rE RECENT REPORT STATING MOBILES HELP WITH ALHZIEMERS

A new Post "#1196: Comments by Andrew Goldsworthy on cell phone/Alzheimer's
study" was written on the January 17, 2010 at 8:22 pm on "EMFacts  
Consultancy".

from Andrew Goldsworthy:

*Do Mobile Phones Cure Alzheimer’s Disease?*
Comments by Andrew Goldsworthy on a widely publicised paper by
Arendash and co-workers that suggests that mobile phone radiation may
cure Alzheimer’s disease.

I have looked at the original Arendash et al. paper and things are not
quite as reported in the press.

*The radiation was not modulated*

The first point I should make is that they used radiation at 918MHz
(similar to a GSM mobile phone in this respect) but it was neither
pulsed nor modulated, so it cannot be regarded in any way as being
equivalent to real mobile phone or Wifi radiation.

*Unmodulated radiation is less biologically active*

The non-thermal effects of unmodulated radio frequency radiation are
normally much weaker than modulated radiation and could even produce
the opposite effect (this is called radiation hormesis, which has been
studied mostly in relation to ionizing radiation, but it probably also
applies to non-ionizing radiation).

*Radiation hormesis*

It is argued that living cells and organisms perceive the damaging
effects of the radiation and put themselves into “repair mode”.
This includes boosting enzymes needed for cellular growth and
regeneration and also triggering inflammation to increase the blood
supply to the affected region. Provided these measures are successful,
there may be no observable adverse effects. However, some of these
mechanisms are generic and may also affect other illnesses, so that
very weak radiation may have net beneficial effects, even on systems
that are not directly affected by it. This may be what we are seeing
here; mild inflammation of the brain would increase its blood supply
and could stave off the degeneration normally associated with
Alzheimer’s disease.

*Amplitude modulated waves can weaken cell membranes and cause
illnesses*

Amplitude modulated radio waves (such as those used by mobile phones),
where the strength of the carrier wave rises and falls in time with
the modulating waveform, give greater biological effects. This is
perhaps because they are more effective in jerking
structurally-important calcium ions free from cell membranes, which
makes them more inclined to leak. The effects of this can be harmful
in many cases (see http://tinyurl.com/5ru6e6 for a proposed mechanism
and some of the consequences).

*Amplitude modulation can also affect cryptochrome to increase the
risk of cancer*

When a carrier wave is modulated in this way, it generates a range of
other frequencies on either side of the carrier (called sidebands),
which contain the information. Digital transmissions have particularly
wide sidebands that encompass many other biologically active
frequencies, including those that interfere with the activity of
cryptochrome, which some animals use to sense magnetic fields for
navigation (Ritz et al. Nature, Vol. 429, 13 May 2004). Cryptochrome
also occurs in most animal and plant cells, where it is an essential
part of the “body clock” that controls their natural circadian
rhythms. It is effects on cryptochrome that probably account for the
sleep disturbances experienced by people living near base stations. It
may also explain their apparent increased risk of getting cancer since
the immune system, which normally disposes of aberrant cells before
they become cancerous, is controlled by the body clock. This is to
make the most efficient use of limited bodily resources, which are
switched from physical activity during the day to the immune system at
night. If our natural body rhythms are disrupted or reduced in
amplitude by the radiation, it means that at no time can the immune
system function at maximum strength and we are therefore more likely
to develop cancer.

*The take-home story*

To sum up, it is perfectly possible that unmodulated microwaves could
mitigate the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, but modulated
microwaves are likely to do more harm than good. So now may not be the
time to buy granny a mobile phone, but we should nevertheless look
more carefully at the effects of unmodulated radiation. It may really
help, but we still need to proceed with great caution.

Andrew Goldsworthy BSc PhD
Lecturer in Biology (retired)  
Imperial College London


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