Vicia faba seedlings, subjected to a 10 microT 50 Hz square wave magnetic field for 40 min together with a radioactive pulse, showed a marked increase in amino acid uptake into intact roots. A more modest increase was observed with a 100 microT 50 Hz square wave. An increase in media conductivity at low field intensities from 10 microT 50 Hz square wave, 100 microT 50 Hz sine wave, and 100 microT 60 Hz square wave fields, indicated an alteration in the movement of ions across the plasma membrane, most likely due to an increase in net outflow of ions from the root cells. Similarly, marked elevation in media pH, indicating increased alkalinity, was observed at 10 and 100 microT for both square and sine waves at both 50 and 60 Hz. Our data would indicate that low magnetic field intensities of 10 and 100 microT at 50 or 60 Hz can alter membrane transport processes in root tips.

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Two double-blind studies were run in an attempt to confirm the finding that a 0.2 Hz magnetic field affects simple reaction time (RT) in humans, whereas a 0.1 Hz field does not. In the first experiment, 12 volunteer subjects were exposed to a continuous 0.2 Hz, 0.1 Hz, or sham field in a fully counterbalanced, within-subjects design. Subjects were run singly for one condition each day over 3 consecutive days with a field strength of 1.1 mT and a daily exposure duration of 5 min. Neither magnetic field had any effect on RT at any time during the exposure. One condition of a second study, using a new group of 24 volunteer subjects, also failed to find any field effects at 0.2 Hz. Additionally, the second study failed to show any effects when the frequency, flux density, and field orientation were set according to parametric resonance theory. It is suggested that, although ELF magnetic field effects on human behaviour may be elusive, future research can improve detection rates by paying greater attention to reducing error variance and increasing statistical power.

Vicia faba seedlings were subjected to one of the following magnetic fields continuously for 3 days: 0 Hz (DC) at 5 mT, 50 Hz at 1.5 mT, 60 Hz at 1.5 mT, and 75 Hz at 1.5 mT. The lengths of all the phases of mitosis differed from the controls in all treatments using alternating magnetic fields and for prophase and metaphase in the DC condition. In particular, all treatments increased the length of prophase significantly in meristematic root‐tip cells compared with the controls. The implications of these results for chromosome coiling are discussed. The length of prophase, however, did not vary significantly between any of the treatments. Furthermore, none of the exposed seedlings had a greater frequency of chromosome breakages above that of the control plants. Bioelectromagnetics 19:152–161, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

The in vitro cytomolecular technique, sister chromatid exchange (SCE), was applied to test the clastogenic potentiality of extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HPBLs). SCE frequencies were scored in dividing peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from six healthy male blood donors in two rounds of experiments, R1 and R2, to determine reproducibility. Lymphocyte cultures in the eight experiments conducted in each round were exposed to 50 Hz sinusoidal (continuous or pulsed) or square (continuous or pulsed) MFs at field strengths of 1 microT or 1 mT for 72 h. A significant increase in the number of SCEs/cell in the grouped experimental conditions compared to the controls was observed in both rounds. The highest SCE frequency in R1 was 10.03 for a square continuous field, and 10.39 for a square continuous field was the second highest frequency in R2. DNA crosslinking at the replication fork is proposed as a model which could explain the mechanistic link between ELF EMF exposure and increased SCE frequency.