Turkish Study Indicates That EM Fields Harm Embryonic Rats

 

A study published in the medical periodical Brain Research has once again stirred up the recurrent controversy about possible ill effects from the exposure to electromagnetic fields that occurs with cell phone use. This recent study has focused attention on the advisability of cell phone use by pregnant women. The study entitled “Effects of prenatal exposure to a 900-MHz electromagnetic field on the dentate gyrus of rats: a stereological and histopathological study.” The experiment used a control group and an EMF-exposed group that were exposed to an EMF of up to 900 MHz for 60 minutes per day between the first and last days of gestation.

 The rats’ offspring were sacrificed at four weeks. Postmortem results showed that prenatal EMF exposure caused a decrease in the number of granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the young rats. This finding suggest that prenatal exposure to a 900-MHz EMF affects the development of these cells in the rat hippocampus—possibly by bringing about an inhibition of granule cell neurogenesis. The dentate gyrus is the section of the brain that is responsible for memory, stress, and depression. A abstract of this article can be found on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) website.

This perennial controversy seems to grab headlines on a regular basis. What’s your take? To share your views, just go to the NEBS/Telecom Forum.

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