Ten years of planning went into a 25 million dollar US Government rodent study that proves RF radiation levels common to cell phone use can pose a risk of certain cancers.
Six percent of male rats exposed to the same kind of radiation our Smartphones emit – deemed a safe level of RF exposure according to the FDA and FCC – developed a type of cancer similar to tumors previously reported in case studies on frequent cell phone users.
The senior NIEHS toxicologist who designed the National Toxicology Program (NTP) study, said “the NTP tested the hypothesis that cell phone radiation could not cause health effects. This hypothesis has now been disproved because partial results the NTP released last year show cell phone radiation has adverse effects. These same cells that became cancerous in rats are the same cells that are reported to turn into tumors in people in epidemiology studies of cellphone users”
The program spent two years exposing rats and mice to varying levels of radiation emitted by two wireless protocols commonly used in cell phones, GSM and CDMA, at frequencies of either 900 megahertz or 1900 megahertz.
The NTP study tested Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) modulated exposures (AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM frequencies), concluding GSM bioeffects on male rats were seen in the prostate gland and in pancreatic islets, and granular cell tumors of the brain.
Such effects were NOT observed in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)–modulated -exposed rats (Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular use CDMA frequencies).
Conversely, liver effects were noted only in CDMA-exposed male rats.
Findings At 900 MHz: AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM frequencies
Some evidence linking RFR with malignant schwannoma in the hearts of male rats, no evidence for same in female rats. Equivocal evidence linking exposure to malignant brain glioma in females. Other tumors of various types in both sexes “may have been related to cell phone RFR exposure,”. Less serious “nonneoplastic lesions” were more frequent in exposed males and females.
Findings At 1900 MHz: Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular use CDMA frequencies
Equivocal evidence of carcinogenicity in lung, liver and other organ tissues in both male and female mice.
Otis Brawley, the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society said, “The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk,”
The NTP researchers used 3,000 male and female rats and mice as subjects in radiation chambers and observed them for two years. The only frequencies used were 2G GSM and 3G CDMA. Some of these mice were only exposed to 900 MHz of GSM radiation while others were in chambers that emitted 1900Mhz CDMA (each frequency being its own experiment).
The 2 year NTP study established a relationship between these different exposure responses to GSM technology used by AT&T and T-Mobile or CDMA technology used by Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular. The NTP study supports evidence that the frequency of radiation exposure is as important as the intensity of RF exposure in differentiating potential health risk from one frequency of RF exposure over another.
Trying to find a group of people not exposed to cell phone radiation sounds impossible in today’s age. However, for the purpose of the results of the NTP radiation study, we need a group of people exposed to only CDMA radiation in a metaphoric wireless Galápagos Island cut off from the outside world’s GSM frequencies.
Lucky for us such a place exist and provides a natural human control group supporting the rodent study claims that GSM and CDMA wireless technology target different cells and organs. More data proving we are susceptible to different frequencies used by different phone network carrier technologies – this should raise a red flag for the rollout of new 5G technology known as millimeter wave technology.
Most of the world uses GSM to some capacity, except for the beautiful island nation of Japan, GSM technology was never deployed there. Vast distances over water isolate everyone in Japan from anything but CDMA frequencies. GSM phones just won’t work there!
The NTP study showed male rats exposed to GSM frequencies had higher rates of abnormal prostate cells, and if this is also true for humans than an island like Japan without any exposure to GSM frequencies should have prostate cancers at a much lower rate than other developed countries that use GSM technology.
With the recent NTP findings, it shouldn’t be shocking that Japan has the lowest instance rate of prostate cancers in the world – nearly 300% lower than the USA. Prostate gland effects were not observed in CDMA-exposed rats, and the entire population of Japan has always used CDMA technology.
Likewise, the NTP study found that CDMA frequencies caused liver damage where GSM did not, so we would expect an uptick in liver cancer in Japan compared to the rest of the world where CDMA is less common, and what do you know — Japan has the highest rate of liver cancer in any industrialized country.
There was also a significant increase in the incidence of right ventricular cardiomyopathy in both male and female rats exposed to 3 watts per kilogram (W/kg) and 6 W/kg of GSM-modulated RFR, and in male rats exposed to 6 W/kg of CDMA-modulated RFR.
The researchers also observed other, albeit weaker, effects for both modulations that included malignant glioma in the brain, adenomas in the pituitary gland (pars distalis), and pheochromocytomas of the adrenal medulla.
In the brain, malignant glioma was observed across all groups of GSM male rats exposed to 6 W/kg CDMA and in CDMA female rats exposed to 1.5 W/kg in comparison with controls, but these findings did not reach statistical significance. There were also occurrences of glial cell hyperplasia in the brain of GSM and CDMA male rats and CDMA female rats; none were observed in the controls.
In the pituitary gland of male rats, there was an increase in the incidence of adenoma in all GSM-exposed groups, but this did not reach statistical significance. There was a significant increase in the incidence of adenoma in CDMA male rats exposed to 3 W/kg in comparison with controls.
A significant increase in the incidence of benign, malignant, or complex pheochromocytoma (combined) was also observed in the adrenal medulla of GSM male rats exposed to 1.5 and 3 W/kg and in CDMA female rats exposed to 1.5 W/kg. In GSM female rats exposed to 6 W/kg, there was an increase in the incidence of hyperplasia in the adrenal medulla.
The researchers also studied a range of other noncancer health effects in rats and mice, including changes in body weight, evidence of tissue damage from RFR-generated heat, and genetic damage. Although body weight was lower in exposed newborn rats, they grew to normal size.
“The NTP study is the second US government–sponsored animal study that demonstrates increased cancer risk from exposure to low intensity, nonthermal levels of microwave radiation,” said Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D., director, Center for Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.
