New studies by scientists in Argentina and the US may have found evidence that WiFi in laptops and similar devices can be dangerous to sperm. While it’s long been thought that the danger in laptops is the heat emitted from the base, this new research says that wireless connectivity could be more of a threat.
The technology used in WiFi connectivity emits a small amount of radio signals, but the thinking until now has been that it’s at too low a level to be of any harm. In the new study, ejaculated sperm was found to be significantly damaged after 4 hours of WiFi use.
Talking to the BBC, expert Dr Allan Pacey wasn’t so convinced that it was WiFi to blame at all: “Ejaculated sperm are particularly sensitive to many factors because outside the body they don’t have the protection of the other cells, tissues and fluids of the body in which they are stored before ejaculation. Therefore, we cannot infer from this study that because a man might use a laptop with wi-fi on his lap for more than four hours then his sperm will necessarily be damaged and he will be less fertile.”
He went on to say that for the tests to be conclusive there need to be “large epidemiological studies [to determine this], and to my knowledge these have not yet been performed.”
While Dr Pacey’s research leans towards skin problems and the heat aspect of laptop use, he does have a point – these tests need to be carried out repeatedly to see if WiFi does pose any actual danger.
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