Effect of low-intensity pulse-modulated microwave on human blood aspartate aminotransferase activity
Pashovkina MS, Akoev IG · 2001
View Original AbstractHuman blood showed six-fold increases in a cellular stress enzyme after just 5 minutes of microwave exposure at levels 1,000 times weaker than cell phones.
Plain English Summary
Russian scientists exposed human blood to weak microwave radiation for 5 minutes and found it increased levels of an enzyme that signals cell damage by up to six times normal levels, suggesting even brief low-power microwave exposure can cause measurable biological changes.
Why This Matters
This study reveals something striking about how our bodies respond to microwave radiation at power levels far below current safety standards. The researchers used power densities of just 2 to 8 microW/cm² - that's roughly 1,000 times weaker than what your cell phone produces when held against your head. Yet even at these incredibly low levels, human blood showed dramatic biochemical responses within minutes. What makes this particularly significant is that aspartate aminotransferase typically increases when cells are damaged or stressed, suggesting the microwaves triggered a cellular stress response. The fact that the effect was strongest at specific pulse frequencies also supports the growing body of evidence that modulated signals may be more biologically active than continuous waves. While this was a laboratory study on donated blood rather than living people, it demonstrates that our current safety standards - based solely on heating effects - may be missing important biological responses occurring at much lower exposure levels.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.002, 0.008 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 2375 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 5min
Exposure Context
This study used 0.002, 0.008 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 200Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 3.3Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
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
To study the effect of low-intensity pulse-modulated microwave on human blood aspartate aminotransferase activity
Pulse-modulated microwaves (frequency 2375 MHz, intensity: 2 microW/cm2 and 8 microW/cm2, pulse modu...
Show BibTeX
@article{ms_2001_effect_of_lowintensity_pulsemodulated_1253,
author = {Pashovkina MS and Akoev IG},
title = {Effect of low-intensity pulse-modulated microwave on human blood aspartate aminotransferase activity},
year = {2001},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11253702/},
}