MOBILE phones are an integral part of modern telecommunications. The effect of mobile phone radiation on human health has always been a controversial subject. Now, neuroscientists from Bochum have for the first time explained the effects of high frequency electromagnetic fields (HEFs) derived from mobile phones.
They proved that extremely high-powered electromagnetic fields (EMFs) indeed influence learning processes on the synaptic level within the brain, independent from other factors like stress.
Scientists of the Department of Neuroanatomy and Molecular Brain Research (Professor Dr. med. Rolf Dermietzel) in cooperation with the Chair of
Electromagnetic Theory of the University of Wuppertal, performed the new study on rats.
For the experiment, rats were placed into differently powered non-thermal HEFs in the UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication System) operating range. Synaptic learning and memory formation were analysed by electrophysiological methods. Furthermore, all animals were tested for stress hormone release immediately following the HEF exposure.
Although there was daily training and effortless contact to the exposure environment, increases in blood derived stress hormone levels could be detected for all exposed groups. The stress clearly influences learning and memory formation on the synaptic level in the rat brain. High powered EMFs (SAR 10 W/kg) also have a significant effect on learning and memory formation. In contrast to this, weak EMFs (SAR 0 and 2 W/kg) lead to no detectable changes or impairments.
“These results cannot directly be transferred to humans”, explained Dr. Nora Prochnow (Medical Faculty of the RUB).
“But in the animal model, it can be demonstrated that neuronal mechanisms of synaptic learning can serve as a target for high powered EMFs,” added Prochnow.
However, there is no need for serious concerns: humans are not exposed to this type of high powered EMFs during dailymobile phone use
Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) has released a study that labels cell phone radiation as a possible carcinogen, a classification that puts it in the same category as lead, gas exhaust, and chloroform. The study was conducted by the organization’s International Agency for Research of Cancer (IARC), which included 31 scientists from 14 countries. This disclosure is based on research that has shown an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.
In an excerpt from the WHO/IARC press release, Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), overall Chairman of the IARC Working Group, indicated that “the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a conclusion and the 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk.”
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