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Reply
We are thankful for the well-taken comments by Bruce Hocking. And we agree that the referenced follow-up study of a small subgroup of first-pregnancy planning couples provides limited evidence against the hypothesis that exposure to extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields is causally linked to male or female subfecundity. Numbers are small and exposure levels are low and only strong effects are likely to be detected. However, reviews of the large body of experimental literature and the limited body of epidemiological evidence are in general not indicating reproductive effects of ELF magnetic fields [1,2]. It should be acknowledged that studies that explicitly examine male reproductive function are few. ELF electromagnetic field exposure may definitely be high among welders compared to exposure in everyday life but so far there is little to indicate that this confers a risk for male fecundity.
1 Professor of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, Environmental Medicine, J.B. Winsløws Vej 17, 5000 Odense C, Denmark e-mail: TKJensen{at}health.sdu.dk
2 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK
3 Department of Occupational Medicine, Århus University Hospital, Århus, Denmark
References
- Brent RL. Reproductive and teratologic effects of low-frequency electromagnetic fields: a review of in vivo and in vitro studies using animal models. Teratology (1999) 59:261–286.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
- Shaw GM. Adverse human reproductive outcomes and electromagnetic fields: a brief summary of the epidemiologic literature. Bioelectromagnetics (2001) (Suppl. 5):S5–S18.
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