Household Appliance EMF Research

The effect of 50 Hz electromagnetic fields on the formation of micronuclei in rodent cell lines exposed to gamma radiation

Unknown authors · 1997

The lack of effects of nonthermal RF electromagnetic fields on the development of rat embryos grown in culture.

Klug S, Hetscher M, Giles S, Kohlsmann S, Kramer K, · 1997

Researchers exposed 9.5-day-old rat embryos for up to 36 hours to radiofrequency electric and magnetic fields with modulation frequencies of 16, 60, and 120 Hz. The exposure included electric field strengths of 60 and 600 V/m, magnetic inductions of 0.2 and 2.0 microtesla, and specific absorption rates of 0.2, 1.0, and 5.0 W/kg. Neither the electric nor the magnetic fields interfered significantly with normal embryo growth and differentiation when assessed on day 11.5 using a scoring system, photographs, histology, and protein content.

Risks of leukaemia among residents close to high voltage transmission electric lines

Unknown authors · 1997

Researchers reviewed studies on leukaemia risk among people living near high voltage transmission lines of 49 kV and above. They calculated combined risks for distances of 50 meters and 25 meters and for magnetic field exposures at 2, 3, 4, and 10 milligauss. The combined analysis showed an odds ratio of 1.3 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.0 to 1.7 for exposures of 2 milligauss or higher. Odds ratios increased at higher exposures of 3, 4, and 10 milligauss, and risks were also elevated at distances of 50 and 25 meters from the lines.

Spatial learning deficit in the rat after exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field

Unknown authors · 1996

Rats were trained in ten daily sessions on a 12-arm radial maze to assess spatial memory. Exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field at 0.75 mT for 45 minutes before each session significantly retarded learning.

Spatial learning deficit in the rat after exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers at the University of Washington exposed rats to 60 Hz magnetic fields (the same frequency as power lines) for 45 minutes before each training session in a maze test. The magnetic field exposure significantly impaired the rats' ability to learn spatial navigation tasks. When researchers gave the rats a drug that boosts brain chemicals called cholinergics, it reversed the learning problems caused by the magnetic field.

Spatial learning deficit in the rat after exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers exposed rats to 60 Hz magnetic fields (the same frequency as household electricity) for 45 minutes before training sessions in a spatial memory test. The magnetic field exposure significantly impaired the rats' ability to learn and navigate a maze. When researchers gave the rats a drug that boosts brain chemicals called cholinergic systems, it reversed the learning problems caused by the magnetic field.

Increase in hypoxanthine- guanine phosphoribosyl transferase gene mutations by exposure to high-density 50-Hz magnetic fields

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers exposed human melanoma MeWo cells to a 50-Hz, 400-mT extremely low frequency magnetic field and measured mutations in the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase gene. The mutant frequency increased with longer exposure periods and higher induced current intensities. Mutations induced by X-rays were enhanced by the magnetic field exposure. No significant increase in mutant frequency occurred when DNA replication was inhibited during exposure.

Extremely-low-frequency magnetic fields disrupt rhythmic slow activity in rat hippocampal slices

Bawin SM, Satmary WM, Jones RA, Adey WR, Zimmerman G. · 1996

Researchers used rat hippocampal slices to study how extremely-low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields affect rhythmic slow activity (RSA), a brain rhythm associated with memory functions. Slices were exposed for 10-minute epochs to 1 or 60 Hz magnetic fields at intensities of 5.6, 56, or 560 μT, or were sham exposed. 1 Hz fields at 56 and 560 μT, but not at 5.6 μT, triggered irreversible destabilization of RSA intervals, while 60 Hz fields showed similar but not statistically significant trends. The field effects on RSA did not occur when nitric oxide (NO) synthesis was pharmacologically inhibited.

