On Monday 23th June, Dirk Adang, a researcher working at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, presented a Ph.D. study which ought to set many a mobile phone and wireless internet user thinking.
Adang studied the impact of long-term exposure to pulsed electromagnetic radiation (mobile phones, antennas, WiFi, …) on the health of rats. The results? A doubled mortality rate, effects on the immune system, impaired memory and tumours. Add to this the suspicion of early ageing and it is clear that this study is bound to be unpopular with wireless communication companies.
The jury of international experts who had to judge the Ph.D. thesis, praised the rigorous methodology of the study. Moreover, the goal of the study was pretty unique. Most studies done so far, only looked at (very) short-term results. The current exposure standards are based on these short-term effects. Adang however was interested in what happens after a long-term exposure.
In his experiment, rats, whose genetic makeup is very similar to humans, were exposed to pulsed electromagnetic radiation for a period of 18 months (= 70% of their lives - 18 months for a rat equals more or less 60 years for a human being). Seven days a week, the rats spent two hours a day in an environment where the radiation level was as high as is allowed by the current international exposure standards (i.e. an average of 27 volts per metre). At various times, the health of these rats was compared with the health of a control group of rats that was not radiated.
The main findings from this research are the following:
1. Effects on the immune system
White blood cells eliminate foreign substances and play an important role in the immune system. Blood samples show that the rats that have been exposed to the radiation, have significantly higher levels (+30%) of various types of white blood cells. Some types of white blood cells showed an increase only after a period of 11 to 18 months of exposure, which indicates that some effects only become visible after a long period of exposure.
These findings indicate a reaction and a potential damaging of the immune system: “It is as if the living organism reacts to an attack or invasion of foreign substances,” says the researcher.
2. Doubled mortality rate
The most striking result of the study is probably the fact that the mortality rate among exposed rats was twice as high as in the control group. According to Adang this could be a consequence of the reaction of and the changes in the immune system.
INCLUDEPICTURE "
http://www.next-up.org/images/RTL%20Info%20le%20Journal%20Etude%20Be%2024%2006%202008%20copie.jpg" \* MERGEFORMATINET
3. Impaired memory
Various scientific studies suggest that EM radiation influences cognitive functioning. One aspect of this, memory, was also studied by Adang, but the researcher had not expected such an important influence. 15 months of radiation was found to lead to a significant loss of memory.
When rats are faced with a new object for the first time, they will investigate it for a while by sniffing it. As they are repeatedly confronted with the object and become familiar with it, they spend less time sniffing. However, this wasn’t the case with the radiated rats; they didn’t seem to remember the object.
4. Tumours
An autopsy was performed on 19 rats, of which 17 belonged to the exposed group. It turned out that the cause of death of 16 of the 17 radiated rats were different kinds of tumours.
These rather worrying effects, that occur at a radiation level considered ‘safe’ today by official authorities, lead to the question whether current exposure standards are sufficient. These standards have been the subject of heavy criticism for a while now, because they only consider short-term exposure. Moreover, they are based upon the dated and faulty assumption that damage can only be caused by tissue heating, the so-called thermal effects. By now, plenty of studies have indicated that very weak radiation, too weak to cause tissue heating, produces significant biological effects, such as damage to the DNA and the immune system.
For many scientists, it is incomprehensible and unacceptable that these studies are being neglected by official authorities. Prof. André Vander Vorst, member of Belgium’s Health Council, says in the newspaper Le Soir that according to him, the current exposure standards are not stringent enough, partly due to lobbying by the telecom industry.
Source:
Le Soir, 24/06/2008
" http://www.next-up.org/pdf/LeSoirOndesGsmLetudeQuiInquiete24062008.pdf" www.next-up.org/pdf/LeSoirOndesGsmLetudeQuiInquiete24062008.pdf
The jury of international experts who had to judge the Ph.D. thesis, praised the rigorous methodology of the study. Moreover, the goal of the study was pretty unique. Most studies done so far, only looked at (very) short-term results. The current exposure standards are based on these short-term effects. Adang however was interested in what happens after a long-term exposure.
In his experiment, rats, whose genetic makeup is very similar to humans, were exposed to pulsed electromagnetic radiation for a period of 18 months (= 70% of their lives - 18 months for a rat equals more or less 60 years for a human being). Seven days a week, the rats spent two hours a day in an environment where the radiation level was as high as is allowed by the current international exposure standards (i.e. an average of 27 volts per metre). At various times, the health of these rats was compared with the health of a control group of rats that was not radiated.
The main findings from this research are the following:
1. Effects on the immune system
White blood cells eliminate foreign substances and play an important role in the immune system. Blood samples show that the rats that have been exposed to the radiation, have significantly higher levels (+30%) of various types of white blood cells. Some types of white blood cells showed an increase only after a period of 11 to 18 months of exposure, which indicates that some effects only become visible after a long period of exposure.
These findings indicate a reaction and a potential damaging of the immune system: “It is as if the living organism reacts to an attack or invasion of foreign substances,” says the researcher.
2. Doubled mortality rate
The most striking result of the study is probably the fact that the mortality rate among exposed rats was twice as high as in the control group. According to Adang this could be a consequence of the reaction of and the changes in the immune system.
INCLUDEPICTURE "
http://www.next-up.org/images/RTL%20Info%20le%20Journal%20Etude%20Be%2024%2006%202008%20copie.jpg" \* MERGEFORMATINET 3. Impaired memory
Various scientific studies suggest that EM radiation influences cognitive functioning. One aspect of this, memory, was also studied by Adang, but the researcher had not expected such an important influence. 15 months of radiation was found to lead to a significant loss of memory.
When rats are faced with a new object for the first time, they will investigate it for a while by sniffing it. As they are repeatedly confronted with the object and become familiar with it, they spend less time sniffing. However, this wasn’t the case with the radiated rats; they didn’t seem to remember the object.
4. Tumours
An autopsy was performed on 19 rats, of which 17 belonged to the exposed group. It turned out that the cause of death of 16 of the 17 radiated rats were different kinds of tumours.
These rather worrying effects, that occur at a radiation level considered ‘safe’ today by official authorities, lead to the question whether current exposure standards are sufficient. These standards have been the subject of heavy criticism for a while now, because they only consider short-term exposure. Moreover, they are based upon the dated and faulty assumption that damage can only be caused by tissue heating, the so-called thermal effects. By now, plenty of studies have indicated that very weak radiation, too weak to cause tissue heating, produces significant biological effects, such as damage to the DNA and the immune system.
For many scientists, it is incomprehensible and unacceptable that these studies are being neglected by official authorities. Prof. André Vander Vorst, member of Belgium’s Health Council, says in the newspaper Le Soir that according to him, the current exposure standards are not stringent enough, partly due to lobbying by the telecom industry.
Source:
Le Soir, 24/06/2008
"
http://www.next-up.org/pdf/LeSoirOndesGsmLetudeQuiInquiete24062008.pdf" www.next-up.org/pdf/LeSoirOndesGsmLetudeQuiInquiete24062008.pdf 
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