We know that there is a massive literature, providing a high level of scientific certainty, for each of eight pathophysiological effects caused by non-thermal microwave frequency EMF exposures. This is shown in from 12 to 34 reviews on each specific effect, with each review listed in Chapter 1, providing a substantial body of evidence on the existence of each effect. Such EMFs:
- Attack our nervous systems including our brains leading to widespread neurological/neuropsychiatric effects and possibly many other effects. This nervous system attack is of great concern.
- Attack our endocrine (that is hormonal) systems. In this context, the main things that make us functionally different from single celled creatures are our nervous system and our endocrine systems –even a simple planaria worm needs both of these. Thus the consequences of the disruption of these two regulatory systems is immense, such that it is a travesty to ignore these findings.
- Produce oxidative stress and free radical damage, which have central roles in essentially all chronic diseases.
- Attack the DNA of our cells, producing single strand and double strand breaks in cellular DNA and oxidized bases in our cellular DNA. These in turn produce cancer and also mutations in germ line cells which produce mutations in future generations.
- Produce elevated levels of apoptosis (programmed cell death), events especially important in causing both neurodegenerative diseases and infertility.
- Lower male and female fertility, lower sex hormones, lower libido and increased levels of spontaneous abortion and, as already stated, attack the DNA in sperm cells.
- Produce excessive intracellular calcium [Ca2+]i and excessive calcium signaling.
- Attack the cells of our bodies to cause cancer. Such attacks are thought to act via 15 different mechanisms during cancer causation.
There is also a substantial literature showing that EMFs also cause other effects including life threatening cardiac effects. In addition substantial evidence suggests EMF causation of very early onset dementias, including Alzheimer’s, digital and other types of dementias, and there is evidence that EMF exposures in utero and shortly after birth can cause ADHD and autism.
Each of these effects is produced via the main mechanism of action of microwave/lower frequency EMFs, activation of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) (Chapter 2). Each of them is produced via what are called downstream effects of VGCC activation. It follows from this that we have a good understanding not only that these effects occur, but also how they can occur. The extraordinary sensitivity of the VGCC voltage sensor to the forces of the EMFs tells us that the current safety guidelines allow us to be exposed to EMF levels that are something like 7.2 million times too high. That sensitivity is predicted by the physics. Therefore,the physics and the biology are each pointing to the same mechanism of action of non-thermal EMFs.
The different effects produced are obviously very deep concerns. They become much deeper and become existential threats when one considers that several of these effects are both cumulative and eventually irreversible. There is substantial evidence for the cumulative nature and eventual irreversibility of the neurological/neuropsychiatric effects, of the reproductive effects, the mutational DNA effects, the cardiac effects, of some but not other of the hormonal effects (Chapter 3); any causation of ADHD and autism may add additional concerns (here the cumulative nature is probably limited to the perinatal period).
When we know that sperm counts have dropped by more than 50% throughout the technologically advanced countries on earth, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the vast majority of the population in those countries is already substantially impacted. The same conclusion can be made based on the widespread nature of the neuropsychiatric effects in those countries. Both of those effects will get much much worse even with no increase in current exposures, due to the cumulative nature and irreversibility of these effects.
I expect we will see crash in human reproduction almost to zero as happened in the Magras and Xenos mouse study which I estimate to occur within about 5 years, without any increases in our exposures. Obviously 4G and 5G will make the situation much worse. Similarly I expect that the deterioration in brain function that we are already seeing will seal our fate if we fail to act rapidly and vigorously. Our collective brain function may become completely incapable of dealing with such a mega-crisis situation.
Now it can be argued that some of these may not develop as I expect, although those expectations are based on the best available evidence.
One may even be able to argue this for all of those expectations. However, when we have substantial risk of multiple existential threats to every single technologically advanced country on earth, failure to act vigorously means there is a very high probability of complete destruction of these societies. And the chaos which would inevitably ensue, in a world that still has nuclear weapons, may well lead to extinction.
In the face of these types or risk, the only reasonable course is to move with great vigour to stop new exposures and lower current exposures. One can still access the internet, using wired connections. And we can lower cell phone tower and cell phone radiation substantially.Smart meters, if needed,can work via wired connections.
Over 60% of this document, is focused on the failures of statements from SCENIHR, the telecommunications industry, the U.S. FCC and the U.S. FDA to reflect the science. Their statements repeatedly omit much, often all of the most important science. Their statements are rife not only with omissions, but also with easily demonstrable falsehoods and with false logic.
