Whole body exposure with GSM 900MHz affects spatial memory in mice.
Fragopoulou AF, Miltiadous P, Stamatakis A, Stylianopoulou F, Koussoulakos SL, Margaritis LH. · 2010
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation at typical use levels impaired spatial memory in mice after just 4 days of exposure.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed mice to 900MHz cell phone radiation for 2 hours daily over 4 days, then tested their spatial memory using maze tasks. Exposed mice showed significant learning and memory deficits compared to unexposed mice, suggesting mobile phone radiation may impair brain function.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that mobile phone radiation can impair cognitive function at exposure levels well within the range of everyday cell phone use. The SAR levels tested (0.41-0.98 W/kg) are comparable to what your head absorbs during a typical phone call, yet produced measurable deficits in spatial memory after just 8 total hours of exposure. What makes this research particularly significant is that it specifically addressed a gap in the literature, as previous mouse studies used much lower exposure levels that showed no effects. The science demonstrates that there's a threshold above which cognitive impacts become apparent. The reality is that millions of people regularly expose themselves to similar or higher SAR levels through normal phone use, yet regulatory agencies continue to focus primarily on heating effects while largely ignoring these non-thermal cognitive impacts. This study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting our current safety standards may be inadequate to protect brain function.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.41 - 0.98 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 900MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 2 hours for 4 day
Exposure Context
This study used 0.41 - 0.98 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 1x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
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 present work has been designed in order to test the effects of mobile phone radiation on spatial learning and memory in mice Mus musculus Balb/c using the Morris water maze (a hippocampal-dependent spatial memory task), since there is just one other study on mice with very low SAR level (0.05W/kg) showing no effects.
We have applied a 2h daily dose of pulsed GSM 900MHz radiation from commercially available mobile ph...
Statistical analysis revealed that during learning, exposed animals showed a deficit in transferring...
Our results provide a basis for more thorough investigations considering reports on non-thermal effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
Show BibTeX
@article{af_2010_whole_body_exposure_with_977,
author = {Fragopoulou AF and Miltiadous P and Stamatakis A and Stylianopoulou F and Koussoulakos SL and Margaritis LH.},
title = {Whole body exposure with GSM 900MHz affects spatial memory in mice.},
year = {2010},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19954937/},
}