Biological effects of electromagnetic fields at mobile telecommunication frequencies

Abstract

The increasing use of cellular phones and increasing number of base stations are becoming awidespread source of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. The immediate biological effectof electromagnetic (EM) radiation is the generation of heat in the body and it is generally evident under high levels of electromagnetic energy. However, some biological effects arelikely to occur even at low-level EM fields. In this study, a Gigahertz TransverseElectromagnetic (GTEM) test chamber was used as an exposure environment for plane waveconditions of far-field free space EM field propagation at the GSM Base Transceiver Station (BTS) frequency of 945 MHz and effects on oxidative stress in rats were investigated. Groupsof young adult male Wistar albino rats were kept inside the test chamber for 7 hours/day for aperiod of 8 days. When EM fields producing Specific Absorption Rate of 11.3 mW/kg(power density 3.67 Watt/square-meter), which is well below current exposure limits, were applied, MDA (malondialdehyde) level was found to increase and reduced glutathione (GSH)concentration was found to decrease significantly (p<0.0001). Additionally, there was a lesssignificant (p=0.0190) increase in SOD (superoxide dismutase) activity under EM exposure,when compared to the sham exposed group. Leukocyte counts before and after the experiment and vanil mandelic acid (VMA) levels during the experiment were also assessed. Weconclude that free radical mechanisms may have a probable role on the adverse effects of EM fields at mobile telecommunication frequencies.