These have often occurred at times where we know that they knew better. These have occurred along with vigorous efforts by the telecommunications industry to corrupt the science by attacking individual scientists whose only fault is that they have obtained important findings that the industry does not like. These attacks have occurred along with vigorous efforts to corrupt two agencies that have important regulatory roles.
There are also possible concerns about individual industry-linked research studies. All wireless communication devices put out polarized EMFs that carry information via pulsations. Both the pulsations and the polarization make these EMFs much more biologically active. There are three other factors that also influence the production of effects. Several industry-linked studies may have used these factors, along with using very tiny numbers of individual animals in their studies, to produce studies which may have been designed to fail. It is not clear at this point whether this type of concern is quite limited or whether it is very broad.
The European Commission has done nothing to protect European citizens from any of these very serious health hazards and the U.S. FDA, EPA and National Cancer Institute have done nothing to protect American citizens. The U.S. FCC has been much worse than that, acting vigorously with wanton disregard for our health.
Role of Pulsations, Other Factors that Influence EMF Effects
Both the earlier Ryan document and the more recent Arūnas document each fail to pay any attention to the extensive scientific literature that has been accumulated on non-thermal electromagnetic field (EMF)effects. The scientific consensus of independent scientists based on information accumulated over the last 7 decades is just the opposite of what each of them states.
There is series of 8 extremely well-documented effects of such EMF exposure, together with a list of review articles, most of them being peer reviewed articles published in well respected journals in the PubMed database, that have each reviewed a body of evidence demonstrating the existence of each such effect.
What are the effects produced by non-thermal exposures to microwave frequency EMFs, where we have an extensive scientific literature? Each of the following effects has been documented in from 12 to 34 reviews
- Three types of cellular DNA attacks, producing single strand breaks in the cellular DNA, double strand breaks in cellular DNA and oxidized bases in cellular DNA.Each of these DNA changes have roles in cancer causation and in producing the most important mutational changes in humans and diverse animals. Double stranded DNA breaks produce chromosomal breaks, rearrangements, deletions and duplications and copy number mutations; they also produce gene amplification, an important mechanism in cancer causation. Single strand breaks in cellular DNA cause aberrant recombination events leading to copy number mutations. Oxidized bases cause point mutations.When these occur in somatic cells, they can each have roles in causing cancer.When these occur in germ line cells (and they have be shown to occur in sperm following EMF exposures), they cause the three most important types of mutations in future generations, chromosomal mutations, copy number mutations and point mutations. (21different reviews documenting these types of cellular DNA damage)
- A wide variety of changes leading to lowered male fertility, lowered female fertility, increased spontaneous abortion, lowered levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, lowered libido (18reviews). Human sperm count has dropped to below 50% of what used to be considered normal throughout the technologically advanced countries of the world[1]. Reproductive rates have fallen below replacement levels in every technologically advanced country of the world, with a single exception. These include every EU country, the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore,Australia and New Zealand. Reproduction averages, in these countries,about 73% of replacement levels according to 2015 or 2016 data. A study on mouse reproduction [2] showed that radio/microwave frequency EMF exposure at doses well within our current safety guidelines produced substantial dose-dependent decreases in reproduction within 5the first set of litters; further exposure produced dose-dependent complete or almost complete sterility that was found to be largely irreversible. When we have a technology that is universally present in these technologically advanced countries, that we know impacts reproduction, and reproduction has already dropped well below replacement levels, and we may be facing a catastrophic and irreversible decline in reproduction and there are more and more plans to expose us still further, don’t you think that we should take note of the science?Mr. Ryan and Dr. Vinciūnas seem to be saying not at all.(Please note that the U.S. FCC and FDA also completely ignore this existential threat
- Neurological/neuropsychiatric effects(25reviews). Pall’s paper on this[3] and two earlier reviews cited in it found that there are whole series of repeatedly found EMF effects which have also become extremely wide spread complaints in our technologically advanced societies, namely: sleep disturbance/insomnia; fatigue/tiredness; headache; depression/depressive symptoms; lack of concentration/attention/cognitive dysfunction; dizziness/vertigo; memory changes; restlessness/tension/anxiety/stress/agitation; irritability.These findings are not just based on epidemiological findings but are also based on profound impacts of EMFs,at levels well within our safety guidelines,on brain structure and function and also on the mechanism of non-thermal EMF action discussed below. When we have these neuropsychiatric effects becoming more and more common in technologically advanced societies all over the world, and we know each of these is caused EMF exposures, shouldn’t we take note of this relationship?
