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Men Also Have Biological Clock
Aired February 06, 2003 - 13:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A couple medical stories caught our eye today. First, what's in your pork chop besides pork? What you need to know about some piglets that slipped through the cracks, and there is new research suggesting women aren't the only ones hearing the tick-tock of the biological clock. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to fill us in -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, shall we start with pigs?
PHILLIPS: That sound goods to me.
COHEN: OK. The FDA has announced that some genetically engineered -- some pigs that were used in a genetic engineering experiment managed to make it to market when they weren't supposed to.
Let's take a look at exactly how it happened. The mother pigs in this experiment at the University of Illinois were genetically engineered to produce special milk; 386 piglets drank that milk, then were slaughtered and sold.
Now, the FDA says the meat won't make you sick. However, of course, some consumer advocates are saying that this proves that the system that was supposed to work doesn't.
They said the FDA should have been tougher on the University of Illinois in keeping it out of the market. The university, for its part, says, We told the FDA we were going to sell these pigs, and they said that was OK -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, Elizabeth, how exactly am I supposed to make the transition from pigs to sperm? Help me out here.
COHEN: Kyra, you are smart. I'm going to let you do that. But I'll help you along here.
In a completely unrelated story, there is a study about male infertility. Now, most of us think about women having those biological clocks that go tick-tick-tick. This study says that men also have biological clocks that they need to listen to.
Now, men don't realize this sometimes because they think, Well, lots of men father children into old age. For example, Strom Thurmond fathered the first of his four children at age 69. Tony Randall fathered two babies after the age of 70. Anthony Quinn fathered his last child in his early 80s. Now, what this study says is yes, of course that's possible, but that the chances go down as you age. The reason why those little swimmers you see on our screen, they tend to get slower as they get older. Also, as men get older, the sperm start swimming in circles. In other words, they get lost. They can't figure out what it is they're supposed to be doing.
So let's take a look at the numbers, at what this means for me. At 22, when they looked at 22-year-old men, 25 percent of them had slow sperm. With they looked at 60-year-old men, 85 percent of them had slow sperm.
And what this all adds up to is that after age 35, a man is half as fertile as he was when he was under the age of 25, and this especially concerns doctors because more and more men are waiting until later in life to have their children -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, overall, quickly, the differences among men, women, fertility and age?
COHEN: Right. The big difference is that for women, there is sort of -- there is a drop dead date, basically. You go along, you are perfectly fertile, you hit menopause, boom, you can't have a child.
Eighty-year-old women do not have children without the help of medicine. With men, it's much more gradual, and sometimes their infertility never happens to them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.
COHEN: OK. Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 6, 2003 - 13:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A couple medical stories caught our eye today. First, what's in your pork chop besides pork? What you need to know about some piglets that slipped through the cracks, and there is new research suggesting women aren't the only ones hearing the tick-tock of the biological clock. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to fill us in -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, shall we start with pigs?
PHILLIPS: That sound goods to me.
COHEN: OK. The FDA has announced that some genetically engineered -- some pigs that were used in a genetic engineering experiment managed to make it to market when they weren't supposed to.
Let's take a look at exactly how it happened. The mother pigs in this experiment at the University of Illinois were genetically engineered to produce special milk; 386 piglets drank that milk, then were slaughtered and sold.
Now, the FDA says the meat won't make you sick. However, of course, some consumer advocates are saying that this proves that the system that was supposed to work doesn't.
They said the FDA should have been tougher on the University of Illinois in keeping it out of the market. The university, for its part, says, We told the FDA we were going to sell these pigs, and they said that was OK -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, Elizabeth, how exactly am I supposed to make the transition from pigs to sperm? Help me out here.
COHEN: Kyra, you are smart. I'm going to let you do that. But I'll help you along here.
In a completely unrelated story, there is a study about male infertility. Now, most of us think about women having those biological clocks that go tick-tick-tick. This study says that men also have biological clocks that they need to listen to.
Now, men don't realize this sometimes because they think, Well, lots of men father children into old age. For example, Strom Thurmond fathered the first of his four children at age 69. Tony Randall fathered two babies after the age of 70. Anthony Quinn fathered his last child in his early 80s. Now, what this study says is yes, of course that's possible, but that the chances go down as you age. The reason why those little swimmers you see on our screen, they tend to get slower as they get older. Also, as men get older, the sperm start swimming in circles. In other words, they get lost. They can't figure out what it is they're supposed to be doing.
So let's take a look at the numbers, at what this means for me. At 22, when they looked at 22-year-old men, 25 percent of them had slow sperm. With they looked at 60-year-old men, 85 percent of them had slow sperm.
And what this all adds up to is that after age 35, a man is half as fertile as he was when he was under the age of 25, and this especially concerns doctors because more and more men are waiting until later in life to have their children -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, overall, quickly, the differences among men, women, fertility and age?
COHEN: Right. The big difference is that for women, there is sort of -- there is a drop dead date, basically. You go along, you are perfectly fertile, you hit menopause, boom, you can't have a child.
Eighty-year-old women do not have children without the help of medicine. With men, it's much more gradual, and sometimes their infertility never happens to them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.
COHEN: OK. Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
