While there have been – and continue to be – numerous studies examining the effects of radiation from mobile phones
on users, Yale School of Medicine researchers have looked at the
possible effects on fetuses of mobile phone use by pregnant mothers.
According to the study, mobile phone radiation exposure in the womb can
affect the brain development of offspring and potentially lead to
behavioral disorders such as hyperactivity.
A team led by Dr. Hugh S. Taylor, professor and chief of the Division
of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of
Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale, exposed
pregnant mice to mobile phone radiation by positioning a muted mobile
phone placed on an active phone call above their cage for the duration
of the trial. The same conditions but with a deactivated phone were
replicated for a control group.
A battery of tests measuring the electrical activity of the brains of
adult mice that were exposed to radiation as fetuses showed that they
tended to be more hyperactive and had reduced memory capacity when
compared to the control group.
Although the definition of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) is based on behavior and is not classified as a neurological
disease, magnetic resonance imaging of the prefrontal cortex in
sufferers has shown a development lag in this area of the brain. This
led Taylor to attribute the behavioral changes in the mice to an effect
of mobile phone radiation on the development of neurons in the
prefrontal cortex during pregnancy.
“This is the first experimental evidence that fetal exposure to
radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones does in fact affect
adult behavior,” Taylor told Yale News. “We have shown that behavioral
problems in mice that resemble ADHD are caused by cell phone exposure in
the womb. The rise in behavioral disorders in human children may be in
part due to fetal cellular telephone irradiation exposure.”
Although Taylor admits that further research in humans into the
mechanisms behind the findings is needed to identify safe exposure
limits during pregnancy, he says that limiting exposure of the fetus to
mobile phone radiation seems advisable.
“Cell phones were used in this study to mimic potential human
exposure but future research will instead use standard electromagnetic
field generators to more precisely define the level of exposure,” said
first author of the study Tamir Aldad, who added that mice pregnancies
last only 19 days and that mice are born with less-developed brains than
human babies
The team’s study appears in Nature’s Scientific Report.
(http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120315/srep00312/full/srep00312.html)
