The Cell Phone and the Cell - the Role of Calcium

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Parent Category: Health

A discovery made over thirty years ago may hold the key to why weak non ionizing electromagnetic radiation seems to have so many ill effects on health, ranging from exacerbating allergies and autism to reducing fertility and promoting cancer. We now have a plausible scientific explanation for the mechanisms involved.

Andrew Goldsworthy 2008
 

Abstract
 

Alternating electromagnetic fields such as those from mobile telecommunications have many seemingly unrelated effects on health, including the promotion of cancer, reductions in fertility and various brain disorders. This article explains how almost all of them may stem from a common cause; i.e. the removal of divalent ions such as calcium from cell membranes. The mechanisms are as follows. 

The radiation from handsets can affect the whole body because it conducts electricity and behaves like an antenna. It absorbs the radiation and generates eddy currents that can flow beyond the site of application. When they impinge on cell membranes, they weaken them by removing structurally important calcium and other divalent ions. This makes the membranes more likely to leak, which can give many biological effects. 

A theoretical mechanism is described in laypersons language that explains how weak electromagnetic fields remove calcium ions from cell membranes. It explains the seemingly weird observations that this removal is non-thermal and occurs only within specific "amplitude windows". It also explains why low frequencies are more effective than high ones, why pulses are more potent than sine waves and why amplitude modulated and pulsed radio waves also work. 

The mechanism involves the replacement of divalent ions bound to the membrane by monovalent ions (mostly potassium), which weakens it and makes it more inclined to leak. Radiation at 16Hz is particularly effective. It is the ion cyclotron resonance frequency for potassium (in the Earth's magnetic field) and increases its chemical activity, to make it more likely to replace the bound calcium. 

The leakage of digestive enzymes from lysosomes can account for the damage to cellular DNA, which occurs after prolonged exposure to mobile phone radiation. This damage can explain the increased risk of cancer and reductions in fertility found in heavy mobile phone users. 

The recent increases in allergies and allergy-related conditions may also be due to membrane leakage. Our bodies are normally protected from the ingress of foreign materials by "tight junction" barriers where the gaps between the cells are sealed.  They occur in the brain, skin, nose, lungs and gut.  Mobile phone radiation or the chemical removal of calcium makes them more permeable to large molecules and can let in allergens, toxins and carcinogens. Increased permeability of the gut barrier has also been linked to autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis, IBS and type-1 diabetes.  

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) also seems to be due to membrane leakage. The symptoms following irradiation are like those of low calcium or magnesium in the blood, which supports the notion that they are due to divalent ion loss from cell membranes. 

EHS sufferers have high skin conductances and strong tendencies to allergies, suggesting that they already have high membrane permeabilities so that fewer divalent ions need be removed electromagnetically to produce the symptoms. Many of the neurological symptoms of EHS are likely to be due to the radiation increasing still further the permeability of nerve cells to make them generate spurious impulses. 

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be similarly linked to electromagnetic exposure. The programmed flow of calcium ions through membranes is a prerequisite for the release of the neurotransmitters that transfer signals between neurones in the brain. Unscheduled calcium leakage into these cells will increase their background calcium concentration, making them hypersensitive and more likely to transmit spurious signals. We would expect this to cloud normal mental activity, trigger random thoughts and give the loss of concentration characteristic of ADHD. Drivers using mobile phones and children in classrooms fitted with Wifi may be especially at risk. 

Autism has a similar explanation. A child's understanding of social interactions is laid down as a pattern of regularly-used connections between neurones in its brain during its first year. Under-used connections are then pruned so that the patterns become hard-wired. If these are electromagnetically disrupted prior to pruning, a distorted pattern for social interaction may become hard-wired, and give irreversible autistic disorders. 

The body can defend itself against the effects of electromagnetic exposure by pumping surplus calcium out of cells, activating ornithine decarboxylase to protect nucleic acids and making heat-shock proteins to protect enzymes. However, these are expensive in resources and interfere with normal metabolism. Their long-term deployment is likely to result in fatigue and an impaired immune system leading to a lowered resistance to disease and cancer.  Sources of prolonged or continuous radiation include mobile phone masts, Wifi routers, DECT phone base stations and DECT baby alarms. 

Not everyone is equally affected by the radiation. This may be due to differences in blood calcium or magnesium, differences in the efficacy of their defence mechanisms, and previous exposure to electromagnetic fields, which has a sensitising effect. 

The effects of pulsed irradiation may also be transmitted chemically in the blood. It affects the ion balance on colloidal particles such as those in blood, giving them the ability to remove calcium ions from surfaces. This effect is routinely used in electronic water conditioners to remove lime scale. However, the treated water has biological effects similar to direct irradiation, presumably due to its removing calcium from cell membranes. This provides another mechanism by which the effects of mobile phone irradiation can be transmitted all over the body and also calls into question the safety of water from water towers fitted with mobile phone antennas.

Read more: The Cell Phone and the Cell - the Role of Calcium

28-May-2008 - Larry King on CNN : Is There a Link Between Cell Phones and Cancer?

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Parent Category: TV Shows & Documentaries

Please note this interview is an important break through they discussed mobile phone risk and possible interventions.

