New Study: Radiation from Cordless Phone Base Station Affects the Heart

October 22, 2010.  New study by Dr. Magda Havas and colleagues in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Oncology Library Vol. 5, 2010 shows that radiation from a digital cordless phone base station affects the heart in a double-blind provocation study.

Click HERE to view the study.

According to this research, some individuals are hypersensitive to microwave radiation and respond when they are exposed to levels well below federal guidelines (5 microW/cm2 or 0.5% of guidelines in Canada & U.S.). During real time monitoring of the heart some individuals experienced an  irregular heart rate or a rapid heart rate that occurred only during provocation and not during sham exposure (when the radiation was off).  This  is the first study showing such dramatic and repeatable results.

The sympathetic nervous system up regulated and the parasympathetic nervous system down regulated during exposure, which is the typical “flight-or-fight” stress response. Feelings of anxiety as well as pain or pressure in the chest were associated with the rapid or irregular heart beat among some of the participants tested.

This test is objective and directly measures the heart’s response to radiation and is unlike subjective testing, where scientists ask individuals if they know whether a device is turned on or off and then determine their “sensitivity” based on perception of exposure, which is just that perception and NOT sensitivity.

It clearly documents that some individuals are hypersensitive to specific frequencies and supports complaints people have when they are exposed to radiation,  including a racing or fluttering heart, pain or pressure in the chest, and feelings of anxiety that resemble the onset of a heart attack.

Recent reports that students in some Collingwood Ontario schools are experiencing these symptoms when they are exposed to WiFi in the classroom, leads one to ask whether those symptoms are due to the pulsed microwave radiation generated by the WiFi base stations.

The cordless phone base station beacon signal, used in the present study, operates at the same frequency as WiFi in schools, namely a pulsed digital signal at 2.4 GHz.  If this radiation can affect the adult heart it could be affecting the heart of children as well.

Heart complaints are becoming increasingly common in society and at least some of these complaints may be related to our increasing exposure to radiation from wireless devices as documented for the first time in this study.

View the videos below to see the methods that were used in the study. (Note the video title and narration specify  that a DECT phone base station was used.  In Europe – DECT technology utilizes 1.9 gigahertz and in North America 2.4 gigahertz is commonly used.  We used a 2.4 gigahertz digital portable phone base station that was always sending it’s beacon signal similar to DECT phones for this study.  Read reference material and view videos below)

View a video from a TV program that used this method to test for electrosensitivity using a 2.4 gigahertz WiFi base station.

The video below demonstrates how microwave radiation is used  for wireless devices that are found in your home.

______________________________

Eur. J. Oncol. Library, Vol. 5, 28 pp.

Provocation Study using Heart Rate Variability shows Radiation from 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone affects Autonomic Nervous System

Magda Havas, Jeffrey Marrongelle, Bernard Pollner, Elizabeth Kelley, Camilla R.G. Rees, Lisa Tully

IN:  Non-Thermal Effects and Mechanisms of Interaction Between Electromagnetic Fields and Living Matter.  Giuliani, L. and M. Soffritti (Eds). 2010.  An ICEMS Monograph, Ramazzini Institute. Eur. J. Oncol. Library Vol 5:  273-300.

Abstract

Purpose: The effect of pulsed microwave radiation on heart rate variability (HRV) was tested in a double blind study. Method: Twenty-five subjects in Colorado between the ages of 37 to 79 completed an electrohypersensitivity (EHS) questionnaire. After recording their orthostatic HRV, we did continuous real-time monitoring of HRV in a provocation study, where supine subjects were exposed for 3-minute intervals to radiation generated by a pulsed cordless phone at 2.4 GHz or to sham exposure.

Results: Questionnaire: Based on self-assessments, participants classified themselves as extremely electrically sensitive (24%), moderately (16%), slightly (16%), not sensitive (8%) or with no opinion (36%) about their sensitivity. The top 10 symptoms experienced by those claiming to be sensitive include memory problems, difficulty concentrating, eye problems, sleep disorder, feeling unwell, headache, dizziness, tinnitus, chronic fatigue, and heart palpitations. The five most common objects allegedly causing sensitivity were fluorescent lights, antennas, cell phones, Wi-Fi, and cordless phones.

Provocation Experiment: Forty percent of the subjects experienced some changes in their HRV attributable to MW radiation. For some the response was extreme (tachycardia), for others moderate to mild (changes in SNS and/or PSNS). and for some there was no observable reaction either because of high adaptive capacity or because of systemic neurovegetative exhaustion.

Conclusions: Orthostatic HRV combined with provocation testing may provide a diagnostic test for some EHS sufferers when they are exposed to electromagnetic emitting devices. This is the first study that documents immediate and dramatic changes in both HR and HRV associated with MW exposure at levels well below (0.5%) federal guidelines in Canada and the United States (1000 microW/cm2).