Neurophysiological and behavioral effects of a 60 Hz, 1,800 μT magnetic field in humans.
Legros A, Corbacio M, Beuter A, Modolo J, Goulet D, Prato FS, Thomas AW. · 2012
View Original AbstractOne hour of power-frequency magnetic field exposure impaired balance and increased tremor in healthy adults, suggesting immediate neurological effects.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed people to strong 60 Hz magnetic fields (like power lines emit) for one hour. The exposure impaired balance and increased hand tremor, even though brain waves stayed normal. This shows power-frequency fields can affect movement control in subtle ways.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that power-frequency magnetic fields can acutely affect human neurological function, specifically our involuntary motor control systems. What makes these findings particularly significant is that the researchers detected measurable changes in balance and tremor at exposure levels that are elevated but not extreme - roughly 18 times higher than typical household magnetic field levels. The fact that these motor effects occurred without corresponding changes in cortical brain activity suggests that magnetic fields may influence deeper brain structures or peripheral nervous system pathways that control automatic functions. This research adds to a growing body of evidence that our nervous systems are more sensitive to electromagnetic exposures than previously understood, and it challenges the assumption that effects must be detectable in surface brain activity to be biologically meaningful.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 1.8 mG
- Source/Device
- 60 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 1h
Exposure Context
This study used 1.8 mG for magnetic fields:
- 90Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 18Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The aim of this study is to observe Neurophysiological and behavioral effects of a 60 Hz, 1,800 μT magnetic field in humans.
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a 60 Hz, 1,800 μT MF exposure on neurophysiolo...
Though results from this study suggest a reduction of human standing balance with MF exposure, as we...
These results suggest that 1 h of 60 Hz, 1,800 μT MF exposure may modulate human involuntary motor control without being detected in the cortical electrical activity.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2012_neurophysiological_and_behavioral_effects_671,
author = {Legros A and Corbacio M and Beuter A and Modolo J and Goulet D and Prato FS and Thomas AW.},
title = {Neurophysiological and behavioral effects of a 60 Hz, 1,800 μT magnetic field in humans.},
year = {2012},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21894451/},
}