Professor claims link between reduced rate of fertility, flights

Buse Özel – ISTANBUL

The more female pilots and hostesses fly, the more the level of their fertility decreases, a Turkish professor has claimed, giving the study he conducted with 134 women as a reference.

Ercan Baştu said he conducted research with some 66 woman aviators and some 68 females from different professions and compared the test subjects’ ovarian qualities and quantities.

According to Baştu, ultraviolet radiation and the side effects, such as jet lag due to long hours of flights, decrease the number of eggs in ovaries and fertility.

The scientific journal Gynecological Endocrinology published Baştu’s research on June 17.

“It has been known for years that exposure to beams with high energy has negative effects on the human body and the reproductive organs. However, all those were lab tests,” Baştu wrote. “We have monitored female pilots and flight stewardesses being exposed to ultraviolet radiation for a long time.”

Another claim the professor made was that “the number of eggs in ovaries decrease as the age of female aviators increase.”

When asked what he would suggest for those who want to conceive, he replied, “This research is not directly monitoring conceptions. However, if those who will spend more time on flights and consider having babies, they should take their precautions early in life.”