Electromagnetic Fields, Leukaemia and DNA Damage

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29 Sep 2004 15:30:55 -0000

 

Electromagnetic Fields, Leukaemia and DNA Damage

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society

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press-release ISIS Director m.w.ho

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Fields of Influence 2

 

 

Also see our previous fields of influence series

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FOI1.php

 

 

 

Debate over the health impacts of weak electromagnetic

fields continues unabated as more and more biological

effects are documented. This mini-series began in Science in

Society 17, where we described how a new physics of the

organism that can account for those effects has been

systematically ignored and excluded from mainstream

discourse. The situation has hardly changed since and

requires radical steps to be taken in scientific research

funding and in science education.

 

 

 

Mobile Phones & Brain Damage

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/MPABD.php

Electromagnetic Fields, Leukaemia and DNA Damage

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ELADD.php

 

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ISIS Press Release 28/09/04

 

Mobile Phones & Brain Damage

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Rats exposed to mobile phones for two hours showed brain

damages that persisted 50 days later. But current exposure

standards are still highly inadequate to protect the public.

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reports

 

 

 

Sources for this article are posted on ISIS members' website

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/MPABDFull.php.

Details here

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php.

 

 

Mobile phones " the largest human biologic experiment "

 

 

Researchers found " highly significant " evidence for damages

to brain cells in rats exposed for 2 hrs to microwaves from

mobile phones; and these damages were still seen 50 days

after the exposure.

 

 

 

One quarter of the world's population is now exposing

themselves to microwaves from hand-held mobile phones. The

research team in Lundt University, Sweden, led by Leif

Salford, referred to this as " the largest human biologic

experiment ever " . They point out that soon, microwaves will

be emitted by an abundance of other appliances in the

'cordless' office and in the home.

 

 

 

Most researchers have concentrated on the question of

whether radiofrequency electromagnetic fields can induce or

promote cancer, but the evidence appears conflicting.

 

 

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Box

 

 

Sir William Stewart hit out at mobile phones lobby but

exposure limits still highly inadequate

 

 

 

In his keynote address to a Children with Leukemia

conference in September 2004,

 

 

 

Sir William Stewart, who chaired an enquiry that resulted in

the Stewart Report on Mobile Phones and Health in 2000, hit

out at the mobile phones lobby for reporting that, " Stewart

report says there are no adverse health effect for mobile

phones " . He said there are biological effects below the

current exposure guidelines, and people can vary in their

susceptibility. He had warned that children may be more

susceptible, and should limit their use of mobile phones.

 

 

 

In his speech, he also said, " Don't ignore non-peer reviewed

findings. " These have to be carefully independently

confirmed, and have to be put to the public " simply and

clearly " . Not only the results reporting impacts of mobile

phones on health need to be independently confirmed, but

also negative findings of no impacts. At the moment, there

is a bias towards accepting negative findings without

question.

 

 

 

A recent health survey carried out in La Nora, Mucia, Spain,

nearly two 900/1800Mhz mobile phone base stations showed

statistically association between the measured electric

field and a number of symptoms, especially depressive

tendency, fatigue, sleeping disorder, difficulty in

concentration and cardiovascular problems, and also loss of

memory, visual disorder and dizziness. It confirms the

findings of several earlier published studies. On the basis

of this work, D. Oberfeld Gerd of the Public Health

Department of Salzburg, Austria, is advising a reduction of

exposure levels to no more than 1 microWatt/m2. The current

exposure limit set by the International Commission on Non-

Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines is 10

W/m2, or 10 million times that recommended.

 

 

 

Sir William now chairs the National Radiological Protection

Board (NRPB), which is being merged into the Health Agency.

The NRPB is due to publish advice to the government that the

ICNIRP standards - already shown to be highly inadequate -

should be adopted for the UK. As the NRPB's own report

admits, the standards are " intended to prevent adverse

effects due to excessive whole- and partial-body heating " ,

totally ignoring non-thermal effects, which are increasingly

documented in many laboratories all over the world.

 

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Mobile phones undermine the blood-brain barrier

 

 

Lundt and colleagues have been studying the effects of

915MHz radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in

rats since 1988. " In a series of more than 1,600 animals, we

have proven that subthermal power densities from both pulse-

modulated and continuous RF EMFs - including those from

....mobile phones - have the potency to significantly open

the blood-brain barrier such that the animal's own albumin

passes out of the bloodstream into the brain tissue and

accumulates in the neurons and glial cells surrounding the

capillaries. "

 

 

 

These results have been duplicated in at least two other

laboratories. One group showed that the animals' own albumin

injected into the brain of rats led to damage of the neurons

at the site of injection when the concentration of albumin

in the injected solution is at least 25% of that in the

blood.

 

 

Brain damage persists 50 days after exposure

 

 

In a study published in June 2003, Salford and colleagues

exposed rats to RF EMF in special transverse electromagnetic

transmission line chambers (TEM-cells) designed by scaling

down previously constructed cells at the National Bureau of

Standards. These cells generate uniform EMF s for standard

measurements. A mobile phone with a programmable power

output was connected via a coaxial cable to the TEM-cell;

and no voice modulation was applied. The TEM-cell is

enclosed in a wooden box (15x15x15 cm) that supports the

outer conduction and central plate. The outer conductor is

made of brass net and is attached to the inner walls of the

box. The centre plate, or septum, is made of aluminium. The

TEM cells were placed in a temperature-controlled room,

where room air is circulated through holes in the wooden

box.

 

 

 

The rats were placed in plastic trays (12x12x7cm) to avoid

contact with the central plate and outer conductor. Thirty-

two male and female Fisher 344 rats 12-26 weeks old and

weighing 282 + 91 gm were divided into four groups of eight

rats each. Three experimental groups of rats were exposed to

peak power densities of 0.24, 2.4 and 24 W/m2, resulting in

average whole-body SARs (specific absorption rates) of

2mW/kg, 20 mW/kg and 200 mW/kg respectively. The fourth

(control) group of rats was simultaneously kept for 2 hr in

non-activated TEM-cells. The animals in each exposure group

were allowed to survive for about 50 days after exposure and

carefully observed daily for neurologic and behavioural

abnormalities.

 

 

 

At the end of the period, the brains were removed and

sectioned and stained.

 

 

 

The exposed rat brain showed multiple spots of albumin

leaking out from the blood vessels. On high power, dark,

dead neurons can be seen interspersed with the living ones.

There is an apparent dose-response relationship between the

level of exposure and the number of dead neurons found.

 

 

 

Previous studies by the same group showed that albumin

leakage into the brain occurs within hours after exposure in

about 40% of the animals. But in the present study, there is

still albumin leakage after 50 days. This suggests that

there might have been a " vicious circle " started by the

initial leakage, leading to long lasting effects.

 

 

Teenagers most affected

 

 

The researchers pointed out that 12-26 week old rats are

comparable in age to human teenagers, the most frequent

users of mobile phones. This level of damage to the nerve

cells is worrying, as " it may result in reduced brain

reserve capacity " . In other words, the teenagers' brains may

age prematurely. A study by retail analysts Mintel found

that up to 80% of 11 to 14 year-olds have a mobile phone in

the United Kingdom.

 

 

 

There is now evidence that a wide range of frequencies in

the electromagnetic spectrum can have biological effects

from DNA damage in brain cells to childhood leukemia (see

" Eelectromgnetic fields, leukaemia & DNA damage " , this

series http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ELADD.php).

 

 

 

 

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