A previous study was conducted years ago by the US Air Force. It found a similar pattern of low incidence of multiple types of tumors in male rats exposed to microwave radiation. “When the tumor findings were combined by the Air Force researchers, the rats exposed to microwave radiation were three times more likely to get cancer than the control rats,” Dr. Moskowitz said. “The microwave radiation exposure in the Air Force study was much lower in intensity than the radiation in the NTP studies.”
Dr. Moskowitz noted that these draft reports have identified elevated risk for several types of tumors in rats and mice exposed to cell phone radiation.
“Our current federal guidelines for radiofrequency radiation, which were adopted in 1996, were designed only to protect us from thermal levels of exposure,” he said. “The federal RFR limits should be reassessed and strengthened in light of these findings.”
In 2011, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared the kind of radiation emitted by cell phones to be a “possible carcinogen” on the basis of human epidemiologic studies that found increased gliomas and acoustic neuromas in long-term cell phone users, which further stirred the flames of the controversy.
In this latest study, the NTP examined the effects of high exposure to radiofrequency energy in rodents. Interim findings from the project were released in May 2016. They showed an increase in malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart. The mature results that have just been released reflect the earlier findings, but these are still considered to have draft status, and the NTP will hold an external expert review of its complete findings from these rodent studies March 26-28, 2018
In the rat study, male and female Hsd:Sprague Dawley SD rats were exposed to time-averaged whole-body specific absorption rates of GSM- or CDMA-modulated cell phone RFR at frequencies of 900 MHz administered at 1.5 W/kg ( Under FCC legal limit of 1.6 W/kg for cell phones sold in the USA), 3 W/kg , or 6 W/kg. The rats received RFR while in utero, during lactation, and after weaning for 28 days or 2 years.
To put the exposure levels in context, the lowest power level for the rats was equal to the highest level that is currently permitted for local tissue exposures to cell phone emissions. The rodents were exposed for about 9 hours a day in increments of 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. The studies used 2G and 3G frequencies and modulations that are currently used in voice calls and texting in the United States.
The study of these mice just discovered real “scientific evidence” for DNA damage, brain tumors, and several other cancers. Evidence of DNA damage seen from some tissues in animals which will be covered in a report in early 2018. However, it does prove effects below thermal levels currently used as the accepted RF radiation safety guideline.
Anthony Miller MD issues a statement on the NIH/NIEHS National Toxicology Program (NTP) study linking cell phone radiation to tumors.
Anthony B. Miller MD, a longtime advisor to the World Health Organization and senior advisor to Environmental Health Trust (EHT) has issued a statement that the recently released findings from the $25 NIH/NIEHS National Toxicology Program (NTP) cell phone radiofrequency radiation carcinogenicity studies combined with human epidemiology studies “conclusively confirms that radiofrequency radiation is a category 1 human carcinogen.” EHT is a scientific think tank focused on preventable environmental health risks and will be publishing a series of expert reactions to the NTP technical reports this week.
Statement of Anthony Miller MD
“In the NTP rat study, there was a significant increase in the incidence of schwannomas of the heart in the animals exposed to radiofrequency radiation, with a dose-response relationship in male rats, as well as the occurrence of gliomas of the brain, though this increase was not statistically significant. Further, a significant increase in DNA damage was observed in hippocampus cells of the brain of male rats exposed to radiofrequency radiation.
In the NTP mouse study, there was a significant positive trend in the incidence of alveolar/bronchiolar adenoma or carcinoma (combined) of the lung in males exposed to radiofrequency radiation, while compared to the sham controls, all exposed groups of females had increased incidence of malignant lymphoma. Further, significant increases in DNA damage were observed in cells of the frontal cortex of male mice exposed to radiofrequency radiation.
In interpreting these findings, it is important to bear in mind that because of species differences, there may not be an increase in the incidence of the same tumors as seen in mankind. Further, although these were large and well-conducted animal studies, the relative rarity of the tumors showing an increase in incidence means that it may be difficult to demonstrate significant increases in incidence which may be seen in the very much larger numbers of humans exposed to radiofrequency radiation.
In the National Toxicology Program study, the number of animals in the radiofrequency radiation studies was several thousand. However, in the world today the number of people using cell phones is estimated at 5 billion.
Even a small rise in very rare cancers from cell phone radiation would constitute a serious public health concern due to the fact that billions of people are using cell phones.
Exposure is widespread and increasing. Children are more vulnerable. Cell phone radiation penetrates deeper into their bodies and they will have a lifetime of exposure leading to a higher cancer risk.
This animal evidence, together with the extensive human evidence from case-control studies on brain cancer in Sweden, France, Canada and other countries, coupled with the rising incidence of brain cancers in young people in the USA, conclusively confirms that radiofrequency radiation is a category 1 human carcinogen. We cannot ignore this but must act quickly to reduce exposure to radiofrequency radiation from all sources to as low as reasonably achievable, especially for children.”
National Toxicology Program (NTP) Draft Technical Reports on Radiofrequency Radiation
TR-595: NTP Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation (Rats)
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/about_ntp/trpanel/2018/march/tr595peerdraft.pdf
TR-596: NTP Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation (Mice)
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/about_ntp/trpanel/2018/march/tr596peerdraft.pdf
National Institutes of Health February 2, 2018, Press release on the NTP Report “High exposure to radiofrequency radiation linked to tumor activity in male rats”
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/high-exposure-radiofrequency-radiation-linked-tumor-activity-male-rats
In December 2017, the state of California officially issued guidelines advising cellphone users to keep phones away from their bodies.
The California Department of Public Health has more tips for reducing cell phone radiation exposure.
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