- Apoptosis/cell death (13reviews). The two most important consequences of large increases in apoptosis (programmed cell death) are in causation of the neurodegenerative diseases and lowered reproduction although there are others.
- Oxidative stress/free radical damage (19reviews). Oxidative stress has roles in all or almost all chronic diseases.It is reported to have essential roles in producing the reproductive effects and the attacks on cellular DNA and may also have roles in producing the neurological effects and some of the cancer-causing effects shown to be produced here by EMF exposures.
- Widespread endocrine (that is hormonal) effects (12reviews). The steroid hormone levels drop with EMF exposure, whereas other hormone levels increase with initial exposure.The neuroendocrine hormones and insulin levels often drop with prolonged EMF exposure, possibly due to endocrine exhaustion.
- Increases in intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) levels following EMF exposure (15reviews). Calcium signaling also increases following EMF exposure.
- Cancer causation (35reviews). Brain cancer, salivary cancer, acoustic neuromas and two other types of cancer go up with cell phone use.People living near cell phone towers have increased cancer rates.Other types of EMFs are each implicated. Short wave radio, radio ham operators and people exposed to radar all are reported to have increased cancer incidence. Perhaps most telling, heavy-long term cell phone users have the highest incidence of brain cancer and have predominantly cancer increases on the ipsilateral side of the head (the side they use their cell phones), as opposed to the contralateral side. I have a paper [7], focused not on whether EMFs cause cancer but rather on how they can cause cancer.The paper shows that”downstream effects”of the main target of the EMFs in the cells of our bodies, can cause cancer in 15 different ways, including increases in cancer initiation, promotion and progression.Progression effects include both tissue invasion and metastasis. Each of these cancer causation effects are caused via mechanisms produced by downstream effects of the main non-thermal EMF mechanism, as discussed.
- Therapeutic effects of such EMFs. Such EMFs when focused on a specific region of the body where there is some dysfunction and when used at specific intensities, can have therapeutic effects. In my 2013 paper [4], I cited 12 different reviews where EMF stimulation of bone growth was used therapeutically.There are something like 4000 papers on various therapeutic effects.Strangely, the telecommunications industry does not acknowledge these therapeutic effects, preferring rather to maintain the fiction that there are no non-thermal effects.
- There is another set of reviews, 13in this case, with each showing that pulsed EMFs are, in most cases, much more biologically active than are non-pulsed EMFs. This is particularly important because all wireless communication devices communicate via pulsations, making them potentially much more dangerous.It follows from this that if you wish to study the effects of Wi-Fi, cell phones, cordless phones, cell phone towers,smart meters or 5G, you had better study the real thing or at least something that pulses very much like the real thing.
There are many studies that don’t do this, but falsely claim to be genuine Wi-Fi, cell phone or cordless phone studies. Other factors that influence the occurrence of non-thermal EMF effects include the frequency being used, the polarization of the EMFs and the cell type being studied [4,5,8-11]. Furthermore there are intensity “windows” that produce maximum biological effects, such that both lower and higher intensities produce much less effect [5,8,9]. These window effect studies clearly show that dose-response curves are both non-linear and non-monotone, such that it is difficult or impossible to predict effects based on relative intensity even when all other factors are the same. The role of each of these factors is completely ignored by ICNIRP, SCENIHR, the U.S. FCC, FDA and National Cancer Institute as well as by many other industry-friendly groups.
When each of these organizations concludes that“results are inconsistent”they are comparing studies based on superficial similarities but not on these demonstrated causal factors.What is being observed, therefore,is genuine biological heterogeneity, not inconsistency.
It has been known since the beginning of modern science in the 16thcentury that how you do your studies is important in determining what results are obtained. How is it possible that ICNIRP, SCENIHR, the U.S. FCC, FDA and National Cancer Institute have forgotten this important fact?
The primary literature studies demonstrating roles of pulsation, frequency, polarization,cell type and intensity windows in determining biological effects are entirely dependent on having genuine effects to study. None of these studies could have been done without an effect to study. Consequently, the claims that there are no well-documented EMF effects are nonsense, based not only on the eight extremely well-documented effects summarized above, but also on the entire literature demonstrating the role of pulsation, frequency, polarization, cell type and intensity windows.
Written and Compiled by Martin L. Pall, PhD Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences Washington State University Address: 638 NE 41stAve., Portland OR 97232 USAmartin_pall@wsu.edu503-232-3883May 17, 2018