Electromagnetic Radiation Hazards are Real

This section is part of Chapter 8, Man Made Electromagnetic Radiation Fields, of the book "Cross Currents: the Perils of Electrical Pollution" by Robert O. Becker.

The Hazards are Real

While the foregoing review of what has happened in this area since the 1950s may seem complicated, the reports listed are only a small fragment of what is available. In 1963, I was asked to write an article reviewing the scientific literature on the biological effects of magnetic fields. I was able to list a total of forty-four published papers, the oldest from 1892 and the latest from 1962. In the years since, then, so many more scientific papers on this subject have been published that I have completely lost track. In 1974, the Office of Naval Research began collecting published scientific reports from around the world in the general area of “biological effects of no ionizing electromagnetic radiation” and publishing abstracts as a digest. This digest is still being published, and a volume of reports has now grown to a point at which more than a thousand scientific papers on this topic are published each year.

The same time period also saw the establishment of three organized scientific societies concerned with this area of inquiry. At present, two of the societies publish internatioal scientific journals, and additional journals are planed. Clearly, this is an expanding area of scientific interest and concern.

The questions which we began this chapter appear to have been answered:

ALL abnormal , man-made electromagnetic fields, regardless of their frequencies, produce the same biological effects. These effects, which deviate from normal functions and are actually or potentially harmful, are the following:

• Effects on growing cells, such as increases in the rate of cancer-cell division.
• Increase in the incidence of certain cancers Developmental abnormalities in embryos.
• Alterations in petrochemicals, resulting in behavioral abnormalities such as suicide.
• Alterations in biological cycles Stress responses in exposed animals, that, if prolonged, lead to declines in immune-system efficiency.
• Alterations in learning ability

These bioeffects interrelate to influence the clinical state of a human being who is chronically exposed to any abnormal field. For example, the stress effect results in a number of stress-related diseases. If prolonged, this decreases the efficiency of the immune system, resulting in anincreased incidence of infectious diseases and cancers. The concurrent effect of the promotion of cancer-cell growth and the increase in the malignant characteristics of these cells leads to an increased incidence of cancers with faster -than-normal rates of growth. (Note that all of these effects are cancer-promoting, not cancer-causing.)

However, the effect of abnormal fields upon the genetic apparatus is becoming much more significant. Recent scientific data indicate that many cancers are the result of acquired genetic abnormalities that produce activation of oncogenes, which program cells to become cancerous.

Because abnormal electromagnetic fields can produce genetic abnormalities during cell division, it is quite possible that chronic exposure to such fields is a competent cause for the origin of cancers. If this is correct, then the combined promoting and causing effects of field exposure could result in a significant increase in cancers of tissues that are in constant cellular
multiplication.

This is compatible with the latest data indicating significant increases in the incidence of specific types of cancers since 1975. According to Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Chicago Medical Center, lymphoma, myeloma, and melanoma have increased by 100 percent, breast cancer by 31 percent, testicular cancer by 97 percent, cancer of the pancreas by 20 percent, cancer of the kidney by 142 percent, and colon cancer by 63 percent. All of these cancers are in tissues with continuous rates of cell division.

We are frequently assured that we are winning the war against cancer, and we are told that the death rate from cancer is dropping. This argument is often quoted when the question of the relationship to electromagnetic fields is raised. Some Scientists believe that since the total amounts of electromagnetic fields have increased markedly over the past ten years, the overall rate o cancer should have increased at the same rate if a relationship exists between these fields and cancer. This has not happened, so experts claim that there can be no such relationship. While the scientists’ sstatement is true as it stands, what it really means is that the rate from some cancers is dropping due to earlier diagnosis and treatment (cancer of the cervix) or to changes in diet (cancer of the stomach) whereas the rates of those listed earlier are increasing. The two effects (decreases in some types of cancer ad increases in others) do not quite cancel each other out. The overall incidence of cancer is slowly increasing year by year, and the relationship between field exposure and those types of cancer that are on the
increase is evident.

The effect of field exposure on the human fetus is particularly important. The process of development from the original fertilized egg cell to the complex newborn is the result of a carefully timed and controlled series of events involving cell multiplication. Exposure to electromagnetic fields will result in alterations of the rate of growth of these cells and will disturb the delicate balance of normal development. The work done in Madrid by Delgado and Leal on ELF frequencies was completely confirmed by the navy’s Project Henhouse and was complemented by the Battelle study on power-frequency fields. Fetal development may be grossly disturbed by field exposure, throught the following means: a direct effect of the field upon the speed and timing of fetal-cell division, an effect upon the genetic apparatus of dividing fetal cells, and production of chromosomal abnormalities in the germ cells of the parents.

The distinct possibility that genetic effects of a wide variety may occur with chronic field exposure is disturbing in view o the fact that, generally speaking, such defects are permanent and are passed on to succeeding generations. The apparent inheritance of brain-tumor tendency in the children of men who have been occupationally exposed to these fields may be a significant warning signal. Somewhat more speculative, but still within the bounds of scientific inquiry, is the possibility that the genetic effect of field exposures may have produced alterations in preexisting,disease-producing microorganisms, making them more virulent or resulting in the production of new diseases. The disturbing possibility is the subject of the next chapter.

The interaction of abnormal electromagnetic fields with the brian in now evident, but it remains poorly understood at this time. Some interaction may take place through the pineal gland and the magnetic organ, and there may be direct effects of ELF fields on the nerve cells themselves. These effects are competent to produce behavioral disturbances and learning disabilities. The increase in these clinical conditions over the past decade raises the question of whether our increased use of these fields has played a causal role.