Exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields alters the behaviour, physiology and stress protein levels of desert locusts.
Wyszkowska J, Shepherd S, Sharkh S, Jackson CW, Newland PL. · 2016
View Original AbstractDesert locusts exposed to power-line frequency EMFs showed impaired movement, slower nerve responses, and cellular stress at levels higher than typical home exposure.
Plain English Summary
Scientists exposed desert locusts to electromagnetic fields from power lines and appliances, finding reduced walking ability, slower nerve responses, weaker muscle contractions, and increased cellular stress proteins. This demonstrates that everyday electromagnetic field exposure can cause measurable biological effects across multiple body systems.
Why This Matters
This research provides compelling evidence that ELF electromagnetic fields can cause profound biological effects, even in a simple organism like the desert locust. The 4 millitesla exposure level used in this study is quite high compared to typical household exposures (which range from 0.01 to 0.2 millitesla), but the fact that researchers observed effects across multiple biological systems - from behavior to nerve function to cellular stress responses - suggests these fields have real biological activity. What makes this study particularly valuable is its systematic approach, measuring effects from the whole organism level down to individual neurons and proteins. The increased stress protein levels are especially noteworthy, as these proteins are produced when cells are under duress. While we can't directly extrapolate from locusts to humans, this research adds to the growing body of evidence that ELF EMFs are not biologically inert as many regulatory agencies assume.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 4 mG
Exposure Context
This study used 4 mG for magnetic fields:
- 200Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 40Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
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 is to observe Exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields alters the behaviour, physiology and stress protein levels of desert locusts.
we utilise the accessible nervous system of the locust to ask how exposure to high levels of ELF EMF...
We show that exposure to ELF EMFs above 4 mT leads to reduced walking. Moreover, intracellular recor...
Together these results suggest that ELF EMF exposure has the capacity to cause dramatic effects from behaviour to physiology and protein expression, and this study lays the foundation to explore the ecological significance of these effects in other flying insects.
Show BibTeX
@article{j_2016_exposure_to_extremely_low_732,
author = {Wyszkowska J and Shepherd S and Sharkh S and Jackson CW and Newland PL.},
title = {Exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields alters the behaviour, physiology and stress protein levels of desert locusts.},
year = {2016},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/srep36413},
}