EMF Health-effects Research

Stress response in tube restrained Fisher 344 rats exposed or sham exposed to digitally modulated cellphone microwave fields.

Stagg RB, Jones RA, Byus CV, Adey WR

Presented at the BEMS conference in Long Beach, California 1999


Motorola-funded

Contractor: Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Biochemistry, Univesity of California, Riverside.


This study explored the possible effects of tube restraint and 1.6 GHz (Iridium signal) exposure on stress-induced hormones (ACTH and CS) in Fisher 344 rats.

Animals were exposed for two hours at 0.16, 1.6 or 5 W/kg. No significant increase in core body temperature was observed during exposure, Exposure at even the highest temperature did not result in any increase in circulating stress hormones (ACTH or coricosterone) in the exposed vs, unexposed animals, although restrain alone produced mild stress in unexposed animals.

In the exposed animals, no increases in the expression of c-fos, ODC or c-myc mRNA from brain tissues were found. The results indicated that exposure to the Iridium signal for two hours at up to 5 W/kg does not itself cause stress.

Additional Web Notes

Readers should, in general, be wary of Motorola- or Nokia-funded research, but some has clearly been done by top biomedical researchers, as is the case above. However the abstracts from these studies are often written by Motorola's PR department, and the contracts sometimes place limitations on reporting.

Some company-funded studies are difficult to judge in terms of credibility, and some are clearly dubious.


See also Dr Adey's overview of the evidence of R/F effects on the brain and nervous system.




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