Is There a Looming Global Sperm Crisis?

At the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology yearly conference last week, fertility experts were divided if there is a global sperm crisis looming amid an observation of declining sperm count in the past 10 years.

Between the years 1989 and 2005, the sperm concentration of French men went down by almost one-third, while other studies of other nationalities said that in the past 15 years, sperm counts of healthy males in the age brackets 18 to 25 have decreased significantly.

However, the wide variation in results by country and region has placed a question mark on the universality of the findings since some places are excluded in the study, such as parts of the developing world.

Believers in the theory of a sperm crisis point to exposure to pesticides, chemical such as Bisphenol A that disrupt endocrine and lifestyle habits such as sitting for very long periods as the contributory factors to the observed drop in sperm count.

Joelle Le Moal, epidemiologist at the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, warned of the impact on the next generation's health of human gametes, both male and female, not being produced in the right manner.

The average male production of sperm is 60 million for every milliliter of semen, but even those who produce more than 40 million are classified as fertile and have chances of fathering children. However, those who produce less than 20 million have lesser chances of getting their female partners pregnant.

On the opposite end is Stefan Schlatt, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Andrology at Germany's University of Munster. He does not believe there is a global sperm crisis despite sperm count dropping over time.

Another study pointed to early life influences as vital factors in male fertility, particularly the mother smoking during pregnancy for her male baby.

Meanwhile, another study said that the sperm of obese men has molecular signals that pass on obesity and other related problems such as diabetes to the children and future generations, although girls are at a higher risk than boys.es

The study by biologists at the University of Adelaide said that even if the children would eat healthily and live active lifestyles, they could still inherit the fat genes due to the molecular signals, although it slightly weakens over generations.