Cell phones and the brain

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, July, 2002 by John D. MacArthur

Dr. Rodolfo Llinas, a professor of physiology at New York University School of Medicine, has demonstrated that the frequency of brain's electrical system is slower in the thalamus during sleep and much higher when a person is awake. He observed that patients suffering from Parkinson's disease had low frequency oscillations in their brain patterns when awake, instead of the usual high frequency ones. Part of the thalamus' intricate network seemed to be still asleep, causing havoc in the brain's perception of the internal and external environments.

At the October 1999 Society for Neuroscience meeting, Llinas suggested that these abnormal rhythms may be a common thread underlying Parkinson's disease, depression, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, and tinnitis. (38)

Our Electromagnetic Environment

From fertilization to final heartbeat, we are electrical beings. Death is even defined as the end of electrical activity in the brain. We have evolved within a narrow range of physical parameters (temperature, pressure, gravity), but more than any other aspect of nature, we have altered our electromagnetic environment -- immersing ourselves in a sea of man-made EMFs that only a century ago were unknown to life.

Only now are we beginning to realize how a small increase in global temperature can have complex consequences. We know even less about the true repercussions of the unnatural electromagnetic radiation we are creating. This revolutionary modification of a fundamental aspect of life is untested for long-term safety. Furthermore, epidemiological effects of EMFs are difficult to measure, because few control groups exist. (It's interesting to note that the Amish population has a lower prevalence of dementia. (39)

Despite industry assurances of safety, an increasing number of scientists and citizens are insisting on caution -- the precautionary principle of prudent avoidance -- until we know much more about the bioeffects of EMFs, especially those associated with cell phones and transmission towers.

Cell Phone Legislation

"It is inappropriate that critical health and safety studies lag behind the vast expansion of cellular telephone marketing." This is the rationale for a new consumer-oriented cellular telephone Bill -- the first such legislation in the United States -- introduced by California Senator Tom Hayden in February 2000.

"We think this Bill makes a lot of sense," says the executive director of the National Brain Tumor Foundation. "It's just a precautionary measure." Opposing the Bill is the Cellular Carriers Association of California, which says the industry was "continuing to look at everything possible to make sure the service was safe."

The editor of Microwave News, Louis Slesin, PhD, disagrees, noting that spending on safety research has been ridiculously small. "After all, when a device is pumping radiofrequency/microwave energy into a complex electrical system like the brain, it would seem natural to ask if it changes the way that system works. Instead, no cognitive studies of mobile phones were done until the last couple of years, and none has ever been done in the United States." (40)