Research Says Mobile Phones May Damage Sperm
Mobile phones may damage men's sperm, Hungarian scientists say, in a study that fertility experts dismissed Monday as inconclusive.
Carrying a mobile in hip pockets or a holster on the waist could cut sperm count by nearly 30 percent, according to the research.
"The prolonged use of cell phones may have a negative effect on (sperm production) and male fertility," Dr. Imre Fejes, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Szeged said in a summary of the study.
Fejes and his team analyzed sperm from 221 men and questioned them about their use of mobile phones. They found correlations between the use of the phones, even in a standby setting, and reduced sperm concentration and quality.
Fejes said more research is needed to support the findings, which will be reported to this week's conference in Berlin of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Professor Hans Evers, a past president of the society, said the results are interesting but far from conclusive.
"It ... appears not to take into account the many potential confounding factors that could have skewed the results," Evers, who works at the Academic Hospital in Maastricht in the Netherlands, said in a statement.
He added that the study did not seem to analyze stress levels, the type of jobs the men have and whether they smoked, which could all influence sperm count.
"These factors would have a considerable effect on the outcome of the research," he said.
Britain's National Radiological Protection Board, which has reviewed research into the health effects of exposure to radiofrequency waves including mobile phones, said, so far, the waves appear to be safe.
But mobiles phones have been in widespread use for only a short time so more research is needed.
"This is an unexpected result and we will look at it very carefully but the decline in male fertility has been going on for decades now, before the widespread use of mobile phones, and there can be many reasons for it," Dr. Michael Clark, scientific spokesman for the British board, told Reuters.
The World Health Organization has said none of the recent reviews has concluded that exposure to radiofrequency waves from mobile phones or their base stations damages health, but stresses that more studies are needed.
NGT to Buy Crown Castle's British Unit
Britain's main gas and power utility, National Grid Transco Plc, will buy the British wireless broadcast tower business of U.S. company Crown Castle International Corp. for 1.1 billion pounds ($2 billion) cash, the companies said on Monday.
The deal triples NGT's (NGT.L) network of towers transmitting mobile phone and television signals, strengthening its position in a business with faster growth than the heavily regulated power sector.
Crown Castle said the sale would help it pay off debt and focus on the faster growing U.S. tower market, but its shares fell as much as 11 percent as investors worried that the Houston-based company was selling its assets too cheaply.
"Investors are disappointed in the price they got for the assets, and the market is clearly indicating this," Stanford Financial Group analyst Clayton Moran said. "Regardless of whether it is justified or not, it changes the way investors were valuing the company."
The deal will combine Crown Castle UK with National Grid's Gridcom subsidiary. In recent years NGT has built a mobile phone network of about 1,400 towers, with clients such as Vodafone and Orange using its towers in their mobile phone networks.
NGT said the deal would result in annual savings of up to 18 million pounds. The company plans to fund the acquisition through borrowings, Chief Executive Roger Urwin said in a conference call.
While NGT is in the process of selling some of its gas networks for up to 5 billion pounds, analysts said the company could easily fund the Crown Castle transaction with existing resources.
Crown Castle executives dismissed concerns about the price being received in the deal, saying confusion arose from differences between spending plans for its U.S. network and its British network, which is the more capital intensive.
"It's a price we believe fully reflected the value of that business," Chief Financial Officer Benjamin Moreland told Reuters.
Analysts compared the deal price to Crown Castle's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), but the company said the comparison should be made to EBITDA minus capital spending.
Crown Castle Chief Executive John Kelly, discussing the deal in a conference call with analysts, said, "What we see is organic top-line growth in our U.S. business is about double what we expected from our UK assets."
Crown Castle said it would use about $1.3 billion of the proceeds to fully repay its credit facility. It said it plans to use the remaining $730 million to invest in new business opportunities or repay debts.
The company cut its 2004 forecast for revenue from renting its towers to a range of $524 million to $528 million. Its earlier target was $875 million to $885 million.
It forecast 2005 site rental revenue of $565 million to $575 million. It said it expects the National Grid deal to close by Sept. 30.
Crown Castle shares were down $1.57, or nearly 10 percent, at $14.51 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was one of the biggest percentage losers.
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