Wi-Fi Lowers Your Chances Of Having Children

Straits Times article on 0202519

My "caveman" husband Gino didn't have a permanent mobile number until 2009 when he left the then Singapore Sports Council (now Singapore Sports Institute) to work in Physio Solutions. Yes, he was that adverse to technology and being contacted (so he could train in peace).

When he was traveling with the athletes, or competing overseas himself, he will often just get a prepaid line so I can contact him. No one else has that number except the athletes and I.

And for the longest time we didn't have a broadband connection in the house, only a dial up  connection. When we finally started having a broadband connection, he'll turn it off every night before we go to sleep. This was way before the generous amounts of data offered by the telcos for your mobile line.

Now that may have turned out well as a new study found that exposure to Wi-Fi connections lowers male fertility rates. So couples' chances of having kids are reduced since the electromagnetic waves kill sperms.

All the male participants in the study were previously involved in IVF or artificial insemination procedures. They averaged 38.4 years old and were divided into three groups.

A control group whose sperm samples were not exposed to electromagnetic waves from the Wi-Fi device. The shield group, whose sperm was protected by a small Wi-Fi shield that intercepts electromagnetic waves (EMW). The exposed group whose sperm was exposed to EMW.

The sperm were exposed to EMW for 30, 60 minutes, two and 24 hours and sperm motion was then tested. In the exposed group, the men had a pocket Wi-Fi router, similar to how a mobile phone would be carried in a man's pants (see picture below).

Oops, not the best place to put your phone

There was little difference in sperm motility rates across the groups for 30-60 minutes. After two hours, motility rate in the control group was 53.5%, shield group 44.9% and 26.4% in the exposed group.

After 24 hours, dead sperm group of the control group was 8.4%, shield group 18.2% and exposed group significantly higher at 23.3%.

Though the Wi-Fi shield offers some protection over a short period of time, the study shows mounting evidence on the harmful effects of EMW on sperm. The longer the exposure, the higher risk for potential negative effects.

If you look at the number of people over the next few decades using devices that rely on Wi-Fi connection, impact would be huge when it comes to fertility rates.

The article can be found in page A14 under the World section in today's Straits Times.

The study headed by researcher Kumiko Nakata (above) is being presented at the ASPIRE 2019 conference from 2-5 May, 2019.

Even if we turned off our Wi-Fi router now, there are heaps others surrounding us (picture above). Look at your own phone to see the available connections.