WHO is preparing a new report on the effects on human health of non-ionizing radiation, including from mobile phones, cell towers, wi-fi, bluetooth. Scientists fear that much of the data on the dangers of this type of radio waves will be ignored. How modern gadgets affect living tissues and the body.
Gray Cardinals WHO
“Despite the large body of evidence about the dangers of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which does not cause noticeable heating of tissues, the World Health Organization (WHO) and government agencies in many countries do not take steps to warn the population about this, do not establish measures that would adequately protect human health. Says a review published this month in Environmental Pollution.
Among the authors of the article are scientists from the European Institute for Research on the Causes of Cancer (Belgium), the Department of Oncology at the University Hospital of Örebro (Sweden), the Department of Radiobiology of the Biomedical Research Center (Slovakia), the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a number of institutes in Italy, the USA and Australia.
The latest WHO report on the health effects of mobile phones was published in 2014. Since then, a lot of new data has accumulated, and scientists are concerned that this information may be ignored.
The fact is that the WHO Department of Health, Environment and Social Causes of Disease, based in Geneva, draws information from reports prepared by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), an NGO whose members are associated with the industry.
“Why other research groups and health professionals are being excluded is unclear. Moreover, the majority of ICNIRP members do not conduct scientific work,”the authors of the article are surprised.
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Scientists fear that studies pointing to the biological effect of non-heating radiation may be excluded from consideration in a new WHO report.
Types of radiation / Illustration by RIA Novosti.
Brain cancer, Alzheimer's, infertility
To transmit and receive signals, mobile devices use microwave radio waves at a frequency of one to two gigahertz. Unlike gamma and X-rays, microwaves do not directly damage DNA. At low intensity, they do not even heat the tissue, or heat only slightly. However, they affect a living cell, and it is this non-heating effect that scientists have been researching since the late 1980s, when mobile communications came into widespread use.
In 2002, the International Agency for Research on Cancer included microwave radiation in Group 2B as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The reason for this was information about the increased risk of brain cancer with prolonged use of mobile phones.
Now scientists are proposing to tighten the wording and transfer this type of radiation to group 2A (probably) or even 1 (known), since many experiments have been carried out on animals and cell cultures, confirming the connection with oncology.
Some researchers only acknowledge the harm from tissue heating caused by non-ionizing radiation. This effect is known to any mobile phone user. If you talk for a long time, your ear will warm up. Our fabrics contain a lot of liquid. The electrons in water molecules absorb the energy of the microwaves and become excited, which causes heating.
However, there are other effects from radiation, even when the amount of energy absorbed is small - below ten watts per kilogram. First of all, this is a physical and chemical effect that affects the work of living cells and tissues.
Microwaves can enhance cell growth, change the activity of enzymes, the permeability of the cell membrane, and the way proteins fold. Studies show that radiation affects the expression of certain genes (for example, those responsible for heat shock proteins), which can impair cognitive abilities and spatial memory. Information about this was obtained, as a rule, in experiments on rodents.
Some people are too sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, even very low, from power lines. Those who live near cell towers, base stations complain of dizziness, headaches, rashes, and allergies.
In male mice, a deterioration in the quality of seminal fluid was found, there is evidence of an effect on fertility of female individuals.
Some studies have noted the connection between exposure to microwaves and Alzheimer's disease, neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders, changes in blood pressure, in the immune system and thyroid gland.
Most of all concerns are caused by the influence of this type of radiation on children, since a growing organism is especially susceptible to various negative factors. For example, in France, Wi-Fi was banned in kindergartens and it was obliged to turn it off when not in use in primary schools.
It's time to rethink the standards
The accumulated facts about the non-heating effects of microwaves have been obtained mainly in laboratories, where conditions do not repeat natural ones.
It is now unrealistic to conduct tests with a control group, whose participants do not use mobile communications, since there are practically no such people left. In addition, the mechanism of action of low-intensity microwaves on cells is unclear. All this does not allow us to unambiguously recognize the harm to humans and assess the risks.
When choosing gadgets, experts recommend focusing on the specific absorption rate - SAR, which shows how much radiation energy the tissues will absorb. In the West, this figure is lower than in Russia, where the developers of the recommendations relied on real experiments in laboratories.
Scientists warn that since civil society organizations cannot recognize the danger of mobile radiation, governments must take action themselves. At a minimum, issue warnings, reminders on how to limit the effects of microwaves on the body.
Tatiana Pichugina