DNA strand breaks are not induced in human cells exposed to 2.1425 GHz band CW and W-CDMA modulated radiofrequency fields allocated to mobile radio base stations

Abstract

We conducted a large-scale in vitro study focused on the effects of low level radiofrequency (RF) fields from mobile radio base stations employing the International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) cellular system in order to test the hypothesis that modulated RF fields may act as a DNA damaging agent. First, we evaluated the responses of human cells to microwave exposure at a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 80 mW/kg, which corresponds to the limit of the average whole body SAR for general public exposure defined as a basic restriction in the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. Second, we investigated whether continuous wave (CW) and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) modulated signal RF fields at 2.1425 GHz induced different levels of DNA damage. Human glioblastoma A172 cells and normal human IMR-90 fibroblasts from fetal lungs were exposed to mobile communication frequency radiation to investigate whether such exposure produced DNA strand breaks in cell culture. A172 cells were exposed to W-CDMA radiation at SARs of 80, 250, and 800 mW/kg and CW radiation at 80 mW/kg for 2 and 24 h, while IMR-90 cells were exposed to both W-CDMA and CW radiations at a SAR of 80 mW/kg for the same time periods. Under the same RF field exposure conditions, no significant differences in the DNA strand breaks were observed between the test groups exposed to W-CDMA or CW radiation and the sham exposed negative controls, as evaluated immediately after the exposure periods by alkaline comet assays. Our results confirm that low level exposures do not act as a genotoxicant up to a SAR of 800 mW/kg.

Mobile phone radiofrequency exposure has no effect on DNA double strand breaks (DSB) in human lymphocytes

“…Contrarily, and in accord with our experimental data, some studies showed the electromagnetic radiations emitted by mobile phones may have little (if any) negative effect on DNA integrity (31)(32)(33)(34)(35). More specifically, Verschaeve and colleagues demonstrated that exposure for a period of 2 years, 2 h per day and 5 days per week [average wholebody specific absorption rates (SAR) of 0.3 or 0.9 W/kg], did not significantly modify DNA strand breaks in blood, liver …”

Comparative study of human neuronal and glial cell sensitivity for in vitro neurogenotoxicity testing

“…In contrast to our results, Koyama et al (2008) evaluated MMS effects on A172 cells and observed no decreases in viability after treatments with this compound up to 10 h, but formation of apurinic/apyrimidinic sites after 2 and 4 h; although concentration employed in their experiments was 1 mM (0.11 mg/ml), one order of magnitude below the lowest dose employed in the current study. In agreement with our findings, Sakuma et al (2006) reported a time-and dosedependent increase of DNA strand breaks (evaluated by comet assay) in A172 cells treated with MMS (2e20 mg/ml). In neurons, Luukkonen et al (2011) reported statistically significant decrease in viability and increase in primary DNA damage (comet assay) and MN frequency in SH-SY5Y cells after exposure to MMS (15e35 mg/ ml).…”

Phosphorylation and gene expression of p53 are not affected in human cells exposed to 2.1425 GHz band CW or W-CDMA modulated radiation allocated to mobile radio base stations

“…We previously focused on genotoxic effects of low-level RF fields from mobile radio base stations and confirmed that 2.1425 GHz RF field exposures did not induce DNA-strand breakages in human cells [Sakuma et al, 2006]. The aim of this study was to investigate whether exposure to 2.1425 GHz band CW or W-CDMA modulated signals induced a cellular stress response at the limit of the average whole-body SAR levels based on ICNIRP guidelines [ICNIRP, 1998].…”