EMF Effects on Gene Expression & Intracellular Signaling

[aquitaine]

Someone recently linked me this article about someone who claims to be allergic to radio waves as well as some stuff about the supposed effects of EMF on DNA, namely this part from page 4:

Gene Expression
Research by Igor Belyaev, an associate professor in the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Toxicology at Stockholm University, has shown that EMFs can affect gene expression -- the mechanism by which genes are activated and "speak out" -- in human and animal cells. Belyaev exposed human lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell involved in the body's immune response, to EMFs at 915 megahertz, a common cellphone frequency. The samples were taken from healthy people and those reporting EHS symptoms. In cells from both types of subjects, Belyaev observed a stress response that altered gene expression. The stress response induced by EMFs at 915 megahertz disrupted the body's DNA-repair machinery, he concluded, thus making it harder to fix the kind of cellular damage that can lead to cancer. In other research, Belyaev has found that cellphone-frequency EMFs inhibit DNA repair in stem cells; DNA breaks in stem cells are critical to the onset of leukemia and some tumors, including gliomas.

Stress response does indeed cause changes in gene expression; however, says Repacholi, "lots of experiments can find effects, but that doesn't translate into the whole organism, because the whole organism compensates. The gap between a biological effect and an adverse health effect is a big one."

Intracellular Signaling
Rony Seger of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, has found that EMFs in the 900-megahertz range also influence intracellular signaling pathways -- how cells talk to each other. Working with rat cells, Seger and his colleagues found that cellphone radiation changes the activity of certain enzymes, prompting them to start producing free radicals. Free radicals are rogue atoms that can cause damage when they interact with DNA and other crucial cellular components.

Seger emphasizes that the effect "produces a small amount of free radicals, which in themselves are not harmful." But he also says that intracellular signaling could be part of a more general cancer-inducing mechanism that is not yet understood. "It is possible that this system could cause the activation of another system," he says, which could in turn create a cascade of intracellular events whose cumulative effect could be harmful. He cautions, though, "The amplification [of the free radicals] has to be much stronger in order to induce these adverse effects." Boice points out that free radicals are produced all the time as a by-product of our metabolism. "The body has processes that take care of them," he says. "You can't extrapolate from a petri dish to humans."

I also discovered another article about a WHO study that indicated increased risk of brain cancer from cell phone radiation.


Personally I'm pretty skeptical of this whole thing, but I don't have enough background knowledge on the subject to debunk this, so I figured I'd come here and ask the experts. What do you think?

 

[nismaratwork]

This strikes me as absurd, and premature to call. The idea that one could be allergic to radio waves is just... laughable. The effect of EMF on DNA also seems absurd, ut the notion that free radicals can cause harm is not. Compare the radio emissions to solar radiation however, and we're back to laughable. I think you can safely file this under "nutty".

 

[Monique]

1) You cannot be allergic to radiation, antibodies need proteins to bind to.
2) There hasn't been a study that shows conclusive data that the radiation emitted from cell phones causes brain tumors, I don't have a citation right now but that was the conclusion of a recent study published in a scientific journal.

 

[nismaratwork]

The best I've ever heard is that microwave radiation blasted at tumors CAN accelerate their growth, but that is a far cry from causing them. Even that result is iffy.

Monique: You cannot be allergic to radiation, but if you experienced an inflammatory response as a result, many would say "I am allergic to it". From there, I think the logical conclusion is still: no, EMF doesn't cause an inflammatory response, you've already mentioned the lack of classical allergic reaction, so hell no seems a fair answer.

I would suspect exposure to a number of environmental toxins, from Ethylene Glycol to an unknown inflammatory condition before I lept to the "radiation" conclusion.

 

[TubbaBlubba]

Oh god, not electromagnetism allergy. Seriously, I can't stand these people.

"FORCE FIELDS!"
"RADIATION!"
"IT'S COMING!"I recall one guy in a documentary about them who claimed to be and had to cover half of his apartment in tin foil. The other ones were mostly about theatrics. "Oh god, a woman really obviously sinking down and lying on the floor trying to appear as if she's fainting from the RADIATION!"

 

[nismaratwork]

Oh god, not electromagnetism allergy. Seriously, I can't stand these people.

"FORCE FIELDS!"
"RADIATION!"
"IT'S COMING!"


I recall one guy in a documentary about them who claimed to be and had to cover half of his apartment in tin foil. The other ones were mostly about theatrics. "Oh god, a woman really obviously sinking down and lying on the floor trying to appear as if she's fainting from the RADIATION!"

I remember that one, what a steaming pile! I believe that an MIT study showed that the tinfoil treatment can in theory intensify radio, rather than attenuating it. This is right up there with the new "ghost" shows where a couple of grown men wet themselves and shake night-vision cameras ever time a board creaks.