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Life

Antidepressants may harm male fertility

By Peter Aldhous

24 September 2008

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

ANTIDEPRESSANTS taken by millions of men could be impairing their fertility by causing damage to the DNA in their sperm.

In 2006, and Cigdem Tanrikut of the Cornell Medical Center in New York City reported that two men had developed low counts of healthy sperm after taking two different selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant.

Now Schlegel’s team has given 35 healthy men doses of a third SSRI called , sold as Seroxat or Paxil, over five weeks, and examined their sperm before treatment and four weeks in.

Superficially, the men’s sperm seemed…

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