Cell Phones and the Brain – How Electricity Affects Biology by John D. MacArthur Published in the July 2002 Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, a national journal that examines medical alternatives. INTRODUCTION During the past century, electricity has become the driving force of civilization, yet much mystery still surrounds this primal energy. We don't really know to what extent biological processes are affected by the electromagnetic fields that emanate from everything electrical. As the new century promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the human brain, a crucial question begs to be answered: "What long-term effect does man-made electricity have on our extraordinarily complex and sensitive brains?" Cellular Safety Current safety guidelines for cell phones are intended to protect the human body only from excessive heating caused by absorption of energy – a known danger linked to the intensity of radiofrequency microwaves. But intensity and temperature are not the only considerations. Living cells also respond in non-thermal ways to the low frequency magnetic fields produced by cell phones. Consequently, bioeffects can occur at intensities well below the established safety threshold. "In Russia, where the frequency-specific sensitivity of living organisms to ultra-low intensity microwave radiation was first discovered over 30 years ago, the exposure guidelines are approximately 100 times more stringent" than those tolerated in the West. – Dr. Gerard Hyland, Department of Physics at Warwick University in the UK and the International Institute of Biophysics in Germany.[1] Evidence is reviewed here that shows how electromagnetic fields are known to interact with biological processes: by increasing free radicals; by activating the stress response; and by altering enzyme reactions. Understanding the electrical nature of the brain will provide insight into the possible cognitive consequences of the radiofrequency radiation used in wireless communication. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AND FREE RADICALS The mechanism by which an external electromagnetic field (EMF) interacts with an internal biological process is thought to be through the action of free radicals. These are highly reactive atoms whose unpaired electrons initiate chemical chain reactions that damage cells. At its most fundamental level, biology is physics. During all biochemical reactions, bonds between atoms are constantly breaking and reforming. The atoms in a chemical bond share a pair of electrons whose opposite spins create a magnetic attraction. When a chemical bond breaks, each atom reclaims its electron and briefly becomes a free radical – until it pairs up with another atomic partner whose electron has an opposite spin. The magnetic field component of an external EMF can delay this "recombination rate" of free radical pairs. In other words, magnetic fields cause radicals to stay free longer. Although measured in nanoseconds, this extra time gives them the potential to do more damage. Ongoing research by a team of chemists at the University of Ottawa has shown that magnetic fields increase the average concentration of free radicals, lengthen their lifetime, and enhance the probability of radical reactions with cellular components.[1A] Although free radicals are a normal part of metabolism and play a vital role in many biochemical processes, the body must keep them under control. An increase in free radicals can affect various cellular and physiological processes, including gene expression, release of calcium from intracellular storage sites, cell growth, and cell death. The actual effects, however, can vary from individual to individual and may depend on one's nutritional status and the availability of dietary antioxidants. Electromagnetic Fields Damage DNA Several studies by Henry Lai and Narendra Singh at the University of Washington's Bioelectromagnetics Research Laboratory have shed new light on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. DNA damage (single- and double-strand breaks) was observed in the brain cells of rats exposed for two hours to a 60 Hz (cycles per second) magnetic field – the kind generated by household electric currents. This same type of DNA damage also occurred after a two-hour exposure to radiofrequency microwaves at power levels considered safe. The researchers then found that this EMF-induced DNA damage could be blocked by treating the rats with antioxidants, including melatonin, immediately before and after exposure. Melatonin is a hormone secreted from the brain's pineal gland. As a potent antioxidant, it effectively eliminates free radicals inside cells – suggesting that free radicals may play a role in the genetic damage caused by magnetic fields.[2,3] Neurons Affected by Radiofrequency The effect of radiofrequency radiation on DNA could conceivably be more significant on neurons than on other cell types, because these nerve cells have a low capability for DNA repair, says Dr. Lai. "Since nerve cells do not divide and are not likely to become cancerous, more likely consequences of DNA damage in nerve cells are changes in functions and cell death, which could either lead to or accelerate the development of neurodegenerative diseases." (Glial cells, however, can become cancerous. These more numerous brain cells protect and support neurons.)[4] Dr. Lai cautions against applying the existing research results to evaluate the possible health effects of normal cell phone usage. While "it is difficult to deny that radiofrequency at low intensity can affect the nervous system," he says the data available suggest a complex reaction. Other parameters of exposure, "such as frequency, duration, waveform, frequency- and amplitude-modulation, etc., are important determinants of biological responses." More research is needed, but since not much is known on the biological effects of cell phones, "prudent usage should be taken as a logical guideline."