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Reproductive Health197 citations

Whole body exposure of rats to microwaves emitted from a cell phone does not affect the testes.

No Effects Found

Dasdag S, Zulkuf Akdag M, Aksen F, Yilmaz F, Bashan M, Mutlu Dasdag M, Salih Celik M. · 2003

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The study found no evidence of adverse effects on testicular function or structure from cell phone exposure.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Sixteen Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into exposed and sham-exposed groups of eight each. The exposed group received cell phone radiation for 20 minutes per day, seven days a week, for one month. No statistically significant alterations were found in any endpoints, including sperm count, morphology, testicular histology, lipid composition, malondialdehyde concentration, p53 immune reactivity, or rectal temperature.

Why This Matters

Rats were housed in plexiglas cages with phones positioned 0.5 cm below the cage floor. Sham-exposed rats experienced the same setup but with phones turned off. Whole-body average SAR was 0.52 W/kg and peak 1-g SAR was 3.13 W/kg for a radiated power of 250 mW.

Exposure Details

SAR
0.52, 3.13 W/kg
Exposure Duration
20 min per day (7 days a week) for 1 month

Exposure Context

This study used 0.52, 3.13 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):

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 ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.52, 3.13 W/kgExtreme Concern - 0.1 W/kgFCC Limit - 1.6 W/kgEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 3 times higher than this level

Study Details

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of radiofrequency radiation emitted from cellular phones on the lipid composition, malondialdehyde concentration, p53 immune reactivity, sperm count, morphology, histological structure of testes, and on rectal temperature of rats exposed to microwave radiation emitted from cellular phones.

Sixteen Spraque-Dawley rats were separated into two groups of eight, sham exposed (control) and expe...

No statistically significant alteration in any of the endpoints was noted.

This study found no evidence suggesting an adverse effect of cell phone exposure on measures of testicular function or structure.

Cite This Study
Dasdag S, Zulkuf Akdag M, Aksen F, Yilmaz F, Bashan M, Mutlu Dasdag M, Salih Celik M. (2003). Whole body exposure of rats to microwaves emitted from a cell phone does not affect the testes. Bioelectromagnetics 24(3):182-188, 2003.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2003_whole_body_exposure_of_2993,
  author = {Dasdag S and Zulkuf Akdag M and Aksen F and Yilmaz F and Bashan M and Mutlu Dasdag M and Salih Celik M.},
  title = {Whole body exposure of rats to microwaves emitted from a cell phone does not affect the testes.},
  year = {2003},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12669301/},
}
PubMed: 12669301

Cited By (197 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

Exposed rats received cell phone radiation for 20 minutes per day, seven days a week, for one month.
The study measured lipid composition, malondialdehyde concentration, p53 immune reactivity, sperm count, morphology, testicular histology, and rectal temperature.
No statistically significant alteration in any of the endpoints was noted.
The whole-body average SAR was 0.52 W/kg and the 1-g peak SAR was 3.13 W/kg for a radiated power of 250 mW.