Natural Science Forum / Biology / Biology / January 2004

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_852293.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery

Fertility fears over fall in sperm counts

Research showing that sperm counts have dropped by almost a third in a
decade prompted have renewed concerns about male fertility.

A study of 7,500 men, who attended the Aberdeen Fertility Centre
between 1989 and 2002, showed that average sperm concentrations fell
by nearly 30%.

Lead researcher Dr Siladitya Bhattacharya said this was a cause for
concern and the reasons behind it needed to be explained.

It is believed that in the past 50 years, sperm counts around the
world have fallen by almost 50%.

Drug use, alcohol, smoking and obesity are among the factors most
frequently blamed for a decline in the number and quality of sperm.

Environmental factors such pesticides, chemicals and radioactive
material have also been linked to decreases in fertility.

In 1986, Scotland was among the regions of the UK affected by the
fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, after radioactive dust carried
hundreds of miles by the clouds came down when it rained.

But Dr Bhattacharya said it was "almost impossible" to say whether
this, or what among any of the other factors were definitively linked
to declining sperm counts.

Researchers conducting the SPIN (Semen Parameters in the Northeast)
study analysed 16,000 semen samples from men attending the Aberdeen
clinic - the only fertility clinic in the Grampian area of Scotland.

They found that the average sperm count of those men with a 'normal'
concentration - defined as over 20 million sperm per millilitre - fell
from 87 million/ml to 62 million/ml over 14 years - a drop of 29%.

The preliminary results of their study were being presented at the
joint meeting of the Association of Clinical Embryologists and the
British Fertility Society.

Story filed: 07:11 Monday 5th January 2004

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994529

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1116117,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3362841.stm