Smokers' Sperm Less Fertile
By Anonymous, Thu Dec 8th

MEN who smoke are less likely to make a woman pregnant thannon-smokers, and the more they smoke the worse their chancesare, a new study finds.

Researchers from the American State University at Buffalo Schoolof Medicine say that male smokers experience changes in theirsperm that make fertilisation difficult.

Lead author Lani Burkman, an associate professor in thedepartment of gynaecology and obstetrics, said earlier studieshad shown that when nicotine and its byproduct, cotinine, wereadded to sperm in the lab, they changed the way the sperm moved.

The smokers' sperm were able to break down the egg wall but theywere much less able to make a good bond.

"If the tail is very weak, it will never push itself rough thezona," Dr Burkman said.

The study estimated that the sperm of chronic smokers (smokersof four or more cigarettes a day for at least two years) were onaverage 75 per cent less fertile than those of nonsmokers.

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