Cellular
Phone EMF's Raise Blood Pressure
Our Toxic Times
March, 2000
Medical study
excerpt in Our Toxic Times, March 2000, page 9. Originally published by the
British Medical Journal, Lancet, 351: 1857-1858, 1998)
The use of cellular phones continues to increase dramatically, prompting
some concerns about possible health-effects.
A single-blind placebo-controlled study conducted on seven healthy men and
three women volunteers aged between 26 and 36 years continuously measured
blood pressure, heart rate, capillary perfusion, as well as subjective
well-being in relation to mobile telephone electromagnetic fields (EMFs) (GSM
900 MHz, 2 watt, 217 Hz frame repetition rate).
The study subjects were unaware of when they were being exposed because the
telephone was fixed in a typical position on the right-hand side of the head
and operated by remote control with no sound.
The exposure protocol involved phases with placebo and with EMF exposure of
35 minutes each with a fixed sequence to allow for effects that might
persist after exposure.
The researchers found that even though the people subjectively noticed no
differences in well-being, their resting blood pressure increased during
exposure to the EMF: "We conclude that exposure of the right hemisphere to a
radiofrequency EMF for 35 minutes causes an increase in sympathetic efferent
activity with increases in resting blood pressure between 5 and 10 mm Hg,
most likely due to more pronounced vasoconstriction."
[Braune, S., et al. "Resting Blood Pressure Increase During Exposure to
Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Field," Lancet 351: 1857-1858, 1998.]