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# Wi-Fi may harm male fertility
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/wi-fi_may_harm_male_fertility_1124130845/
- Published: 2013-11-24T09:42:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:15:52.000Z
- Description: Semen from 29 healthy donors held for four hours beside a Wi-Fi-connected laptop showed less progressive motility and more sperm DNA fragmentation than control samples, with no difference in dead sperm. The Argentine authors say they can only speculate that laptop use on the lap lowers fertility.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Environment, Health News, #vivvo-import

Sunday Nov 24, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Using a laptop on your lap when connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi may affect your fertility if you are a man, according to a study published in Fertility and Sterility. Wi-Fi used in cell phones may harm male fertility too, according to other studies.

The current study shows that semen samples exposed ex vivo for 4 hours to a Wi-Fi wireless internet-connected laptop significantly decreased progressive sperm motility and increased sperm DNA fragmentation.

For the study, Conrado Avendaño, M.S. from Nascentis Medicina Reproductiva in Córdoba, Argentina and colleagues exposed one aliquot of each sperm sample collected from 29 healthy donors to a Wi-Fi internet connected laptop for four hours and another aliquot to loptop without Wi-Fi on as control. And then the samples were analyzed for sperm motility, viability and DNA fragmentation.

Exposure to Wi-Fi internet connected laptop decreased progressive sperm motility and resulted in an increased in sperm DNA fragmentation. The numbers of dead sperm were the same in the two groups.

The researchers concluded "We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility."

Early studies have shown using a laptop on the lap can negatively affect male fertility because the high heat generated from the computer can cause harm to the sperm.

It is not just Wi-Fi used for laptops that can cause damage to sperm. Studies have shown Wi-Fi used for cell phones can be as harmful as that used for laptops.

Dr Sandro La Vignera from Catania University in Catania, Italy and colleagues reported in the Journal of Andrology that "human spermatozoa exposed to RF-EMR have decreased motility, morphometric abnormalities, and increased oxidative stress, whereas men using mobile (cell) phones have decreased sperm concentration, decreased motility (particularly rapid progressive motility), normal morphology, and decreased viability."

Many antioxidants may be used to reduce (but can't completely prevent) the damage induced by the RF-EMR from computers and cell phones. They include melatonin, vitamin C, vitamin E, uric acid, pyruvate, glutathione, taurine, and hypotaurine, caffeic acid phenethyl ester, ginkgo biloba, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), green tea, N-acetylcysteine, L-carnitine, and selenium. (David Liu, PHD)