Mobile phones and brain damage.

• Author: Ho, Mae-Wan

One quarter of the world's population is now exposing themselves to microwaves from hand-held mobile phones. The research team in Lundt University, Sweden, led by Leif Salford, referred to this as "the largest human biologic experiment ever." They point out that soon, microwaves will be emitted by an abundance of other appliances in the "cordless" office and in the home.

Most researchers have concentrated on the question of whether radio frequency electromagnetic fields can induce or promote cancer, but the evidence appears conflicting.

In his keynote address to a Children with Leukemia conference in September 2004, Sir William Stewart, who chaired an inquiry that resulted in the Stewart Report on Mobile Phones and Health in 2000, said there are biological effects below the current exposure guidelines. He warned that children may be more susceptible, and should limit their use of mobile phones.

In a recent health survey carried out in La Nora, Murcia, Spain, two 900/1800Mhz mobile phone base stations showed a statistically significant association between the measured electric field and a number of symptoms, especially depressive tendency, fatigue, sleeping disorder, difficulty in concentration and cardiovascular problems, and also loss of memory, visual disorder and dizziness. It confirms the findings of several earlier published studies. D. Oberfeld Gerd of the Public Health Department of Salzburg, Austria, is advising a reduction of exposure levels to no more than 1 micro Watt/[m.sup.2]. The current exposure limit set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines is 10 W/[m.sup.2], or 10 million times that recommended.

Sir William now chairs the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), which is being merged into the Health Agency. The NRPB is due to publish advice to the government that the ICNIRP standards--already shown to be highly inadequate--should be adopted for the UK. As the NRPB's own report admits, the standards are "intended to prevent adverse effects due to excessive whole- and partial-body heating," totally ignoring non-thermal effects, which are increasingly documented in many laboratories all over the world.

Lundt and colleagues have been studying the effects of 915 MHz radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in rats since 1988. "In a series of more than 1,600 animals, we have proven that subthermal power densities from both pulse-modulated and continuous RF...