Mankind evolved on a planet where background microwave radiation was infinitesimal. Today, most live in a sea of microwave radiation and radiofrequencies (RF) emitted from wireless technologies — routers, smartphones, tablets, baby monitors, smart TVs, appliances, smart meters and more.
Globally, there are now more than 6 billion cellphone subscriptions, which means we’re nearing the point where every single person on the planet has one of these devices, and most now get their first cellphone or tablet at a very early age.
According to the Pew Research Center, 90 percent of adults say their phone is frequently with them and rarely turned off.1 Americans are so attached to their smartphones and social networks that they check Facebook and Twitter an astounding 17 times each day on average, and many teens spend a mind-boggling nine hours a day on social media.2
Many experts now warn that chronic, heavy exposure to these electromagnetic fields (EMFs) could be having severe repercussions for our health, especially that of children, who are being exposed in utero.
Fetuses and young children have never before been exposed to this level of pulsed radiation, and it’s still too early to determine the exact extent of the harm, as it may take decades for effects to manifest.
In recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of most chronic disease, so in terms of public health, the effects of chronic EMF exposure may be far more profound than currently suspected.
We may not only face an avalanche of brain cancer in coming decades, but also heart disease, neurological disorders, infertility and newly identified disorders such as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).3,4
Generation Zapped
The featured documentary, “Generation Zapped,” investigates the potential health consequences of today’s wireless world, noting microwave radiation “is a very real environmental pollutant.”
The film opens up with the late Martin Blank, Ph.D., who was an associate professor of physiology and cellular biophysics at Columbia University, who points out one of the most obvious reasons EMFs may cause physical harm, and that is because your body is bioelectrical. Many of your bodily processes involve the transmission of electric signals, and external interference can disrupt those signals.5
As explained by Dr. Jonathan Samet, director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California, radiation can be divided into ionizing radiation and nonionizing radiation, the former having sufficiently high energy to break up molecules as it passes through your tissues.
EMFs have much lower energy, which is why the cellular industry has insisted cellphones and other wireless technologies have no biological effects. Alas, mounting science reveals this simply isn’t true.
Evidence of Carcinogenicity
The mobile industry’s own research in the 13-country Interphone study6 showed a 40 percent increased risk of brain cancer from 1,640 or more hours of cellphone use, and independent Swedish research published in 2007 showed a 540 percent increased risk of brain cancer from greater than 2,000 hours of cellphone use.7
An analysis of known mechanisms of action, including DNA effects, was also published in November 2010 in “Non-Thermal Effects and Mechanisms of Interaction Between Electromagnetic Fields and Living Matter.”8
Importantly, EMFs have been shown to increase oxidative stress, which can damage cell membranes and proteins, and break DNA bonds. EMFs also decrease ATP — the energy currency in your body, without which your cells cannot function properly.
Samet is familiar with the evidence against cellphone radiation, having served as chairman of the International Agency for Research on Cancer working group, which in 2011 classified RF-EMFs as a Class 2B “possible human carcinogen”9 based on the available evidence.
At the time, Samet said,10 “The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk.” Since then, the evidence has only grown stronger. Most recently, two government-funded studies11,12,13,14,15— one on mice and one on rats — found evidence of heart tumors and damage to the brain and DNA.
This $25 million research, conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) is said to be the most extensive to date, and it confirms that the heart and brain are key areas affected by high, chronic EMF exposure.
The connection between cellphone radiation and cancer became even stronger when the respected Ramazzini Institute in Italy published its lifetime exposure findings,16 effectively duplicating the NTP’s findings.17,18,19
According to Fiorella Belpoggi, director of research at the Ramazzini Institute and the study’s lead author, RF radiation from cellphones should probably be classified as a “probable” human carcinogen rather than a “possible” carcinogen.20