Evidence on mobile phone health risks is
inconclusive |
Mobile
phone radiation may damage cells by increasing the forces they exert
on each other, scientists have said.
The finding could be the key to claims that mobile phones cause
cancer and other health problems.
Swedish physicists looked at the effect of electromagnetic
radiation on red blood cells using a mathematical theory, New
Scientist reported.
Experts cautioned that the finding was theoretical and said there
was no evidence of a danger to health.
There have been suggestions that mobile phones can cause brain
tumours and Alzheimer's disease, but research has been inconclusive.
 |
 There is no evidence of cancer or
anything else 
|
The
conventional view has been that radio waves could only damage a cell
if they were energetic enough to break chemical bonds or "cook"
tissue.
But radiation given off by mobile phone handsets is too weak to
do this.
Bo Sernelius at Linkoping University, Sweden, looked at another
possibility by modelling the properties of red blood cells.
Water molecules have poles of positive and negative charge which
create forces between cells. These forces are normally extremely
weak - about a billion-billionth of a newton.
Mathematical
The simplified mathematical model investigated the effect of
electromagnetic radiation in the field of 850 megahertz - about the
range used by mobile phones - on the blood cells.
The molecules all ended up with their poles aligned in the same
direction. The forces between the cells unexpectedly jumped by about
11 orders of magnitude.
If confirmed by experiments, the results could give an
exmplanation for tissue damage. Stronger attractive forces between
cells might make them clump together or cause blood cells to
contract, New Scientist said.
Katie Daniel, deputy editor of the journal Physical Chemistry
Chemical Physics, said the finding was important.
"It highlights the idea that electromagnetic radiation might act
on cells by affecting the attractive forces between them rather than
simply causing heat damage to tissue," she said.
Camelia Gabriel, from King's College London, who is taking part
in the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme
funded by the Government, said the theory was feasible.
But she said the model was extremely simple and may not apply to
larger numbers of cells.
"It needs to be tested experimentally," she said.
Dr Michael Clark at the National Radiological Protection Board
said: "You can do anything with numbers. It is very interesting, but
I can't get excited about it until somebody measures it."
Studies had not proved there was any danger to health from mobile
phones, he said.
"There is no evidence of cancer or anything else. So it is so
far, so good. But it is early days," said Dr Clark.
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