Cognitive effects of radiation emitted by cellular phones: The influence of exposure side and time

Abstract

This study examined the time dependence effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) emitted by standard GSM cellular phones on the cognitive functions of humans. A total of 48 healthy right-handed male subjects performed a spatial working memory task (that required either a left-hand or a right-hand response) while being exposed to one of two GSM phones placed at both sides of the head. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups. Each group was exposed to one of three exposure conditions: left-side of the head, right-side, or sham-exposure. The experiment consisted of 12 blocks of trials. Response times (RTs) and accuracy of the responses were recorded. It was found that the average RT of the right-hand responses under left-side exposure condition was significantly longer than those of the right-side and sham-exposure groups averaged together during the first two time blocks. These results confirmed the existence of an effect of exposure on RT, as well as the fact that exposure duration (together with the responding hand and the side of exposure) may play an important role in producing detectable RFR effects on performance. Differences in these parameters might be the reason for the failure of certain studies to detect or replicate RFR effects.

Morbidity Profile of People Living in the Vicinity of Mobile Towers, Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India

“…Luria et al 9 observed significantly higher response time among radiation-exposed group than nonexposed. Similarly, we also observed that vitality, emotional, and mental health status are significantly lower in persons exposed to high and medium level of radiations as compared with people exposed to low level of radiation.…”

“…Right-handed subjects exposed to RFR on the left side of their head, on average, had significantly longer response times when compared with exposure to the right side and sham exposure. 9 Largest study of its kind ever; the 13 nation interphone project in 2012, claimed that for an average user (cell phone use for 2 hours a month), increase in cancer cases is not significant. 10 Reevaluation of the Interphone study by a group of eminent scientists has found that even for average users, increase in brain tumor is significant for greater than 10 years of use, indicating some risk of carcinogenicity.…”

Effects of radio- and microwaves emitted by wireless communication devices on the functions of the nervous system selected elements

“…W pracach późniejszych, w miarę poprawiania się metodyki badań dotyczących tego problemu, coraz częściej nie stwierdzano żad-nych efektów oddziaływania PEM telefonii komórko-wej na procesy poznawcze. Takie wnioski przedstawiono w większości prac z ostatnich lat [27,28,36,49,[72][73][74].…”

“…[73] stwierdzili wydłużenie się czasu reakcji prawej ręki w teście operacyjnej pamię-ci przestrzennej u osób eksponowanych na PEM, któ-rego źródłem był telefon usytuowany przy lewym uchu, jednak następne badanie tego samego zespołu [69] wykluczyło, żeby efekt ten był wynikiem wpływu mikrofalowych PEM. Autorzy wskazali na nagrzewanie się telefonu lub działanie słabych PEM o niższych czę-stotliwościach, emitowanych przez elektronikę telefonu, jako potencjalne przyczyny obserwowanego efektu.…”

A Survey and Tutorial of Electromagnetic Radiation and Reduction in Mobile Communication Systems

“…The authors in [38] concluded that the duration of exposure to EM radiation from a standard GSM mobile phone had an effect on the cognitive functions of humans. It has been shown in [39] that whole-body exposure to a SAR of 4 W/kg for 20-30 minutes resulted in a body increase in temperature of up to 0.5…”