CNN LARRY KING LIVE : Dale Cochran's First Interview Since the Death of Her Husband Johnnie; Is There a Link Between Cell Phones and Cancer? Aired May 27, 2008 - 21:00 ET (09:00-10:00 GMT)

Watch the Programme here

Read the Transcript here

Watch Larry King's comments on the show

Selected quotes:

Larry King: "We know that brain tumors are the number one cancer killer among children in the United States and the second most common form of cancer in kids"

Dr. Khurana, Canberra, Australia: "First... we don't even know how we think. We don't know how we think and how processing in the brain results in appropriate speech, based on different functionalities at different locations of the brain. So we don't know how we speak yet or think. Yet we know that we do."

"And so just because we don't know the mechanism or the link between -- at a molecular level, between how cell phones may generate the milieu at a molecular level that results in a brain tumor does not mean that there is no mechanism. There's no known mechanism, but not necessarily no mechanism."

"Sedesky (ph) from Israel, the Israel arm of Interphone, this is what she says: "a positive dose response trend was found. Our results suggest an association between cellular phone use and prodded gland tumors."

"Lacola (ph) from Finland, Interphone group, "for more than 10 years, of mobile phone use reported on the side of the head where the tumor was located, an increased odds ratio of borderline statistical significance was found."

"And others have said the same thing. It's the long-term data we should be looking at."

Neurosurgeon Dr. Black: "in the developing brain, you have a lot more dividing nerve cells and supportive cells in the brain. So it's in a very dynamic state. And those cells are more vulnerable to developing cancer from an injury or other types of problems. We know from laboratory animals, for example, that, you know, the most effective way of inducing a tumor is to induce it in a young developing embryo, in a young developing animal. So those brains are much more susceptible."

Slesin of Microwave News "I'm not sure I would advocate the Bluetooth because although it's much weaker, you are putting the antenna, the transmitter right into your ear, next to your brain. We don't know about thresholds. We don't know about mechanisms. So caution should be our guide."

Larry King: "The Food and Drug Administration made recommendations about cell phone use. First, to use cell phones less often and to use land lines whenever possible. And the FDA also recommends keeping cell phones away from your head by using a speaker phone or using a head set or other connection to remote antenna. I keep coming back to it."

"It seems, Dale, that if they don't have any proof, people are at least concerned."

N.B. The American Cancer Society representative (Dr. Thun) appeared to be acting as a mouth piece for the cell phone industry with the misleading information he supplied. Dr. George Carlo, who was 'bumped' at the last minute from the programme had this to say about the American Cancer Society last year: "what people don’t know is that in 2002, scientists from the American Cancer Society testified in brain cancer litigation in Federal Court in Baltimore, Maryland on behalf of the cell phone industry. They would want you to believe that no one was paid for that testimony. However, shortly after that, a report was released by the American Cancer Society that included cells phones as one of the greatest cancer myths. So blatant was this connection between the American Cancer Society and the cell phone industry, that last year, when Sanjay Gupta of CNN ran a story about the belief of Johnnie Cochran’s surgeon that his fatal brain tumor was due to his cell phone use, the industry did not even reply in the story. Instead, they simply referred to and quoted the American Cancer Society’s report on cell phones being one of the cancer myths. Thus, they used the American Cancer Society paper as a public relations shield."

Read more: 28-May-2008 - Larry King on CNN : Is There a Link Between Cell Phones and Cancer?

BioInitiative’s Hardell Finds Evidence Linking Gliomas and Heavy Cell Phone Use

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Parent Category: Health

BioInitiative’s Hardell Finds Evidence Linking Gliomas and Heavy Cell Phone Use

Orebro- Sweden / May 22, 2008 / Dr. Lennart Hardell, MD, oncologist at the University Hospital, Orebro, Sweden, and an expert on cell phone use and brain tumors, believes there is strong evidence pointing to glioma brain tumors in people who are heavy users of cell phones over a period of years. Heavy cell phone use is defined as more than 2000 lifetime hours. Hardell’s review of studies of cell phone use and brain tumor incidence is found at: http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/docs/section_10.pdf

Hardell says:
Long-term use of cell and cordless phones is associated with increased risk for glioma, a type of malignant brain tumor. For those who have used a cell phone predominantly on one side of the head (ipsilateral use) over a period of ten years or more, there is a consistently elevated risk of glioma.

Microwave News has tracked the results of the studies that make up the 13-country Interphone Project. Several have found an increased risk of glioma, like the type diagnosed in Senator Ted Kennedy, in people who used cell phones for 10 years or more. See: http://www.microwavenews.com/docs/SetInterphonefree.pdf The French Interphone Study pointed to increased risk at only 260-467 hours of total lifetime use.

It is not the first time the disclosure that a prominent public figure fighting this deadly diagnosis has raised the question of whether long-term use of cell phones is linked to brain tumors. The death of attorney Johnnie L. Cochran prompted his neurosurgeon, Dr. Keith Black, MD of Cedars Sinai Hospital, to make the connection. Black said he believes there was a relationship between Cochran's heavy cell phone use and his death from a glioma in 2005.

Mobile Phones and Pregnancy Do Not Mix : New Study

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Parent Category: Health