Apoptosis is Induced by Radiofrequency Fields through the Caspase-Independent Mitochondrial Pathway in Cortical Neurons.
Joubert V, Bourthoumieu S, Leveque P, Yardin C. · 2008
View Original AbstractCell phone-level RF radiation triggered significant brain cell death through non-heating mechanisms in this controlled laboratory study.
Plain English Summary
French researchers exposed rat brain cells to cell phone-level radiofrequency radiation (900 MHz at 2 W/kg SAR) for 24 hours and found it triggered programmed cell death through a specific cellular pathway. The brain cells died at rates significantly higher than control groups, even when accounting for the slight temperature increase from the radiation. This suggests that RF radiation can damage neurons through mechanisms beyond just heating effects.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that radiofrequency radiation at levels commonly encountered from mobile devices can trigger neuronal death through non-thermal mechanisms. The 2 W/kg SAR used here falls within the range of typical cell phone emissions, making these findings directly relevant to everyday exposure scenarios. What makes this research particularly significant is that the researchers carefully controlled for heating effects and still observed substantial cell death through a specific mitochondrial pathway involving apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF). This challenges the wireless industry's long-standing position that RF radiation is harmless below heating thresholds. The caspase-independent pathway identified here represents a distinct biological mechanism that deserves serious attention from regulators and health authorities, especially given our increasing reliance on wireless devices that emit similar frequencies.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 2 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 24 hours
Exposure Context
This study used 2 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 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
In the present study, we investigated whether continuous-wave (CW) radiofrequency (RF) fields induce neuron apoptosis in vitro.
Rat primary neuronal cultures were exposed to a CW 900 MHz RF field with a specific absorption rate ...
A statistically significant difference in the rate of apoptosis was found in the RF-field-exposed ne...
Our results show that, under the experimental conditions used, exposure of primary rat neurons to CW RF fields may induce a caspase-independent pathway to apoptosis that involves AIF.
Show BibTeX
@article{v_2008_apoptosis_is_induced_by_1085,
author = {Joubert V and Bourthoumieu S and Leveque P and Yardin C.},
title = {Apoptosis is Induced by Radiofrequency Fields through the Caspase-Independent Mitochondrial Pathway in Cortical Neurons.},
year = {2008},
url = {https://meridian.allenpress.com/radiation-research/article-abstract/169/1/38/42579/Apoptosis-is-Induced-by-Radiofrequency-Fields},
}