ABSTRACT
This chapter describes experimental data on oxidative effects induced by man-made electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and corresponding electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in living cells. Analysis of the currently available peer-reviewed scientific literature reveals important molecular effects induced by non-thermal exposures to man-made EMFs, especially wireless communication (WC) EMFs, in living cells. They include significant activation of key cellular pathways generating oxidative stress (OS) by reactive oxygen species (ROS), activation of peroxidation, oxidative damage of DNA, and changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes. Critically important features of man-made EMFs, compared to natural EMFs, are their totally polarized and coherent character and, in the case of WC EMFs, combined frequency bands and sophisticated modulation. These features provide these types of EMFs/EMR with the unique and unexpected capacity of inducing biological effects such as pronounced oxidative effects in exposed living cells. It is indicative that among 131 analyzed peer-reviewed studies dealing with oxidative effects of non-thermal Radio Frequency (RF) EMFs, mostly pulsed/modulated by Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF), 124 (95%) confirmed statistically significant oxidative effects on various types of biological systems. And among 39 analyzed studies on oxidative effects of purely ELF EMFs, 36 of them (92%) also revealed significant oxidative effects of the exposure. The wide pathogenic potential of induced ROS and their involvement in cell signaling explains a range of biological/health effects of non-thermal man-made EMF exposures, which includes both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic pathologies. In conclusion, our analysis demonstrates that a) man-made EMFs, and especially those employed in WC combining both RF and ELF components, is a pronounced oxidative agent for living cells with high pathogenic potential; and b) the OS induced by man-made EMF exposures should be recognized as one of the primary mechanisms of biological activity of this new environmental agent.
