Effects of Exposure to GSM mobile phone base station signals on salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and Immunoglobulin A.
Augner C, Hacker GW, Oberfeld G, Florian M, Hitzl W, Hutter J, Pauser G. · 2010
View Original AbstractCell tower radiation triggered measurable stress responses at levels thousands of times below current safety guidelines.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 57 people to cell tower signals at different power levels and measured stress hormones in their saliva. They found that exposure to radiofrequency radiation increased cortisol (a stress hormone) and alpha-amylase (a stress enzyme) at power levels far below current safety guidelines. This suggests that even low-level cell tower radiation may trigger biological stress responses in the human body.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that cell tower radiation affects human stress biology at exposure levels considered 'safe' by regulatory agencies. The power densities that triggered stress responses were thousands of times lower than current ICNIRP guidelines, ranging from just 5.2 to 2,127 microwatts per square meter. To put this in perspective, these are levels you might encounter living near a cell tower or in areas with strong cellular coverage. What makes this research particularly significant is that it measured objective biological markers rather than relying on self-reported symptoms. The elevation of cortisol and alpha-amylase indicates the body's stress response system is being activated by RF exposure, even when people aren't consciously aware of it. This adds to a growing body of evidence showing that current safety standards, which only consider heating effects, may be inadequate to protect public health from the non-thermal biological effects of wireless radiation.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.00000052, 0.00001536, 0.00021268 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 900-MHz
Exposure Context
This study used 0.00000052, 0.00001536, 0.00021268 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 52x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 0.9x above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
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 study aimed to test whether exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted by mobile phone base stations may have effects on salivary alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin A (IgA), and cortisol levels.
Fifty seven participants were randomly allocated to one of three different experimental scenarios (2...
In scenario 3 from session 4 to session 5 (from "low" to "high" exposure), an increase of cortisol w...
RF-EMF in considerably lower field densities than ICNIRP-guidelines may influence certain psychobiological stress markers.
Show BibTeX
@article{c_2010_effects_of_exposure_to_827,
author = {Augner C and Hacker GW and Oberfeld G and Florian M and Hitzl W and Hutter J and Pauser G.},
title = {Effects of Exposure to GSM mobile phone base station signals on salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and Immunoglobulin A.},
year = {2010},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20708499/},
}