[4] Cumulative Effects from Duration of Exposure UPDATE: In a 2004 study, Lai and Singh exposed rats to magnetic fields of only one-tenth the intensity of the above experiment – but this time for 24 hours instead of two hours. They observed a similar increase in DNA damage and brain cell apoptosis (suicide) – showing that duration of exposure to magnetic fields can be as damaging as their intensity. And, effects of exposure are cumulative. Lai believes that magnetic fields – rather than causing harm directly – initiate a process within cells that leads to damage. He and Singh hypothesize that exposure to magnetic fields affects the balance of iron in brain cells, leading to an increase in free radicals.[5] DNA Conducts Electricity Swiss scientists at the University of Basel reported in 1999 that DNA conducts electricity as well as a good semiconductor. A research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology actually observed the complicated process by which an electrical charge moves through DNA. "It's not at all like a conductor or a wire," said lead author Dr. Gary B. Schuster. He compared the charge transport mechanism to the movement of a Slinky, the large spring used as a toy. When an electrical charge is injected into DNA, the DNA responds by changing its structure to accommodate and distribute the charge over several of its structural base pairs. This creates a local distortion that, just like the compression in a Slinky, can move in the DNA. The charge transfer stops when it encounters a specific pairing of two chemical bases (guanine), where it then oxidizes the guanine and causes strand breaks that can lead to genetic mutations.[6] Normally, DNA is capable of efficiently repairing itself. Through a homeostatic mechanism, cells maintain a delicate balance between spontaneous and induced DNA damage. By causing an increase in free radicals, however, EMFs may alter this balance. Errors in Cell Division May Be the Key to Aging A study published in the March 31, 2000 edition of Science indicates that the source of many, if not all illnesses of aging, may be due to gradual genetic changes. Lead researcher Danith Ly, Ph.D., theorized that genes go awry because they are damaged by free radicals. "This study suggests that aging is really a disease of quality control. In this case the manufactured product is a new cell," says co-author Richard A. Lerner, M.D., president of The Scripps Research Institute. While the research is not conclusive, Lerner says the process begins slowly in middle age and gradually accelerates as we get older. In tissues throughout the body, an increase in cell division errors leads to altered gene expression which causes the loss of tissue function – culminating in the diseases and conditions associated with human aging.[7] In 1999, Swedish researchers exposed mice to EMFs generated by actual outdoor electric transmission power lines (220 kV). After 32 days of exposure, a highly significant change was observed in the animals' brain cells. The researchers said their "data indicate that transmission lines of this type may induce genotoxic effects in mice, seen as changes in the DNA migration."[8] HEAT SHOCK STRESS The Scripps study also revealed links to specific age-related disorders. In Alzheimer's disease, there was evidence for the over-expression of a small protein associated with heat shock. Other studies have confirmed the presence of alpha B-crystallin and other "heat shock proteins" in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's as well as in those with Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, the myelin-producing cells (oligodendrocytes) were among those most affected.[9,10,11,12] Swedish researchers at the University of Goteborg have shown an association between Alzheimer's disease and altered lipid composition in myelin, indicating that demyelination is a primary event in late-onset form Alzheimer's disease.[13,14] In a significant study titled "Cell biology: Non-thermal heat-shock response to microwaves," worms were continuously exposed to microwave radiation of the sort emitted by cell phones. The researchers showed "that prolonged exposure to low-intensity microwave fields can induce heat-shock responses in the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This effect appears to be non-thermal, suggesting that current exposure limits set for microwave equipment may need to be reconsidered."[15] Keeping brain cells from overheating is one of the bloodstream's functions. Blood not only delivers oxygen, glucose, and nutrients, and removes toxins; it also cools the brain. An efficient cerebral vascular system enabled the evolution of intelligence, and healthy blood vessels continue to be necessary for proper cognitive function – and for protection against neurodegenerative diseases – especially since both "epidemiologic and pathologic observations suggest that vascular factors may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease."[16] The summer 1999 heat wave in the Midwest revealed another piece to the neurological health puzzle. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that psychiatric medicines could make the mentally ill especially vulnerable to death from intense summer heat. This is because antidepressants that target the brain can interfere with the body's thermoregulatory system.