Cell phones may affect brain activity

As short as a 50-minute exposure to cell phone radiation abnormally increases brain activity in the areas closest to the phone’s antenna, a new US study suggests.

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phone antenna activates the brain to unusual high levels, according to the study founded by the National Institutes of Health.

For the study, researchers placed cell phones at the same time over the right and left ears of 47 healthy adults and then took PET scans (positron emission tomography) of their brains.

“The increases were significantly correlated with the estimated electromagnetic field amplitudes, both for absolute metabolism and normalized metabolism," the authors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"These results provide evidence that the human brain is sensitive to the effects of . . . acute cellphone exposures," scientists concluded.

“Those effects could vary widely depending upon the location of a cell phone’s antenna, the frequency on which it operates, and how long one uses the device,” said study leader Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Radiofrequency waves emitted from cell phones are similar to those used in microwave ovens at homes but in extremely low levels.

"Because there’s been such a massive expansion in cell phone use these past 15 to 20 years, it behooves us to try to understand whether, if we use these devices repeatedly and intensively for years, do they have lasting effects?" she added.

“What it does tell us that we need to look into this,” Volkow said. “If we had seen nothing, then I think it would have been much easier to say we don’t need to worry about it.”

"These results provide no information as to their relevance regarding potential carcinogenic effects (or lack of such effects) from chronic cell phone use. Further studies are needed to assess if these effects could have potential long-term harmful consequences," researchers added.