Select Page

TedX Talk Rapid Fire- What Brain and Sperm Share and Why Care- Cell Phone Radiation by Devra Davis PhD MPH

Feb 24, 2022

Rapid Fire – What Brain and Sperm Share and Why Care | Dr. Devra Davis | TEDxJacksonHole

Dr. Devra Davis is founder and President of Environmental Health Trust. Davis was Founding Director, Center for Environmental Oncology and the  University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and founding director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the U.S. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences.  Davis was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services and appointed to the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board by President Clinton.  She served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the U.S. National Toxicology Program  and various advisory committees to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was part of the team of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with the Honorable Al Gore as she was lead author on research assessing climate mitigation policies. 

She has also authored more than 200 peer reviewed publications in books and journals ranging from the Lancet and Journal of the American Medical Association. Her three popular books include When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution,  Disconnect:The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family and the Secret History of the War on Cancer

 

Cell Phones

The American Academy of Pediatrics have long recommended that FCC limits be updated to protect children and pregnant women (AAP, 2012 & 2013). In addition, cell phones and electronics are not tested the way people use devices today- in body contact positions. Although it is now commonplace to see children watching videos with a cell phones pressed against their chest, research has found that when phones are tested for exposure levels in body contact positions, they can exceed government limits up to 11 times the FCC limit (Gandhi, 2019).

Children

When cell phones first came on the market, no one could imagine the need for a child to use one. Now they are a favorite toy and used as babysitters. Children are uniquely vulnerable to EMFs just as they are to other environmental toxins. As wireless is now ubiquitous, children will receive a greater cumulative exposure than today’s adults, with exposure starting before they are born (Miller et al., 2019). Both their ongoing physical development and physiology put them at greater risk. 

  • Children absorb proportionally higher doses of cell phone RF-EMF in the eyes and critical brain regions than adults due to their smaller heads, thinner undeveloped skulls and the higher water content in both their bodies and brain (Fernandez et al., 2018). 
  • Children’s developing brains are more susceptible to neurotoxic exposures (Redmayne and Johansson, 2014 and 2015).
  • Children have more active stem cells and stem cells have been found to be more sensitive to RF-EMF exposure (Markova et al., 2010).
  • Safety limits for RF-EMF from cell phones and cell towers are outdated as they were set over two decades ago in 1996 and are based on the body of a large adult, not a child (Gandhi et al., 2012). 


Researchers at Penn State Medical Center found reducing EMFs improved health outcomes in preterm infants (Passi et al., 2017). NICU equipment is linked to various impacts to the autonomic nervous system including

Wireless impacts the nervous system.

The nervous system is sensitive to EMFs (Bertagna et al., 2021). Cell phone radiation has been found to alter brain activity (Volkow et al., 2011, Bin et al., 2014), impact neurotransmitters and alter neuron development (Kaplan et al., 2015, Li et al., 2021, Chen et al., 2021). Teenagers were found to experience memory damage to the area of the brain most exposed to cell phone radiation after just one year (Foerster et al., 2018).

Experimental animal research has found a variety of adverse impacts especially in the brain regions critical to memory and learning (Sonmez, et al., 2010, Dasdag et al., 2015, Shahin et al., 2018, Obajuluwa et al., 2017, Tan et al., 2021, Hasan et al., 2021). 

Cancer

In 2011, the WHO/IARC concluded that wireless radiofrequency radiation (RF-EMF) was a Group 2B possible carcinogen largely based on studies of long term cell phone users with increased risk for two types of tumors-glioblastomas and acoustic neuromas (WHO/ IARC 2011). Several international experts conclude RF-EMF is a proven Group 1 human carcinogen (Miller et al., 2018, Peleg et al., 2018 Carlberg and Hardell 2017, Belpomme et al., 2018). 

  • A Yale study funded by the American Cancer Society found elevated thyroid cancer risk in heavy cell phone users with specific genetic susceptibilities (Luo et al. 2020).
  • A  2020 met-analysis found that cell phone users cumulative cell phone use over 1000 hours statistically significantly increased tumor risk (Choi et al 2020).
  • Several publications assert that the current body of evidence has significantly increased and cel phone radiation is proven Group 1 human carcinogen (Miller et al 2018, Peleg et al 2018 Carlberg and Hardell 2017, Belpomme et al 2018,)  The Environmental Working Group published a landmark study analyzing the findings of tumor and heart damage in the National Toxicology Program study and concluded that FCC limits should be strengthened by 200 to 400 times to protect children according to current risk assessment guidelines (Uche 2021).
  • Research has found  women who carry cellphones in the bra have elevated breast cancer risk (West et al 2013, Shih et al 2020).

Reproduction

 

Oxidative Stress and Preexisting Conditions

Reviews of animal and cell studies consistently find even very low EMF exposure associated with increased oxidative stress. Oxidative stress plays a role in the development of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, immune and neurodegenerative syndromes. The young, old and/or medically compromised individuals, whose immune system and defense mechanisms are already compromised, are more likely to experience health effects from the increased oxidative stress (Yakymenko et al., 2015, Schuermann & Mevissen, 2021). 

Environment

  • Research has found that cell antenna radiation can injure trees  (Waldmann-Selsam, C., et al. 2016).
  • A 2021 research review on effects to wildlife published in Reviews on Environmental Health references more than 1,200 scientific references which found impacts to wildlife from even very low intensities of non ionizing EMFs including impacts to orientation and migration, reproduction, mating, nest, den building and survivorship (Levitt et al., 2021a, Levitt et al., 2021b,  Levitt et al., 2021c).  The authors state that the current body of science should trigger urgent protective regulatory action. US and international safety limits for RF-EMF are not designed to protect wildlife despite the fact that birds perch on cell tower antennas and many species’ habitat is in the air close to cell antennas.

 

Examples of International Consumer Safety Initiatives

Numerous countries have more protective cell tower radiation emission limits compared to the USA- Italy, China, Russia, India and several European countries.

Around the word, governments have policies and regulations in place to inform the public on how and why to reduce exposure. A growing number of countries are passing laws to reduce exposure especially for children.

Switzerland, Italy, China, Russia, India, Israel and several European countries have far more stringent cell tower radiation emission limits compared to the US FCC.

France has several policies in place to reduce exposure and promote transparency.

  • Ban on Wi-Fi in nursery schools and limited exposure in elementary classrooms
  • The public has access to cell tower exposure levels.
  • Cell phones are labeled with radiation measurements.
  • At buyers request, equipment to reduce RF to the head for children less than 14 years is provided.
  • Ban on cell phones designed for kids under 6 years old
  • Ban on advertisements aimed at children under 14 years old.
  • Testing program found 30 models violate EU limits.
  • A 2019 ministerial order ensures that cell phone consumers are informed with instructions to use speakerphone, limit children’s use and “keep away from the belly of pregnant women and lower abdomen of adolescents.”

School Resources

Downloads/Printables

Policy