Mobile phone radiation inhibits Vigna radiata (mung bean) root growth by inducing oxidative stress.
Sharma VP, Singh HP, Kohli RK, Batish DR. · 2009
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation at typical exposure levels triggered oxidative stress and stunted plant growth despite activated cellular defenses.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed mung bean seeds to cell phone radiation (900 MHz) for up to four hours. The radiation significantly stunted growth and germination while triggering oxidative stress that damages cells. This demonstrates that mobile phone radiation can disrupt basic biological processes in living organisms.
Why This Matters
This plant study provides compelling evidence that cell phone radiation can trigger oxidative stress at the cellular level, a mechanism that's increasingly recognized as central to many EMF health effects. The power density used (8.55 microW/cm²) is well within the range of typical cell phone exposures, making these findings directly relevant to human health concerns. What's particularly significant is that the mung beans' natural antioxidant defenses weren't enough to prevent the cellular damage - the plants ramped up their protective enzyme production, but still suffered growth inhibition and oxidative damage. This mirrors what we're seeing in human studies, where EMF exposure overwhelms our natural cellular repair mechanisms. The dose-response relationship the researchers found (longer exposure caused more damage) strengthens the case for causation rather than coincidence.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.00855 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 1/2, 1, 2, and 4 h
Exposure Context
This study used 0.00855 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 855Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 14.3Kx 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
We investigated whether EMFr from cell phones inhibit growth of Vigna radiata (mung bean) through induction of conventional stress responses.
Effects of cell phone EMFr (power density: 8.55 microW cm(-2); 900 MHz band width; for 1/2, 1, 2, an...
Our results showed that cell phone EMFr significantly inhibited the germination (at > or =2 h), and ...
The study concluded that cell phone EMFr inhibit root growth of mung bean by inducing ROS-generated oxidative stress despite increased activities of antioxidant enzymes.
Show BibTeX
@article{vp_2009_mobile_phone_radiation_inhibits_570,
author = {Sharma VP and Singh HP and Kohli RK and Batish DR.},
title = {Mobile phone radiation inhibits Vigna radiata (mung bean) root growth by inducing oxidative stress.},
year = {2009},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19682728/},
}