The effect of prenatal exposure to 900-MHz electromagnetic field on the 21-old-day rat testicle.
Hancı H, Odacı E, Kaya H, Aliyazıcıoğlu Y, Turan I, Demir S, Colakoğlu S. · 2013
View Original AbstractPrenatal cell phone radiation exposure caused lasting reproductive damage in male rat offspring, suggesting pregnancy EMF exposure risks.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed pregnant rats to cell phone-level radiation (900 MHz) for one hour daily during late pregnancy, then examined the testicles of their male offspring at 21 days old. The exposed offspring showed significant damage to their developing reproductive organs, including structural abnormalities, increased cell death, and DNA damage that persisted weeks after birth. This suggests that EMF exposure during pregnancy may harm the reproductive development of male offspring.
Why This Matters
This study adds to growing evidence that EMF exposure during critical developmental windows can have lasting consequences. The 900 MHz frequency used here is identical to what many cell phones emit, and the power density (0.0265 W/m²) falls within typical exposure ranges from wireless devices. What makes this research particularly concerning is that the damage occurred from prenatal exposure but persisted into postnatal life, suggesting that developing reproductive systems may be especially vulnerable to EMF effects. The combination of structural damage, increased cell death, and DNA oxidation points to multiple pathways of harm. While this is animal research, it aligns with other studies showing reproductive effects from EMF exposure and raises important questions about wireless device use during pregnancy.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.0265 µW/m²
- Electric Field
- 10 V/m
- Source/Device
- 900-MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 1 h/day from 13th to 21st day of pregnancy
Exposure Context
This study used 0.0265 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 2.7Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 44.2Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
This study used 10 V/m for electric fields:
- 33.3x 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 aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exposure to a 900-MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) in the prenatal term on the 21-old-day rat testicle.
Pregnant rats were divided into control (CG) and EMF (EMFG) groups. EMFG was exposed to 900-MHz EMF ...
NEMFG rats exhibited irregularities in seminiferous tubule basal membrane and epithelium, immature g...
Show BibTeX
@article{h_2013_the_effect_of_prenatal_531,
author = {Hancı H and Odacı E and Kaya H and Aliyazıcıoğlu Y and Turan I and Demir S and Colakoğlu S.},
title = {The effect of prenatal exposure to 900-MHz electromagnetic field on the 21-old-day rat testicle.},
year = {2013},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890623813003523},
}