Review date
17 April 2024
Article publication date
March 2024
Summary
This systematic review evaluated the evidence on exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy (RF-EME) and male fertility both in-vivo and in-vitro. The review included studies on rats, mice, guineapigs, hamsters, rabbits (n=117 animal studies) and human sperm (n=10 studies). The studies employed a wide range of RF-EMF frequencies (800-2400 megahertz, MHz, the in-vitro studies; 100 MHz – 10 gigahertz, GHz, for most of the animal studies). The specific absorption rate (SAR) exposure levels ranged from 0.00003 to 27.5 W/kg (for human studies); and 0.000012-184 W/kg (for animal studies). The review examined the included studies based on the GRADE approach which assesses the certainty of evidence. For human studies, a small detrimental effect of RF-EME exposure on sperm vitality (standardized mean differences (SMD) −1.37 (95 % confidence interval (CI) −2.46 to −0.28)), and no-effect on DNA/chromatin alterations (SMD −0.17 (95 % CI −0.48 to 0.13)) were reported. However, these results showed very low certainty of evidence. For the animal studies, a reduction in pregnancy rate (odds ratio (OR) 2.39 (95 % CI 1.52 to 3.74) and no-effect on litter size (SMD 0.04 (95 % CI −0.15 to 0.23)) were observed. These animal endpoints showed moderate certainty of evidence; whilst the other animal endpoints showed very low or low certainty of evidence.
Link to
Published In
Environmental International
ARPANSA commentary
The review concluded that no conclusions could be made on the effect of RF-EME on male human fertility based on the evidence. However, it is important to note that the RF EME exposure levels reported by the systematic review for a reduction in pregnancy rate, which is the only negative effects outcome with a moderate level of certainty in the evidence, had an average exposure across the studies of 23.87 W/kg. This average exposure which is over 28,000 times the public limit for whole body average exposure set in the ARPANSA safety standard (RPS S-1) and theICNIRP RF guidelines. Further, the authors reported that 75-80% investigating human fertility exposed human sperm RF EME levels above the safety limits. There are a number of other limitations identified in the review including issues with blinding, experimental procedures not following the recommended guidelines, use of inappropriate exposure levels and sources of bias not being considered.
The effect of RF-EME on fertility has been reviewed by ICNIRP in their 2020 guidelines and they concluded that RF-EME has no adverse effects on human fertility, reproduction, or development. Overall, there remains no consistent scientific evidence that exposure to RF EME below the limits set in ARPANSA safety standard or the ICNIRP RF guidelines are a hazard to human fertility.
