Reactive oxygen species elevation and recovery in Drosophila bodies and ovaries following short-term and long-term exposure to DECT base EMF.
Manta AK, Stravopodis DJ, Papassideri IS, Margaritis LH · 2013
View Original AbstractDECT phone radiation doubled cellular damage markers in fruit flies at levels 100 times lower than typical phone exposures.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed fruit flies to radiation from cordless phone base stations. The flies showed doubled levels of cell-damaging molecules within hours, even at very low radiation levels. This suggests common household wireless devices may cause cellular stress below current safety standards.
Why This Matters
This study reveals a critical mechanism by which wireless radiation harms living organisms: the generation of reactive oxygen species that damage cells and DNA. What makes these findings particularly significant is that the radiation levels were extraordinarily low - about 100 times lower than typical cell phone exposures. The DECT base station used operates at power levels similar to WiFi routers and other common household devices, meaning this cellular damage occurs from everyday wireless exposures in our homes. The rapid response in reproductive tissues (within 30 minutes) and the body-wide effects (within 6 hours) demonstrate that biological systems are far more sensitive to wireless radiation than current safety standards assume. While the flies' antioxidant systems eventually recovered after exposure stopped, the reality is that most of us live with continuous wireless exposures that never allow this recovery to occur.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.009 W/kg
- Electric Field
- 2.7 V/m
- Source/Device
- 1.88-1.90 GHz
- Exposure Duration
- 0.5, 1, 6, 24 and 96 h
Exposure Context
This study used 2.7 V/m for electric fields:
- 9x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.3 V/m
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 objective of this study was to approach the basic mechanism(s) underlying reported ovarian apoptotic cell death and fecundity decrease induced by nonionizing radiation (NIR) in Drosophila melanogaster.
ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) levels were measured in the bodies and the ovaries of (sexually mature...
Male and female bodies showed twofold increase in ROS levels (p < 0.001) after 6 h of exposure, slig...
It is postulated that the pulsed (at 100 Hz rate and 0.08 ms duration) idle state of the DECT base radiation is capable of inducing free radical formation albeit the very low SAR, leading rapidly to accumulation of ROS in a level-saturation manner under continuous exposure, or in a recovery manner after interruption of radiation, possibly due to activation of the antioxidant machinery of the organism.
Show BibTeX
@article{ak_2013_reactive_oxygen_species_elevation_1178,
author = {Manta AK and Stravopodis DJ and Papassideri IS and Margaritis LH},
title = {Reactive oxygen species elevation and recovery in Drosophila bodies and ovaries following short-term and long-term exposure to DECT base EMF.},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.3109/15368378.2013.791991},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15368378.2013.791991},
}