Exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to electromagnetic fields associated with cellular phones leads to chromosomal instability.
Mashevich M, Folkman D, Kesar A, Barbul A, Korenstein R, Jerby E, Avivi L. · 2003
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation caused dose-dependent chromosomal damage in human immune cells at SAR levels similar to current safety limits.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human immune cells (lymphocytes) to 830 MHz cell phone radiation for 72 hours and found that higher radiation levels caused more chromosomal damage. The damage increased in direct proportion to the radiation dose, and it wasn't caused by heating effects. This type of genetic damage (called aneuploidy) is known to increase cancer risk.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that cell phone radiation can damage DNA through non-thermal mechanisms. The researchers found a clear dose-response relationship between radiation exposure and chromosomal damage in human immune cells. What makes this particularly significant is that the SAR levels tested (1.6-8.8 W/kg) bracket the current safety limits for cell phones, which max out at 1.6 W/kg in the US and 2.0 W/kg in Europe. The chromosomal instability observed here is the same type of genetic damage that can lead to cancer development. The science demonstrates that even without heating tissue, radiofrequency radiation can interfere with the fundamental processes of cell division and DNA integrity. This adds to a growing body of research showing biological effects at exposure levels deemed 'safe' by current regulations.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 1.6–8.8 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 830 MHz cellular phones
- Exposure Duration
- 72 hr
Exposure Context
This study used 1.6–8.8 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 4x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
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
We have examined whether in vitro exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to continuous 830 MHz electromagnetic fields causes losses and gains of chromosomes (aneuploidy), a major “somatic mutation” leading to genomic instability and thereby to cancer.
PBL were irradiated at different average absorption rates (SAR) in the range of 1.6–8.8 W/kg for 72 ...
A linear increase in chromosome 17 aneuploidy was observed as a function of the SAR value, demonstra...
These findings indicate that the genotoxic effect of the electromagnetic radiation is elicited via a non‐thermal pathway. Moreover, the fact that aneuploidy is a phenomenon known to increase the risk for cancer, should be taken into consideration in future evaluation of exposure guidelines.
Show BibTeX
@article{m_2003_exposure_of_human_peripheral_44,
author = {Mashevich M and Folkman D and Kesar A and Barbul A and Korenstein R and Jerby E and Avivi L.},
title = {Exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to electromagnetic fields associated with cellular phones leads to chromosomal instability.},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1002/bem.10086},
url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.10086/abstract},
}