The Hindu : International : `Threat to fertility'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 10, 2004

International

International

`Threat to fertility'

London: Men just about everywhere will be crossing their legs and groaning in despair when they learn that their trusted friend, the laptop computer, has become the latest threat to their manhood. Just months after they were warned that carrying mobile phones in their pockets might damage their sperm count, men now have to absorb the news that laptops can similarly threaten their fertility. Under the title, ``Increase in scrotal temperature in laptop computer users'', researchers on Thursday revealed in the journal Human Reproduction that a combination of the heat generated by the computers and the position of the thighs needed to balance the machines leads to higher temperatures around men's genitals. Yefim Sheynkin, who led the research team from the State University of New York at Stonybrook, said it was possible that years of heavy laptop use ``may cause irreversible or partially reversible changes in male reproductive function.'' Dr. Sheynkin said, however, that except for an anecdotal report of genital burns, the effect of portable computers on scrotal temperature had not been known.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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