Increased levels of numerical chromosome aberrations after in vitro exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields for 72 hours.
Mazor R, Korenstein-Ilan A, Barbul A, Eshet Y, Shahadi A, Jerby E, Korenstein R. · 2008
View Original AbstractRF radiation at cell phone levels caused chromosome damage in human cells without heating, challenging current safety standards.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human blood cells to 800 MHz radiofrequency radiation (similar to cell phone frequencies) for 72 hours at levels close to current safety limits. They found significant increases in chromosome abnormalities called aneuploidy, where cells had the wrong number of chromosomes. This type of genetic damage can contribute to cancer development and other health problems.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that RF radiation can cause genetic damage at exposure levels close to current safety guidelines. The SAR levels tested (2.9 and 4.1 W/kg) are within range of what your cell phone produces during calls, yet caused measurable chromosome damage in human cells. What makes this research particularly significant is that the effects occurred without heating the cells, challenging the industry's long-held position that only thermal effects matter. The researchers carefully controlled for temperature, demonstrating these were true biological effects of the radiation itself. This adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting our current safety standards may not adequately protect against genetic damage from chronic RF exposure.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 2.9 and 4.1 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 800 MHz, continuous wave
- Exposure Duration
- 72h
Exposure Context
This study used 2.9 and 4.1 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 7.2x 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
To investigate the increased levels of numerical chromosome aberrations after in vitro exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields for 72 hours.
We investigated the effects of 72 h in vitro exposure of 10 human lymphocyte samples to radiofrequen...
We observed increased levels of aneuploidy depending on the chromosome studied as well as on the lev...
These results contribute to the assessment of potential health risks after continuous chronic exposure to RF radiation at SARs close to the current levels set by ICNIRP guidelines.
Show BibTeX
@article{r_2008_increased_levels_of_numerical_18,
author = {Mazor R and Korenstein-Ilan A and Barbul A and Eshet Y and Shahadi A and Jerby E and Korenstein R.},
title = {Increased levels of numerical chromosome aberrations after in vitro exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields for 72 hours.},
year = {2008},
url = {https://meridian.allenpress.com/radiation-research/article-abstract/169/1/28/42575/Increased-Levels-of-Numerical-Chromosome},
}