

Israel sperm banks find quality is plummeting - tokenadult
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/15/world/la-fg-israel-sperm-20120816

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ahi
"Speculative theories range from the mundane (carrying cellphones in front
pockets) to the far-fetched (depleted uranium from exploded munitions)."

Strange. Depleted uranium is almost certainly a better guess than cellphones.
The health effects of DU are pretty well understood, while cellphone radiation
is in the realm of quackery.

~~~
fein
"Strange. Depleted uranium is almost certainly a better guess than cellphones"

Especially given the several tonnes that have been embedded in the ground (and
Palestinians) around Gaza. General conscription means radioactive fun for
everyone!

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anamax
> General conscription means radioactive fun for everyone!

Depleted uranium isn't a radiation risk.

If you can't be bothered to get simple scientific facts correct, why should I
think that you're accurate on other things?

~~~
fein
> If you can't be bothered to get simple scientific facts correct, why should
> I think that you're accurate on other things?

 _Ahem._

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Radiological_h...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Radiological_hazards)

If you can't react like a mature adult, why should I think that you can debate
like one?

~~~
anamax
A description of "the radiation risk" does not imply that there is a radiation
risk.

At some level, lead is radioactive. So is coal. So is atmospheric carbon.
However, we don't consider any of these radiation risk. (They're instances of
a more general rule, namely that almost everything is radioactive, which means
that we can talk about the radiation risk of almost anything.)

That's why your reference didn't talk about radiation dangers associated with
depleted uranium.

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vasco
"There's also a political aspect, because birthrates among Arabs in Israel
have at times been as much as double those of Jews, triggering a population
race that some believe could one day affect who controls the land."

What problem is there in Arabs "controlling" the land?

~~~
js2
This question veers off into a political conversation that's off-topic for HN,
so I'll stick to a factual answer and leave it at that: Israel is currently
defined as "a Jewish and Democratic State".

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vecinu
I'm not sure I understand how they are measuring quality in these sperm. The
article mentions that they are now rejecting 80% of their candidates based on
the simple fact that their sperm is not up to the same standards they set
years ago.

What if their standards are flawed? Is there scientific proof that straight-
moving and quick sperm is of higher 'quality' or 'healthier'? Is the sperm
bank promising me a strong child that will grow tall or what is this quality
metric in fact measuring?

~~~
mwcremer
They are measuring sperm motility, which is a way to gauge the sperm's ability
to fertilize an egg.

~~~
vecinu
So they measure every spermatozoid's motility? It seems like a daunting task.

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codesuela
The solution is fairly easy: start importing it

