Disposable Diapers Impact Infertility

Disposable diapers might be responsible for a sharp rise in male infertility over the past 25 years. This was discovered after a recent study at the University of Kiel in Germany.

Researchers used a small thermal probe to test the scrotal temperature of 48 boys wearing disposable diapers during waking and sleeping hours. Temperatures were consistently one degree higher than normal body temperature when disposable diapers were worn. They concluded that the insulation properties of the disposables impaired the normal cooling mechanisms of the testicles, and found that in 13 subjects, the cooling mechanism had failed altogether.

Studies in several countries have shown that average sperm counts have fallen by half since 1938 and are declining as much as two per cent per year.

Medical Post, October 10, 2000