Effects of 1.8GHz radiofrequency field on DNA damage and expression of heat shock protein 70 in human lens epithelial cells.
Lixia S, Yao K, Kaijun W, Deqiang L, Huajun H, Xiangwei G, Baohong W, Wei Z, Jianling L, Wei W. · 2006
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation triggered stress responses and temporary DNA damage in human eye cells at power levels your phone can produce.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human eye lens cells to cell phone radiation at different power levels for 2 hours. Higher exposures caused temporary DNA damage and triggered cellular stress responses, suggesting that phone radiation can affect eye cells even without heating tissue.
Why This Matters
This study provides important evidence that radiofrequency radiation from cell phones can trigger cellular stress responses in human eye tissue, even at power levels below those that cause heating. The fact that cells produced more heat shock protein 70 (a well-known stress marker) at SAR levels of 2-3 W/kg is significant because current safety standards focus only on preventing tissue heating, not these biological stress responses. What makes this particularly relevant is that these SAR levels are within the range of what your phone can produce during calls, especially when signal strength is poor. The temporary DNA damage at 3 W/kg that cells were able to repair raises questions about what happens with chronic, repeated exposures over years of phone use. While the study shows cells can initially cope with this stress, the reality is that your eyes are among the most radiation-exposed parts of your body during phone calls, and this research suggests they're responding to that exposure at the cellular level.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 1, 2, & 3 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 1.8 GHz GSM (217 Hz amplitude-modulated)
Exposure Context
This study used 1, 2, & 3 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 2.5x 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 DNA damage, expression of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and cell proliferation of human lens epithelial cells (hLEC) after exposure to the 1.8 GHz radiofrequency field (RF) of a global system for mobile communications (GSM).
An Xc-1800 RF exposure system was used to employ a GSM signal at 1.8 GHz (217 Hz amplitude-modulated...
The results show that the difference of DNA-breaks between the exposed and sham-exposed (control) gr...
The results indicate that exposure to non-thermal dosages of RF for wireless communications can induce no or repairable DNA damage and the increased Hsp70 protein expression in hLECs occurred without change in the cell proliferation rate. The non-thermal stress response of Hsp70 protein increase to RF exposure might be involved in protecting hLEC from DNA damage and maintaining the cellular capacity for proliferation.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2006_effects_of_18ghz_radiofrequency_31,
author = {Lixia S and Yao K and Kaijun W and Deqiang L and Huajun H and Xiangwei G and Baohong W and Wei Z and Jianling L and Wei W.},
title = {Effects of 1.8GHz radiofrequency field on DNA damage and expression of heat shock protein 70 in human lens epithelial cells.},
year = {2006},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0027510706002697},
}