Riots Took Toll on Sex Drive
 

(submitted by geckogekko)
Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo!

ROME (Reuters) - Riots that dominated a G8 summit in
Genoa in 2001 suppressed the sex drive of its
residents and led to a sharp decline in births in the
city, a study showed on Wednesday.

In the ninth month after the riots, birth rates
dropped off 29 percent compared to the average birth
rate on the same dates over the three previous years,
the study carried out by San Martino hospital showed.
Even 11 months after the clashes, birth rates were 20
percent lower.

"Violent demonstrations can cause a stress reaction
with negative consequences for sexual drive and
reproductive activity," the author of the study, Aldo
Franco De Rose, told Italian news agency ANSA.

As part of the study, 402 residents were asked if they
had had less sex after the riots. A third of
respondents said yes and just over half said they
suffered from anxiety.

The three-day G8 summit in July 2001 was marred by
widespread rioting in which one protester was killed
and hundreds injured during pitched street battles
with police.