Abstract
Several articles have appeared in the scientific literature demonstrating that low levels of non-ionizing electromagnetic (EM) radiation from cell phones has a detrimental effect on the body (1). Recent studies have demonstrated these effects are mediated by several biochemical pathways including DNA, since cellular phone radiation breaks DNA strands (2). Counter studies (usually funded by the cell phone industry) have also appeared demonstrating that under certain conditions biological effects are not observed. There is clearly a public health concern regarding the safety of long term cellular phone use and there is clearly a need for technology to block or neutralize cellular phone effects.
The objective for this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a commercially available mineral blend (Aulterra Intenational, Coeur D’Alene, ID) to reduce electromagnetic (EM) radiation emitted from cellular phones. Since this blend is a complex mixture of paramagnetic and ferromagnetic minerals, traditional transduction models offer a feasible mechanism for any observed effects. Recently such models have been applied to cellular phone radiation (3). Two experimental approaches were used to achieve this goal. The first method involves measuring a biological effect induced by cellular phone radiation and the second involves measuring the intensity of cellular phone radiation itself.
Human DNA rewinding was chosen as an in-vitro bioassay to measure the effects of cellular phones because DNA conformation is known to be altered by EM fields (4). The procedure involves measuring the spontaneous rewinding of DNA after heat shock which unwinds the two strands of its helical structure (5). The rewinding process was measured in the presence and absence of EM field radiation from a cellular phone using a Hewlett Packard UV-visible spectrophotometer. Once a measurable effect of cellular phone radiation was measured on DNA conformation, the experiment was repeated with a cellular phone containing a patch with the mineral blend (from Aulterra International).
The results indicate that a 5 minute exposure to EM field radiation emitted by an actual cellular phone caused a 40% increase in the rate of DNA rewinding. This effect was 95% attenuated (reduced) when the experiment was repeated with the same cellular phone to which was attached a commercially available mineral blend.
In the second series of experiments, the intensity of the EM fields radiating from a cellular phone, with and without the mineral blend, was measured using a sensitive (-130DBm) spectrum analyzer from Agilent Technologies. In these experiments the intensity of the cellular phone radiation was reduced by approximately 50% in the presence of a cellular phone containing the mineral blend when compared to the same cellular phone without the blend. Taken together these studies indicate that a commercial available shielding device with a mixed mineral blend appears to be highly efficacious at both reducing biological damage and reducing the intensity of radiation emitted by a cellular phone.
Results
| Slope | SD | % Change | n | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | -0.41 | 0.065 | 12 | ||
| Cellular Phone(CP) | -0.559 | 0.056 | +40 | 14 | <0.0001 |
| CP +Neutralizer | -0.43 | 0.115 | +5 | 22 | NS |
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