Microwaves from GSM mobile telephones affect 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX foci in human lymphocytes from hypersensitive and healthy persons.
Markovà E, Hillert L, Malmgren L, Persson BR, Belyaev IY. · 2005
View Original AbstractMobile phone radiation caused DNA damage markers in human immune cells at 1/40th of current safety limits.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human immune cells (lymphocytes) to microwave radiation from GSM mobile phones for one hour and found it caused DNA damage markers similar to heat shock. The study examined cells from both healthy people and those who report electromagnetic hypersensitivity, finding similar responses in both groups. This demonstrates that cell phone radiation can trigger cellular stress responses and DNA damage at exposure levels well below current safety standards.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that mobile phone radiation causes measurable DNA damage in human immune cells at extremely low exposure levels. The SAR of 0.037 W/kg is roughly one-fortieth of the current FCC limit of 1.6 W/kg, yet still triggered stress responses and DNA damage markers typically associated with harmful exposures. What makes this research particularly significant is that it used advanced molecular techniques to detect 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX foci, which are considered gold-standard biomarkers for DNA double-strand breaks. The fact that both electromagnetically hypersensitive and healthy individuals showed similar cellular responses suggests these biological effects occur regardless of perceived sensitivity. This adds to a growing body of independent research demonstrating that current safety standards, which only consider thermal effects, fail to protect against the non-thermal biological impacts of wireless radiation that occur at everyday exposure levels.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.037 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 905–915 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- continuous for 1 hour
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
In the present study, we investigated effects of MWs of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) at different carrier frequencies on human lymphocytes from healthy persons and from persons reporting hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
We measured the changes in chromatin conformation, which are indicative of stress response and genot...
We found that MWs from GSM mobile telephones affect chromatin conformation and 53BP1/gamma-H2AX foci...
Show BibTeX
@article{e_2005_microwaves_from_gsm_mobile_1072,
author = {Markovà E and Hillert L and Malmgren L and Persson BR and Belyaev IY.},
title = {Microwaves from GSM mobile telephones affect 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX foci in human lymphocytes from hypersensitive and healthy persons.},
year = {2005},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16140623/},
}