Fwd: Multi-D News New Swedish Study Mobile Phones to Brain Damage

[Guest guest]

" luckypig "

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:08:45 -0500

Multi-D News New Swedish Study Links Mobile Phones to Brain Damage

 

 

 

 

> NEUROSCIENCE: A SWEDISH STUDY LINKS MOBILE PHONES TO BRAIN DAMAGE. IN

RATS,

> ANYWAY.

> By Elizabeth Svoboda

> Popular Science

> February 2004

>

> http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/article/0,12543,573349,00.html

>

> [see the link above for photos. -- DS]

>

> The safety of cellphones has been called into question, again. This time

the

> scientific community is paying very close attention.

>

> Last summer neurosurgeon Leif Salford and colleagues at Lund University in

> Sweden published data showing for the first time an unambiguous link

between

> microwave radiation emitted by GSM mobile phones (the most common type

> worldwide) and brain damage in rats. If Salford's results are confirmed by

> follow-up studies in the works at research facilities worldwide, including

> one run by the U.S. Air Force, the data could have serious implications

for

> the one billion plus people glued to their cellphones.

>

> The findings have re-ignited a longstanding debate among scientists and

> cellphone manufacturers over cellphone safety.

>

> Many of the hundreds of studies performed during the past decade suggest

> cellphone use may cause a host of adverse effects, including headaches and

> memory loss. Other studies, however, have shown no such effects, and no

> scientific consensus exists about the effect of long-term, low-level

> radiation on the brain and other organs. A comprehensive $12 million

federal

> investigation of cellphone safety is currently under way but will take at

> least five years to complete.

>

> Meanwhile, the research world is scrambling to replicate Salford's

> surprising results. His team exposed 32 rats to 2 hours of microwave

> radiation from GSM cellphones. Researchers attached the phones to the

sides

> of the rats' small cages using coaxial cables -- allowing for intermittent

> direct exposure -- and varied the intensity of radiation in each treatment

> group to reflect the range of exposures a human cellphone user might

> experience over the same time period. Fifty days after the 2-hour

exposure,

> the rat brains showed significant blood vessel leakage, as well as areas

of

> shrunken, damaged neurons. The higher the radiation exposure level, the

more

> damage was apparent. The controls, by contrast, showed little to no

damage.

> If human brains are similarly affected, Salford says, the damage could

> produce measurable, long-term mental deficits.

>

> The cellphone industry so far has been quick to dismiss the data, saying

> emissions from current mobiles fall well within the range of radiation

> levels the FCC deems safe (body-tissue absorption rates of under 1.6 watts

> per kilogram). " Expert reviews of studies done over the past 30 years have

> found no reason to believe that there are any health hazards whatsoever, "

> says Mays Swicord, scientific director of Motorola's Electromagnetic

Energy

> Programs. Dr. Marvin Ziskin, chair of the Institute of Electrical and

> Electronics Engineers' Committee on Man and Radiation, is similarly

> skeptical. " The levels of radiation they used seem way too low to be

> producing the kinds of effects they're claiming. "

>

> Salford is the first to admit that it's too early to draw any conclusions,

> but contends the unusual results deserve a closer look. " The cellphone is

a

> marvelous invention; it has probably saved thousands of lives, " he says.

> " But governments and suppliers should be supporting more autonomous

> research. " Meanwhile, Salford advises users to invest in hands-free

headsets

> to reduce radiation exposure to the brain.

>

>

 

 

 

 

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