, increasing their risk of infertility. The researchers found that the amount of healthy sperm was also reduced by a similar proportion.

The researchers said the study is important because, with over 26,600 men involved, it is probably the largest studied sample in the world.

The findings also confirm research over the past 20 years that has shown sperm counts declining in many countries across the world. The fact that the decline was progressive over the 17-year period indicates the problem is ongoing, the researchers said.

Previous studies have linked the decreasing male infertility or rather low sperm count to 'bad' diet, tight underwear, a plastic chemical–Bisphenol A, use of laptop computers, exposure to crude oil extracts, pesticides and insecticides, working in a paint factory, and obesity.

A fertility expert and joint Pioneer of test tube baby technology/In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) in Nigeria, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, told The Guardian there was increasing male infertility in the country for many reasons.

"As technology develops, we begin to advent things into our environment and environmental factors are some of the major causes of infertility.

Those environmental causes will include things like events occurring in the oil producing areas.

One of my PhD students just completed his thesis on the effect of crude oil on fertility and it shows in all its ramifications that crude oil extract from Bonny light are extremely toxic to the sperm. So those things are toxic to the male sperm and to the female reproductive system.

"Exposure to diesel, kerosene, poly hydrocarbons, crude oil extracts are things that have been known to be toxic. Also carcinogenic things like satellite masts which are installed in the society without any opposition are connected with radio waves that are known to be toxic, so also x-ray radiations. Working in paint industries, smoke inhalation and alcoholic consumption have serious consequences on our fertility."

A leading British expert told DailyMail Online that it was inevitable that falling sperm counts would affect male fertility and action was needed to investigate the causes.

The researchers found that from 1989 to 2005, there was a 32.2 per cent decrease in concentration of sperm - a rate of nearly two per cent a year

Prof. Richard Sharpe, of the University of Edinburgh, said: "In the UK, this issue has never been viewed as any sort of health priority, perhaps because of doubts as to whether 'falling sperm counts' was real. Now, there can be little doubt that it is real, so it is a time for action.

"Doing nothing will ensure that couple fertility and average family size will decline below even its present low level and place ever greater strains on society.

We still do not know which are the most important factors, but perhaps the most likely is that it is a combination, a 'double whammy', of changes such as a high-fat diet combined with increased environmental chemical exposures."

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