Authors
Dr. A Marthanda Pillai, MS (Neuro), MNAMS (Neuro), FRCS. Chairman and Managing Director, Ananthapuri Hospital and Research Institute; Past National Vice President, IMA.
Abstract
Ralph Mills first knew something was seriously wrong with his brain when he began to get lost in his garden. As a long-distance driver he had spent years navigating his way across Europe without difficulty; suddenly he could not leave his house without some- one to guide him. Baffled, he visited his G.P, within an hour he was in hospital, where doctors found a brain tumour the size of a tennis ball above his right ear. Mills, from Harlow in Essex, had never been seriously ill before and had no history of cancer in his family. Was his tumour mere chance? Or could it, he wondered, be related to his constant use of a mobile phone? His company had given him a mobile in 1985 and for 12 years he had used it, often for about an hour and a half each day. More than 20 other people who believe they have suffered brain tumours, memory loss or damage to their immune systems caused by mobile phones are lining up to seek legal redress Scientists are beginning to uncover worrying evidence that microwave radiation could cause physiological damage. One of those at the forefront of the research is Dr. Henry Lai, an expert in non-ionising radiation and a Professor at the School of Medicine and College of Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, America. Two and a half years ago The Sunday Times disclosed for the first time scientific research pointing to the possible threat that mobile phone posed to health. Three studies, one by Lai, had found evidence of potentially damaging changes to brain cells linked to radiation emitted by mobile phones. It was the first insight into the risk of mobiles “cooking” the brain based on well-founded scientific evidence. Lai and a colleague, Dr. Narendra Singh, had discovered that low-level microwave radiation could split the DNA molecules in the brains of live rats; such splitting is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer. “Dr. Lai’s work has shown that there is an increase of 50 percent in damage to DNA when it is exposed to mobile phone radiation”. Memory loss is another damaging effect. Electromagnetic fields in the home environment (Colour T.V, computer monitor, micro wave oven, cellular phone etc) as potential contributing factors for the induction of oncogene C-fos Abl, oncogene. C-fos Ab2, integrin alpha 5 beta, and development of cancer as well as effects of micro wave on amino acid composition of food and living human brain were studied. In human subjects exposed to all the sources of the EMF for 3 minutes at a distance of 50 cm induced transitional abnormalities on the EMF entry area, like
Background: Scientists are beginning to uncover worrying evidence that microwave radiation could cause physiological damage. Dr. Narendra Singh, had discovered that low-level microwave radiation could split the DNA molecules in the brains of live rats; such splitting is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer.
Methodology: Analysis of evidences linking brain damage and electromagnetic waves from mobile phones.
Result: The brain is made up of watery tissue good at absorbing microwave radiation. Scientists believe there may be two main effects: 1. Heating tissue 2. Altering cell membranes. Microwaves can make membranes more permeable to potassium and calcium ions, which are important to cell functions. Cellular phone cause electromagnetic interference on implantable cardiac defibrillators. Digital cellular phone generate strong amplitude modulated fields with pulse repetition rate near the physiological range sensed by the ICD as an arrhythmia, High Voltage firing or inhibition of pacing output of the ICDS occurred when the phone was within 2.8 –5.8 cm of the ICD pulse generator
Keywords: Mobile phone radiation, Brain damage, Electromagnetic waves