30 November 2011

Laptops and Infertility


There are a lot of reasons why infertility is a growth industry right now. Poor nutrition is probably number one, but how about the radiation from the laptop on your lap?

Is Your Laptop Making You Sterile?
by Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com
Technologies like laptops, while freeing us from the altar-like monolith of the traditional desktop, may have unique adverse effects to the human body. After all, they are lap tops -- ​beneath which are situated our reproductive organs and glands. 
I confess that for many years I have secretly cringed at the thought of what the electromagnetic radiation issuing from this device is doing to my capability to reproduce, and the quality of my future progeny -- which is why I always positioned the device away from my groin. It is for this reason that the new study published in The Journal of Fertility and Sterility showing Wi-Fi radiation from laptops damages sperm, comes at no surprise. 
In the first study of its kind, researchers exposed human sperm to internet-connected laptop by Wi-Fi for 4 hours, resulting in "a significant decrease in progressive sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation."  The reseachers concluded: 
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the direct impact of laptop use on human spermatozoa. Ex vivo exposure of human spermatozoa to a wireless internet-connected laptop decreased motility and induced DNA fragmentation by a nonthermal effect. We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to prove this contention." [Entire Abstract]
Given new findings showing that the so-called "low dose" ionizing radiation used in x-ray mammography is up to 400% more genotoxic and  than the so-called "high dose" radiation associated with atomic bomb radiation, Wi-Fi radiation may be much more harmful than previously assumed.  
While the connection with thermally-induced adverse effects to the testicles of laptop users has been previously acknowledged, this is the first study of its kind indicating that the non-thermal adverse effects of radiation include damage to the DNA significant enough to affect male fertility.  
Given these findings, men and women should exercise caution when using these devices, especially within the reproductive years. Also, consider using Turmeric -- probably the world's most extensively researchedradioprotective substance.

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