Sterile Servicemen

Last week Dr. Alfred Koerner, Manhattan gynecologist, gloomily predicted that two out of every ten servicemen will return from World War II sterile. He prophesied that the postwar ratio of fertile men to women (normally 106-to-100, now reduced by wartime absences to 89-to-100) will be just 100-to-100.

In past wars the commonest causes of sterility in soldiers have been mumps, fevers, gastric poisoning, gland disorders, dietary deficiencies and severe exposure. In World War II shock and wounds from mines, torpedoes and bombs may also increase the sterility rate.

Dr. Koerner also proposed that every serviceman's discharge papers state whether or not he is sterile. Purpose: to prevent the unhappiness caused when sterile people marry with the hope of having children. Servicemen will probably not like Dr. Koerner's proposal. Reasons: 1) though the Army's personnel files are confidential, most men would not like to have their sterility a matter of record; 2) legal complications. Sterility may be grounds for divorce. An angry wife could force her sterile husband to produce his discharge paper in court to prove that he knew he was sterile before he married her.

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