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Effect of extremely high frequency electromagnetic radiation of low intensity on parameters of humoral immunity in healthy mice.

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Lushnikov, K & Gapeyev, Andrew & Sadovnikov, V & Chemeris, Nikolai. · 2001

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Twenty days of low-level EMF exposure significantly weakened immune organs in mice, suggesting chronic exposure matters more than intensity.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed mice to weak 42 GHz electromagnetic radiation daily for 20 days. While short exposures showed no effects, prolonged exposure significantly reduced immune organ cell counts - thymus cells dropped 17.5% and spleen cells 14.5%, suggesting repeated EMF exposure may weaken immune function.

Why This Matters

This study adds important evidence to our understanding of how chronic EMF exposure affects immune function, even at power levels well below current safety guidelines. The 0.15 mW/cm² exposure used here is roughly equivalent to what you might experience from a cell phone held several inches away, yet 20 days of daily exposure significantly reduced the cellular capacity of key immune organs. What makes this research particularly compelling is that it demonstrates cumulative effects - the same exposure that caused no harm acutely became immunosuppressive with repetition. This pattern mirrors what we see across EMF research: effects often emerge not from single high-dose exposures, but from the chronic, repeated exposures that characterize our daily technology use. The reality is that your immune system may be responding to EMF exposures in ways that won't show up in short-term studies, which helps explain why regulatory agencies often miss these health effects.

Exposure Details

Power Density
0.15 µW/m²
Source/Device
42.0 GHz
Exposure Duration
20 minutes

Exposure Context

This study used 0.15 µW/m² for radio frequency:

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 Exposure Level in ContextA logarithmic scale showing exposure levels relative to Building Biology concern thresholds and regulatory limits.Study Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.15 µW/m²Extreme Concern1,000 uW/m2FCC Limit10M uW/m2Effects observed in the Slight Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 66,666,667x higher than this exposure level

Study Details

The modification of indices of the humoral immune response to thymus-dependent antigen (sheep erythrocytes) after a whole-body exposure of healthy mice to low-intensity extremely-high-frequency electromagnetic radiation was studied.

Male NMRI mice were exposed in the far-field zone of horn antenna at a frequency of 42.0 GHz and ene...

The indices of humoral immunity and cellularity of lymphoid organs changed insignificantly after acu...

The results show that low-intensity extremely-high-frequency electromagnetic radiation with the frequency and energy flux density used does not influence the humoral immune response intensity in healthy mice but influences immunogenesis under multiple repeated exposures.

Cite This Study
Lushnikov, K & Gapeyev, Andrew & Sadovnikov, V & Chemeris, Nikolai. (2001). Effect of extremely high frequency electromagnetic radiation of low intensity on parameters of humoral immunity in healthy mice. Biofizika. 46. 753-60. 2001.
Show BibTeX
@article{lushnikov_2001_effect_of_extremely_high_1071,
  author = {Lushnikov and K & Gapeyev and Andrew & Sadovnikov and V & Chemeris and Nikolai.},
  title = {Effect of extremely high frequency electromagnetic radiation of low intensity on parameters of humoral immunity in healthy mice.},
  year = {2001},
  
  url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11790281_Effect_of_extremely_high_frequency_electromagnetic_radiation_of_low_intensity_on_parameters_of_humoral_immunity_in_healthy_mice?billing_country=US},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Researchers exposed mice to weak 42 GHz electromagnetic radiation daily for 20 days. While short exposures showed no effects, prolonged exposure significantly reduced immune organ cell counts - thymus cells dropped 17.5% and spleen cells 14.5%, suggesting repeated EMF exposure may weaken immune function.