Comparison of effects of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and mobile phone exposure on human placenta and cord blood

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of radiofrequency radiation emitted from Wi-Fi systems and mobile phones on cord blood and placenta. The study included 149 pregnant women who were divided in subgroups: unexposed (control), mobile phone exposed, Wi-Fi exposed and mobile phone plus Wi-Fi exposed groups. Immediately after birth, placenta and cord blood samples were collected and protein carbonyl (PCO), malondialdehyde (MDA), total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status, 8-hydroxy-2 0-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels and DNA single strand breaks were analysed. The results of the study showed an increase in 8-OHdG, MDA, PCO and TOS in cord blood and placenta in the group exposed to mobile phones during gestation. However, the group exposed to Wi-Fi did not show alterations in the studied oxidative stress parameters. On the other hand, tail intensity and tail moment of DNA in the mobile phone exposure groups were higher than those in the control and Wi-Fi exposure groups. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that mobile phone exposure during pregnancy could have an important potential to cause oxidative stress and DNA damage in cord blood and placenta. The results of this study also indicated that combined effects of Wi-Fi plus mobile phone exposure have a higher potential to cause synergistic harmful effects.

Health effects of WiFi radiation: a review based on systematic quality evaluation

“…Thus, it is a challenge to differentiate between physical WiFi exposure and other factors related to the use of wireless communication. Three out of four epidemiological studies in this review have used a crude exposure assessment asking about the presence of WiFi at home or in school (Bektas et al, 2020;Guxens et al, 2019;Huss et al, 2015;Redmayne et al, 2013). This has a high ecological validity as it represents the situation of people who complain about WiFi effects.…”

“…Given the little contribution of WiFi to total exposure, the observed absence of associations in the three epidemiological studies discussed above (Bektas et al, 2020;Guxens et al, 2019;Huss et al, 2015;Redmayne et al, 2013) based on simple proxies is little informative and could also represent exposure misclassification. A more reliable exposure estimate was obtained in the fourth epidemiological study, measuring exposure during daily routine and addressing acute effects (Bogers et al, 2018;Bolte et al, 2019).…”

“…In a cross-sectional study of 149 pregnant women, self-reported use of WiFi and mobile phones was evaluated in relation to various parameters related to oxidative stress in the blood and placenta, immediately collected after birth (Bektas et al, 2020). Some parameters were associated with mobile phone use but none with WiFi exposure at workplace or at home.…”

Correlation of Blood Oxidative Stress Parameters to Indoor Radiofrequency Radiation: A Cross Sectional Study in Jordan

“…Therefore, the power density may be built up from the in-house resources. Moreover, it has been stated that frequencies from 10 MHz to 300 GHz can be carcinogenic, which includes some household appliances (such as microwaves and telecommunications devices) [61]. There is a correlation between radiofrequency and body penetration.…”

“…In general, cell phones operate at maximum power and are held next to the body, while the Wi-Fi modem is located at a distance from the human body. As it is known, the power density decreases in proportion to 1/d 2 (where d is the distance to the source) [61]. Hence, people are exposed to EMR when talking with cell phones, whereas EMR emitted from Wi-Fi affects the entire body.…”