Evidence for Effects on Neurology and Behavior - BioInitiative Report

Wilen J, Johansson A, Kalezic N, Lyskov E, Sandstrom M. Psychophysiological tests and
provocation of subjects with mobile phone related symptoms. Bioelectromagnetics 27:204-
214, 2006.
The possible existence of physical symptoms from exposure to RFR from various sources
including cell phones, cell towers and wireless systems has been a topic of significant public
concern and debate. This is an issue that will require additional attention. Symptoms that have
been reported include: sleep disruption and insomnia, fatigue, headache, memory loss and
confusion, tinnitus, spatial disorientation and dizziness. However, none of these effects has been
studied under controlled laboratory conditions. Thus, whether they are causally related to RFR
exposure is unknown.
VIII. Summary and Discussion
A. Research data are available suggesting effects of RFR exposure on neurological and behavioral
functions. Particularly, effects on neurophysiological and cognitive functions are quite well
established. Interestingly, most of the human studies showed an enhancement of cognitive function
after exposure to RFR, whereas animals studied showed a deficit. However, research on
electrophysiology also indicates that effects are dependent on the mental load of the subjects during
exposure. Is this because the test-tasks used in the animal studies are more complex or the nervous
system of non-human animals can be easier overloaded? These point to an important question on
whether RFR-induced cognitive facilitation still occurs in real life situation when a person has to
process and execute several behavioral functions simultaneously. Generally speaking, when effects
were observed, RFR disrupted behavior in animals, such as in the cases of behaviors to adapt to
changes in the environment and learning. This is especially true when the task involved complex
responses. In no case has an improvement in behavior been reported in animals after RFR exposure.
It is puzzling that only disruptions in behavior by RFR exposure are reported in non-human animals.
In the studies on EEG, both excitation and depression have been reported after exposure to RFR. If
these measurements can be considered as indications of electrophysiological and behavioral arousal
and depression, improvement in behavior should occur under certain conditions of RFR exposure.
This is now reported in humans exposed to cell phone radiation.
B. On the other hand, one should be very careful in extrapolating neurological/behavioral data
from non-human in vivo experiments to the situation of cell phone use in humans. The structure
and anatomy of animal brains are quite different from those of the human brain. Homologous
structures may not be analogous in functions. Differences in head shape also dictate that different
brain structures would be affected under similar RF exposure conditions. Thus, neurological data
from human studies should be more reliable indicators of cell phone effects.
C. Another consideration is that most of the studies carried out so far are short-term exposure
experiments, whereas cell phone use causes long-term repeated exposure of the brain. Depending
on the responses studied in neurological/behavioral experiments, several outcomes have been
reported after long term exposure: (1) an effect was observed only after prolonged (or repeated)
exposure, but not after one period of exposure; (2) an effect disappeared after prolonged
exposure suggesting habituation; and (3) different effects were observed after different durations
of exposure. All of these different responses reported can be explained as being due to the
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