Regulation of c-fos is affected by electromagnetic fields

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers transfected HeLa cells with plasmids containing c-fos upstream regulating regions up to -700 base pairs linked to a CAT reporter gene. The cells were exposed to a 60 Hz electromagnetic field at 60 mGrms. CAT expression increased above control levels after 5 minutes of exposure, peaked at 20 minutes, and returned to basal levels after 40 minutes. Deletion analysis identified a responsive region of 138 base pairs from -363 to -225 containing SRE/AP-1 sites.

Exposure to magnetic field (5 mT at 60 Hz) does not affect cell growth and c-myc gene expression

Unknown authors · 1996

The study examined the effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields on cell growth and c-myc mRNA expression in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The study tested a 5 mT, 60 Hz magnetic field. The exposure system consisted of a CO2 incubator with built-in Helmholtz coils (250 mm inner diameter, 160 mm distance, 128 turns), a slide regulator, and a thermocontroller. No significant difference was found in growth rate or c-myc expression between cells exposed to the magnetic field, sham-exposed cells, and cells in a conventional incubator.

Qualitative enzyme histochemistry and microanalysis reveals changes in ultrastructural distribution of calcium and calcium-activated ATPases after microwave irradiation of the medial habenula.

Kittel A, Siklos L, Thuroczy G, Somosy Z · 1996

Rodent cell transformation and immediate early gene expression following 60-Hz magnetic field exposure

Unknown authors · 1996

The researchers investigated whether 60-Hz magnetic fields act at the cellular level to produce gene expression changes that can result in neoplastic transformation. Twenty-four hour exposure to 200 microT continuous magnetic fields produced negative results in Syrian hamster embryo cells and C3H/10T1/2 murine fibroblasts, with or without a chemical promoter. Extensive coded and uncoded analyses found no magnetic field effect on gene expression in human HL60 cells. No MF-induced changes in ornithine decarboxylase expression were observed in C3H/10T1/2 cells under the same exposure conditions.

Effects of 60-Hz fields, estradiol and xenoestrogens on human breast cancer cells

Unknown authors · 1996

Exposure of breast cancer cells to 12 mG, 1 G, or 9 G 60-Hz electromagnetic fields failed to stimulate Cdk2 or cyclin B1-cdc2 activity or cyclin D1 synthesis. Simultaneous co-exposure to 60-Hz fields and chemical promoters did not enhance Cdk2 activation beyond the effect of the chemical promoter alone. Estrogen and xenoestrogens stimulated estrogen receptor binding to the estrogen receptor element, but EMF did not.

Effects of 60-Hz fields, estradiol and xenoestrogens on human breast cancer cells

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers tested whether 60 Hz electromagnetic fields (like those from power lines) could stimulate breast cancer cell growth or cause DNA damage in laboratory conditions. The study found that while estrogen and chemical estrogens promoted cancer cell division, electromagnetic field exposure at multiple intensities showed no effect on cell growth, gene activity, or DNA damage.

Effect of 50 Hz sinusoidal electric and/or magnetic fields on the rate of repair of DNA single strand breaks in cultured mammalian cells exposed to three different carcinogens: methylmethane sulphonate, chromate and 254 nm U.V. radiation

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers treated cultured mammalian cells with three carcinogens that produce DNA single-strand breaks. The repair rate of these lesions was unchanged by 50 Hz electric, magnetic, or combined fields across a range of intensities.

Exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields has no effect on growth rate or clonogenic potential of multipotential haemopoietic progenitor cells

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers investigated interactions of weak ELFMFs with primitive haemopoietic cells in vitro using the multipotential progenitor cell line FDCP-mix(A4). They determined proliferative activity and clonogenic potential under optimal and sub-optimal growth conditions with exposures to ambient laboratory ELFMFs or three other ELFMF regimes including nulled fields, Ca2+-ion cyclotron resonance at 50 Hz, and vertical 50 Hz fields of 6 muT(RMS). Using exposures of 1, 4, 7 and 21 days, they found no significant alteration of growth rate, cell-cycle state or clonogenic efficiency.

Exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields has no effect on growth rate or clonogenic potential of multipotential haemopoietic progenitor cells

Unknown authors · 1996

Researchers exposed blood stem cells to extremely low frequency magnetic fields similar to those from power lines for up to 21 days. The fields had no effect on cell growth, division, or ability to form colonies. This laboratory study found no evidence that power line EMF directly promotes blood cancer development in these primitive blood cells.

Heart rate variability in workers exposed to medium-frequency electromagnetic fields.

Bortkiewicz A, Gadzicka E, Zmyslony M, · 1996

The study compared 71 workers at medium-frequency broadcast stations with 22 non-exposed radio link station workers. Age and work tenure distributions did not differ significantly between groups. Heart rate variability was measured from 512 normal heart evolutions at rest using a Medea-HV system. Time-domain and frequency-domain HRV parameters showed no statistically significant differences between exposed and non-exposed groups. In the exposed group, maximum EM field intensity correlated negatively with high-frequency power spectrum.

The phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced oxidative burst in rat peritoneal neutrophils is increased by a 0.1 mT (60 Hz) magnetic field.

Roy S et al. · 1995

Researchers investigated whether a low-frequency, low-intensity magnetic field could affect the oxidative burst triggered by PMA in rat peritoneal neutrophils. In the presence of the magnetic field, a 12.4% increase in the fluorescence signal was observed in PMA-stimulated neutrophils (n = 5, P < 0.02, 18 pairs of measurements). The researchers described this as what they believed to be the first experimental observation of a magnetic field influencing free radical species generated during signal transduction in living cells.

No effect of 60 Hz electromagnetic fields on MYC or beta-actin expression in human leukemic cells

Unknown authors · 1995

The study used quantitative Northern analysis to measure MYC and beta-actin mRNA levels in human leukemic HL60 cells. Cells were exposed to 60 Hz sinusoidal magnetic fields at 0.57, 5.7, or 57 microT for 20 minutes using a new field-exposure system designed to optimize any response. No significant effect of the electromagnetic fields on gene expression was observed with any of the exposure systems or analytical methods.

No effect of 60 Hz electromagnetic fields on MYC or beta-actin expression in human leukemic cells

Unknown authors · 1995

Researchers exposed human leukemia cells to 60 Hz magnetic fields at various strengths for 20 minutes to test whether power line frequency EMF could activate cancer-related genes. Despite using improved methods and testing conditions similar to previous positive studies, they found no effect on MYC or beta-actin gene expression. This contradicts earlier claims that EMF exposure rapidly activates genes involved in cell growth.

No effect of 60 Hz electromagnetic fields on MYC or beta-actin expression in human leukemic cells

Lacy-Hulbert et al. · 1995

Researchers exposed human leukemia cells (HL60) to 60 Hz magnetic fields at various strengths for 20 minutes, then measured whether genes linked to cancer growth (MYC and beta-actin) became more active. Despite using conditions similar to previous studies that claimed to find effects, they found no changes in gene activity from the electromagnetic field exposure.

Short exposures to 60 Hz magnetic fields do not alter MYC expression in HL60 or Daudi cells

Unknown authors · 1995

Researchers performed an extensive series of experiments with human HL60 and Daudi cells incorporating blind exposures and internal standards. Exposure conditions covered flux densities from 5.7 microT to 10 mT and durations from 20 to 60 minutes. No alteration in the human MYC gene (c-myc) or beta-actin steady-state mRNA levels was observed.

Effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields on C-myc transcript levels in nonsynchronized and synchronized human cells

Unknown authors · 1995

Researchers exposed human lymphoid cells immortalized by Epstein-Barr virus and HL60 leukemic cells to 50 Hz magnetic fields at 10 μT or 1 mT for periods ranging from 20 minutes to 72 hours. C-myc transcript levels were measured by Northern blot analysis normalized to the GaPDH gene. No statistically significant difference in c-myc transcript levels was observed between exposed and control cells for either cell type at any exposure duration, and the same result was found in cells synchronized in G0/G1 phase.

Circularly polarized 50-Hz magnetic field exposure reduces pineal gland and blood melatonin concentrations of Long- Evans rats

Unknown authors · 1994