EMF radiations (1800 MHz)-inhibited early seedling growth of maize (Zea mays) involves alterations in starch and sucrose metabolism.
Kumar A, Singh HP, Batish DR, Kaur S, Kohli RK. · 2015
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation disrupted plant growth and metabolism at exposure levels below current safety limits, suggesting fundamental biological effects.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed corn seedlings to cell phone radiation (1800 MHz) for different time periods and found that 4 hours of exposure significantly stunted growth and disrupted the plants' sugar metabolism. The radiation caused a 23% reduction in shoot growth and altered key enzymes responsible for breaking down starches and sugars that plants need for energy. This demonstrates that radiofrequency radiation can interfere with fundamental biological processes even in plants.
Why This Matters
This plant study reveals something important about how radiofrequency radiation affects living systems at the cellular level. The researchers used 1800 MHz radiation at a SAR of 0.169 W/kg, which is well below current safety limits for human exposure (2 W/kg). Yet even at this relatively low level, just 4 hours of exposure was enough to significantly disrupt the corn seedlings' basic metabolic processes. What makes this particularly relevant is that plants don't have nervous systems or complex cellular structures that EMF skeptics often claim are necessary for biological effects. The fact that RF radiation can interfere with fundamental enzyme activity and carbohydrate metabolism in such simple organisms suggests these effects operate at a very basic biochemical level. This adds to the growing body of evidence showing that current safety standards, based solely on heating effects, may not adequately protect against the non-thermal biological impacts of radiofrequency radiation.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.169 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 1800 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- ½, 1, 2, and 4 hours
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The present study investigated the impact of 1800-MHz electromagnetic field radiations (EMF-r), widely used in mobile communication, on the growth and activity of starch-, sucrose-, and phosphate-hydrolyzing enzymes in Zea mays seedlings.
We exposed Z. mays to modulated continuous wave homogenous EMF-r at specific absorption rate (SAR) o...
The analysis of seedlings after 7 days revealed that short-term exposure did not induce any signific...
The study concludes that EMF-r-inhibited seedling growth of Z. mays involves interference with starch and sucrose metabolism.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2015_emf_radiations_1800_mhzinhibited_1117,
author = {Kumar A and Singh HP and Batish DR and Kaur S and Kohli RK.},
title = {EMF radiations (1800 MHz)-inhibited early seedling growth of maize (Zea mays) involves alterations in starch and sucrose metabolism.},
year = {2015},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26277350/},
}