By —R.F.
Oct 26 2006

In practical terms, near-field radiation from cell phone antennas is nowhere near strong enough to cause the kind of heating that occurs inside microwave ovens—or from standing too close to a radar transmitter.

At a typical frequency of 1,900 megahertz (1,900 million cycles per second), the radiation is too fast to be visible to human biology, says Carlo.

“The only time it is visible to our biology is when it’s pushed by enough power to actually cause heating of tissue,” Carlo says. “But it doesn’t occur in mobile phone telephony as we have it now—these operate in non-thermal ranges.”

So does that mean we’re off the hook?

It’s here Carlo parts company with health authorities, which conclude that consequently, cell phone radiation is nothing to worry about. Problems arise, says Carlo, when phones are actually used: Then the “carrier signal” is modulated to carry voice, text and other information.

When that happens, other, much lower frequencies, typically in the 20-100 hertz range are produced. Compare that frequency range with the fact that the human heart beats at around two cycles per second.

“So it’s well within the biological range. That is picked up by the biological tissue,” Carlo says. “It takes about 30 seconds for the protein sensors on every cell membrane to identify that you have an electromagnetic field in the environment. It interprets that as a foreign invader.”

One effect in the biological cell is to harden the cell membrane, ultimately leading to the death of the cell, or “apoptosis.” This is followed by disruption to intercellular communication, and the deterioration of tissue and organ functions.

When this happens to, say, neurological tissue, the initial effects are only too real.

“The organism experiences symptoms like headaches, memory loss, learning difficulties,” Carlo says. “The disrupted intercellular communication works all the way up the line to the organism, so that you have a whole cascade of effects.”