Continuous Exposure to 1.7 GHz LTE Electromagnetic Fields Increases Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species to Decrease Human Cell Proliferation and Induce Senescence. Choi, J., Min, K., Jeon, S. et al. Scientific Reports 2020
The journal Scientific Reports published a new study (Choi, J., Min, K., Jeon, S. et al. 2020) exposing human cells to 1.7 GHz LTE. The findings of effects “suggests that the exposure to 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF would be more harmful to children, whose adult stem cells should be very active for growth and may accelerate the aging of body cells.” The authors clarify that “It is not plausible to directly predict the physiological effects of 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF from our cell-based study.”
1.7 GHz is the same as 1700 MHz and this spectrum is used by several companies.
In 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) adopted rules governing use of spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands to make available significantly more commercial spectrum for Advanced Wireless Services.
“Due to the rapid development of mobile phone technology, we are continuously exposed to 1.7 GHz LTE radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs), but their biological effects have not been clarified. Here, we investigated the non-thermal cellular effects of these RF-EMFs on human cells, including human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs), Huh7 and Hep3B liver cancer stem cells (CSCs), HeLa and SH-SY5Y cancer cells, and normal fibroblast IMR-90 cells. When continuously exposed to 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF for 72 h at 1 and 2 SAR, cell proliferation was consistently decreased in all the human cells. The anti-proliferative effect was higher at 2 SAR than 1 SAR and was less severe in ASCs. The exposure to RF-EMF for 72 h at 1 and 2 SAR did not induce DNA double strand breaks or apoptotic cell death, but did trigger a slight delay in the G1 to S cell cycle transition. Cell senescence was also clearly observed in ASC and Huh7 cells exposed to RF-EMF at 2 SAR for 72 h. Intracellular ROS increased in these cells and the treatment with an ROS scavenger recapitulated the anti-proliferative effect of RF-EMF. These observations strongly suggest that 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF decrease proliferation and increase senescence by increasing intracellular ROS in human cells.”
The paper concludes that
“Altogether, this study as well as other studies strongly suggest that RF-EMF exposure leads to a change in intracellular ROS levels that may result in genotoxic stress, decreased proliferation and cell senescence, or no physiological effects depending on ROS concentration and the differential sensitivity of various cells to ROS. Thus, the mechanism behind RF-EMF exposure altering intracellular ROS levels should be further studied to elucidate the biological effects of RF-EMFs.”
“It is not plausible to directly predict the physiological effects of 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF from our cell-based study. However, the anti-proliferative effect of 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF on various human cells in this study suggests that the exposure to 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF would be more harmful to children, whose adult stem cells should be very active for growth and may accelerate the aging of body cells. We also carefully suggest that the anti-proliferative effect of various cancer cells by 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF would be interpreted with care, considering that both positive and negative effects of RF-EMF have been reported on cancer development.”
This work was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) [No. NRF-2016M3A9C6918275], and by Korea Mobile EMF consortium. J. Choi was partially supported by Brain Korea (BK) 21 PLUS of 2018~2019.
Choi, J., Min, K., Jeon, S. et al. Continuous Exposure to 1.7 GHz LTE Electromagnetic Fields Increases Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species to Decrease Human Cell Proliferation and Induce Senescence. Sci Rep 10, 9238 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65732-4
Environmental Health Trust notes:
“Cancer epidemiology update, following the 2011 IARC evaluation of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields” published in Environmental Research is a comprehensive research review of RF effects in human and animal research which concludes that scientific evidence is now adequate to conclude radiofrequency radiation is carcinogenic to humans (Miller, 2018). Several previously published studies also concluded that RF causes various types of cancer, for example, Carlberg & Hardell, 2017 published in BioMed Research International; Atzman et al., 2016 published in the International Journal Cancer Clinical Research; and Peleg et al., 2018published in Environmental Research.
A 2018 study published in Annals of Telecommunications found increased RF-EMF exposure from small cell LTE networks in two urban cities in France and the Netherlands. Researchers measured the RF-EMF from LTE (Long-Term Evolution) MC (macro cells meaning large cell towers) and SC networks (low-powered small cell base stations) and found that the small cell networks increased the radio emissions from base stations (called downlink) by a factor of 7–46 while decreasing the radio emissions from user equipment exposure (called ) by a factor of 5–17. So while the devices themselves could emit less radiation, the cell antennas increased the levels from cell antennas (Mazloum et al., 2019).
Published in Bio Electro Magnetics, a 2018 double‐blind, crossover, randomized, and counterbalanced design study about the modulation of brain functional connectivity by exposure to 4G LTE cell phone radiation found that acute LTE‐EMF exposure did modulate connectivity in some brain regions.The authors conclude that, “Our results may indicate that approaches relying on network‐level inferences can provide deeper insights into the acute effects of LTE‐EMF exposure with intensities below the current safety limits on human functional connectivity. In the future, we need to investigate the evolution of the effect over time” (Wei et al., 2018).
Read more research on wireless radiation at https://ehtrust.org/scientific-research-on-5g-and-health/
