Exposure of magnetic bacteria to simulated mobile phone-type RF radiation has no impact on mortality

Biogenic magnetite in the nematode caenorhabditis elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is widely used as a model system in biological research. Recently, examination of the production of heat-shock proteins in this organism in response to mobile phone-type electromagnetic field exposure produced the most robust demonstration to date of a non-thermal, deleterious biological effect. Though these results appear to be a sound demonstration of non-thermal bioeffects, to our knowledge, no mechanism has been proposed to explain them. We show, apparently for the first time, that biogenic magnetite, a ferrimagnetic iron oxide, is present in C. elegans. Its presence may have confounding effects on experiments involving electromagnetic fields as well as implications for the use of this nematode as a model system for iron biomineralization in multi-cellular organisms.

Mechanisms for interaction between RF fields and biological tissue

Interaction of radiofrequency (RF) fields with biological tissue can involve either electric or magnetic fields. Many interaction mechanisms have been considered, both thermal and nonthermal, but it has not been established that any of these could result in adverse health effects at radiation levels below guidelines. The principles underlying most of these mechanisms have been well reviewed. The aim of the present study is to give a qualitative discussion of some of the more recently published work.