Why Is Male Fertility Declining?

Why Is Male Fertility Declining?
Sperm concentration fell between 50 and 60 percent from 1973 to 2011. Shutterstock/koya979
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In the United States, nearly 1 in 8 couples struggles with infertility. Unfortunately, physicians like me who specialize in reproductive medicine are unable to determine the cause of male infertility around 30 percent to 50 percent of the time. There is almost nothing more disheartening than telling a couple “I don’t know” or “There’s nothing I can do to help.”

Upon getting this news, couple after couple asks me questions that all follow a similar line of thinking. “What about his work, his cellphone, our laptops, all these plastics? Do you think they could have contributed to this?”

Ryan P. Smith
Ryan P. Smith
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