Cellphone use could harm your sex life - if you're a buck rabbit

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 12:35

Your IT - Mobility

Researchers have attempted to study the affect of prolonged cellphone radiation on the sexual behaviour of male rabbits, and have concluded that there could be some harmful effects.

In the research, the results of which have been published in International Journal of Impotence Research, the researchers divided a group of 18 male rabbits into three groups of six. One of which was exposed to radiation from mobile phones on standby (ie no calls were sent or received) operating at 800MHz for eight hours per day for 12 weeks; one group had phones that were switched off; and the third group had no phones.

At the end of the 12 week period, each group was introduced in turn to the same six female rabbits and the ensuing sexual activity, or lack thereof, observed.

This is described in somewhat convoluted language and assumes some knowledge or normal rabbit mating behaviour. You can read all about it in the abstract of the paper.

 

The conclusion was that "The hormonal assays did not show any significant differences between the study groups. Therefore, the pulsed radiofrequency emitted by a conventional mobile phone, which was kept on a standby position, could affect the sexual behaviour in the rabbit."

UK newspaper The Guardian appears to have had access to the entire research paper and quotes more details, before digressing into an amusing, but unrelated, description of earlier research conducted by the same team: into undesirable side effects of penile implants - in humans, not rabbits.