[17] Heat Stress from EMFs To protect body tissue from being overheated, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set the maximum allowed "specific absorption rate" (SAR) from cell phones at 1.6 W/Kg (watts per kilogram). This is partial-body exposure, as averaged over one gram of tissue. The whole-body threshold is 0.08 W/Kg. This thermal threshold is itself problematical, because it is based on the body's ability to maintain homeostasis during heating from the radiofrequency radiation. But even if the body's thermoregulatory mechanism succeeds in distributing the heat and maintaining the temperature at the pre-irradiation value, a certain stress still develops. A pioneer in the bioeffects of electromagnetic fields, Robert O. Becker, M.D., emphasizes the role of EMFs in producing stress. In his landmark 1990 book, Cross Currents: The Perils of Electropollution; The Promise of Electromedicine, he points out that exposure to any abnormal electromagnetic field produces a stress response. After prolonged exposure, the body's stress response system can be exhausted and the immune system compromised. In such a state, animals and humans could become more susceptible to cancer and infectious diseases. Dr. Becker refers to experiments conducted in the early 1980s by the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine that were reported in the September 1986 issue of Scientific American. Test animals were continuously exposed for long periods to microwaves at a power density twenty times lower than the safe thermal level. They developed a fourfold increase in cancers of the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands – the primary organs through which the body mediates stress. The cellular stress response is a protective mechanism that enables cells to survive. It is activated by a wide variety of environmental stimuli, such as high temperature, oxygen starvation, and heavy metals, as well as EMFs. Cells essentially perceive man-made electromagnetic fields as potentially harmful. Thermal vs. Non-Thermal Stress Response Ongoing research by Columbia University scientists Reba Goodman and Martin Blank has focused on how EMFs cause stress in cells. They found that the "cellular response to low frequency magnetic fields is activated by unusually weak stimuli, and involves pathways only partially associated with heat shock stress."[18] To provide a more realistic basis for new cell phone safety standards, Goodman and Blank have recently focused on the bioeffects of radiofrequency radiation. They discovered remarkable similarities in the biological responses to both the low and the high frequency fields emanating from cell phones. What's more, preliminary results showed that "the energy required to induce stress proteins with low frequency EM fields is 14 orders of magnitude lower than required by temperature increase.[19] Not only did they find it possible to differentiate between thermal and non-thermal stress, but the stress proteins induced by low frequency served as "biomarkers" to monitor the early stages of the cellular stress reaction to EMFs – prior to activation by increased temperature. They believe this will make it is possible to establish a lower, more accurate safety threshold for cell phones and towers. Continued in second half. References 1. Edwards, D, Hold that call, The Ecologist, October 26, 2001 (www.theecologist.co.uk/archive_article.html?article=97) 1A. Scaiano JC, Cozens FL, McLean J, Model for the rationalization of magnetic field effects in vivo. Application of the radical-pair mechanism to biological systems. Photochem Photobiol 1994 Jun;59(6):585-89. 2. Lai H, Singh NP, Melatonin and N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone block 60-Hz magnetic field-induced DNA single and double strand breaks in rat brain cells. J Pineal Res 1997 Apr;22(3):152-62. 3 Lai H, Singh NP, Melatonin and a spin-trap compound block radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation-induced DNA strand breaks in rat brain cells. Bioelectromagnetics 1997;18:446-54. 4. Lai H, Neurological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation, Mobile Phones and Health, Symposium, October 25-28, 1998, University of Vienna, Austria. 5. Lai H, Singh NP, Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2004 6. Henderson PT, Jones D, Hampikian G, Kan Y, Schuster GB, Long-distance charge transport in duplex DNA: the phonon-assisted polaron-like hopping mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999 Jul 20;96(15):8353-58. 7. Ly D, Lockhart D, Lerner R, Schultz P, Mitotic misregulation and human aging. Science 2000 Mar 31;287(5462):2486-92. 8. Svedenstal BM, Johanson KJ, Mattsson MO, Paulsson LE, DNA damage, cell kinetics and ODC activities studied in CBA mice exposed to electromagnetic fields generated by transmission lines. In Vivo 1999 Nov-Dec;13(6):507-13. 9. Renkawek K, Stege GJ, Bosman GJ, Dementia, gliosis and expression of the small heat shock proteins hsp27 and alpha B-crystallin in Parkinson's disease. Neuroreport 1999 Aug 2;10(11):2273-76. 10. Renkawek K, Voorter CE, Bosman GJ, van Workum FP, de Jong WW, Expression of alpha B-crystallin in Alzheimer's disease. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1994;87(2):155-60. 11. Shinohara H, Inaguma Y, Goto S, Inagaki T, Kato K, Alpha B crystallin and HSP28 are enhanced in the cerebral cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease. J Neurol Sci 1993 Nov;119(2):203-8. 12. Lowe J, Errington DR, Lennox G, Pike I, Spendlove I, Landon M, Mayer RJ, Ballooned neurons in several neurodegenerative diseases and stroke contain alpha B crystallin. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 1992 Aug;18(4):341-50. 13. Wallin A, Gottfries CG, Karlsson I, Svennerholm L, Decreased myelin lipids in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Acta Neurol Scand 1989 Oct;80(4):319-23. 14. Svennerholm L, Gottfries CG, Membrane lipids, selectively diminished in Alzheimer brains, suggest synapse loss as a primary event in early-onset form (type I) and demyelination in late-onset form (type II). J Neurochem 1994 Mar;62(3):1039-47. 15. de Pomerai D, Daniells C, David H, Allan J, Duce I, Mutwakil M, Thomas D, Sewell P, Tattersall J, Jones D, Candido P, Cell biology: Non-thermal heat-shock response to microwaves. Nature 405:6785 (2000) 417-18. 16. Di Iorio A, Zito M, Lupinetti M, Abate G, Are vascular factors involved in Alzheimer's disease? Facts and theories. Aging (Milano) 1999 Dec;11(6):345-52. 17. Heat Deaths Linked To Medications. Cox News Service, April 17, 2000. 18. Blank M, Goodman R, Electromagnetic fields may act directly on DNA. J Cell Biochem 1999 Dec 1;75(3):369-74. 19. Goodman R, Blank, M, Biologically based safety standards for cell phones: discriminating between heat and magnetic fields. Radiofrequencies and Modulations Applied in Wireless Communication: Biological Effects and Safety Concerns, Bioelectromagnetic Society workshop, February 4, 2000. Continued in second half. © John D. MacArthur Get It in Writing