There has been much discussion lately on declining male sperm counts and what it means. From Medical Xpress:
No link found between low sperm count, birth defects
Having a low sperm count doesn't seem to determine whether a man's children will be born with birth defects, a new study indicates.
With infertile couples, men are partially or fully responsible for the inability to conceive about 40 percent of the time. Assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization can help couples have children, but research has suggested a possible link between these approaches—when used to treat infertility problems in the male partner—and a higher risk of birth defects.
In the new study, researchers examined a Baylor College of Medicine database in search of possible connections between birth defects and low sperm count. The researchers didn't find any links.
But the following finding is a cause for concern. From Science Daily:
Male infertility linked to mortality, study shows
Men who are infertile because of defects in their semen appear to be at increased risk of dying sooner than men with normal semen, according to a study. Men with two or more abnormalities in their semen were more than twice as likely to die over a roughly eight-year period as men who had normal semen, the study found.