Viagra Linked to Reduced Fertility

New concern for fertility clinics that provide drug to male partners
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 24, 2008 6:32 AM CST
Viagra Linked to Reduced Fertility
A needle carrying one sperm cell punctures an egg.   (KRT Photos)

Popular sexual potency drug Viagra has been linked to sperm effects so dramatic that it could seriously affect male fertility, researchers have discovered. The findings are particularly troubling because in-vitro fertilization clinics often provide Viagra to men to increase sperm production. The new studies show that while Viagra increases sperm activity, it also damages the enzymes that allow the sperm to enter and fertilize an egg.

Fertilization clinics providing Viagra—"something that could make the problem worse—is scarcely the right approach," said the lead researcher of the studies, to be published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Viagra is also a recreational drug, and chronic use could spell family trouble down the road, he warned. (More Viagra stories.)

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