Study: Mobile phone radiation harms DNA in lab
Laboratory did not prove that mobile phones are health risk
MUNICH/AMSTERDAM, Germany/Netherlands
(Reuters) -- Radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and
damage DNA in laboratory conditions, according to a new study
majority-funded by the European Union, researchers said on
Monday.
The so-called Reflex study, conducted by 12 research groups in
seven European countries, did not prove that mobile phones are a
risk to health but concluded that more research is needed to see if
effects can also be found outside a lab.
The $100 billion a year mobile phone industry asserts that there
is no conclusive evidence of harmful effects as a result of
electromagnetic radiation.
About 650 million mobile phones are expected to be sold to
consumers this year, and over 1.5 billion people around the world
use one.
The research project, which took four years and which was
coordinated by the German research group Verum, studied the effect
of radiation on human and animal cells in a laboratory.
After being exposed to electromagnetic fields that are typical
for mobile phones, the cells showed a significant increase in single
and double-strand DNA breaks. The damage could not always be
repaired by the cell. DNA carries the genetic material of an
organism and its different cells.
"There was remaining damage for future generation of cells," said
project leader Franz Adlkofer.
This means the change had procreated. Mutated cells are seen as a
possible cause of cancer.
The radiation used in the study was at levels between a Specific
Absorption Rate, or SAR, of between 0.3 and 2 watts per kilogram.
Most phones emit radio signals at SAR levels of between 0.5 and 1
W/kg.
SAR is a measure of the rate of radio energy absorption in body
tissue, and the SAR limit recommended by the International
Commission of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection is 2 W/kg.
The study also measured other harmful effects on cells.
Because of the lab set-up, the researchers said the study did not
prove any health risks. But they added that "the genotoxic and
phenotypic effects clearly require further studies ... on animals
and human volunteers."
Adlkofer advised against the use of a mobile phone when an
alternative fixed line phone was available, and recommended the use
of a headset connected to a cell phone whenever possible.
"We don't want to create a panic, but it is good to take
precautions," he said, adding that additional research could take
another four or five years.
Previous independent studies into the health effects of mobile
phone radiation have found it may have some effect on the human
body, such as heating up body tissue and causing headaches and
nausea, but no study that could be independently repeated has proved
that radiation had permanent harmful effects.
None of the world's top six mobile phone vendors could
immediately respond to the results of the study.
In a separate announcement in Hong Kong, where consumers tend to
spend more time talking on a mobile phone than in Europe, a German
company called G-Hanz introduced a new type of mobile phone which it
claimed had no harmful radiation, as a result of shorter bursts of
the radio signal.
Copyright 2004
Reuters.
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