On the heels of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) cell phone radiation rat study published a few months ago, which ignited great concerns about cell phone radiation, both GSM (At&T frequencies) and CDMA (Sprint frequencies), causing cancer. Now, more of the same evidence emerges that cell phone radiation targets certain cell types, mainly Schwann cells and glial cells which are a type Schwann cell — both having a similar function found throughout the body.
A research team from the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy is anticipated to publish very similar findings on March 22, 2018, the Ramazzini Institute’s large-scale lifetime study that started in 2005 which focused on a total of 2,448 rats being exposed to radiofrequency cell phone radiation at levels comparable to cell tower or base station exposures.
The malignant schwannomas of the heart seen in the Italian study are the same as those described by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) earlier this year. The malignant schwannoma of the heart is a super rare cancer that correlates to a much higher instance rate when exposed to RF Radiation.
While biological effects seen in both the NTP and Ramazzini study are very similar, the power levels used by the Ramazzini Institute were much lower – simulating exposure to a cell phone tower vs the NTP study using RF levels comparable to smartphone usage. In the Ramazzini Institute study, 2,448 rats were exposed to 1.8 GHz GSM radiation at 5, 25, or 50 V/m for 19 hours per day from before birth until spontaneous death.
One major point to make about the US Government funded NTP study is that there were absolutely no glial cell hyperplasias (potential precancerous lesions) or heart schwannomas observed in any control rats shielded from RF radiation exposure, however, glial cell hyperplasia was detected in RF-exposed rats as early as week 58 of the 2-year study and heart schwannomas were detected as early as week 70 in exposed rats.
Rats…
Schwann Cells Are Found Throughout the Human Body Too!
Louis Slesin, PhD Editor & Publisher of Microwavenews.com explains better than anyone why rodent schwannomas should be a concern for everyone!
Schwann cells play a key role in the functioning of the peripheral nervous system. They make the myelin sheath, which insulates nerve fibers and helps speed the conduction of electrical impulses. There are Schwann cells just about everywhere there are peripheral nerve fibers. They are present in most organs of the body —whether mice, rats or humans. Schwann cell tumors are called schwannomas.
The NTP found schwannomas in many other organs, in addition to the heart, of rats chronically exposed to cell phone radiation. These included a variety of glands (pituitary, salivary and thymus), the trigeminal nerve and the eye. The NTP notes that the combined incidence of schwannoma in all organs was “generally higher” in the GSM-exposed male rats, but it was not “significantly different” from the unexposed controls. Still, the rate doubled at 3 W/Kg, the mid-exposure level, and was even higher at 6 W/Kg (Table A-2).
The NTP also saw schwannomas in the uterus, ovary, and vagina of female rats.
“There are lots of nerve fibers wrapped in Schwann cells,” David Carpenter told us by e-mail. “We are learning that if the exposure is focused at one place, like the head, the schwannomas occur in the auditory nerve, whereas if it is a whole-body exposure they occur elsewhere, such as in the heart.” Carpenter, a medical doctor who trained as a neurophysiologist, is the director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany in upstate New York.
“It is also striking that other tumors occurred in organs such as the prostate, pancreas, thyroid, and liver in the NTP study,” Carpenter added, “These observations suggest a much greater number of sensitive organs than we have previously documented in humans to date.”
Schwann Cells Are a Type of Glial Cell
The brain has no Schwann cells —the brain is part of the central nervous system. There, glial cells play a similar function. In fact, Schwann cells are a type of glial cell. Here’s part of what the NTP wrote in its report on the RF–exposed rats:
“Schwann cells are similar to glial cells in the brain in that they are specialized supportive cells whose functions include maintaining homeostasis, forming myelin and providing support and protection for neurons of the peripheral nervous system.”
Tumors of the glial cells are called gliomas. The NTP also saw an increase in glioma among the male rats exposed to GSM and CDMA radiation.
Higher rates of glioma have been reported in a number of epidemiological studies of cell phone users. The other tumor linked to cell phone radiation in human studies is acoustic neuroma, a tumor of the auditory nerve. This is a type of schwannoma, formally called a vestibular schwannoma.
While schwannomas and gliomas are commonly non-cancerous tumors, they can develop into malignant schwannomas or glioblastomas (they are malignant too). Both of these can spread and are thus true cancers.
Suddenly, it seems, a more coherent picture of the human and animal RF–cancer data is emerging with tumors of Schwann and glial cells at its center. The implication is that instead of searching for consistency in RF’s ability to cause cancer in specific organs, the emphasis should now be on specific cell types —beginning with Schwann cells in the periphery and glial cells in the brain.