EMF Output Of Wireless Handhelds: Measuring The Data Love Experience
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03.20.07
Why is it we can’t stop ourselves from looking at celebrities? One look at the girl on the screen with the PDA on her head and we’re deer in the headlights. It’s the same sort of captivation that follows a car accident in the opposite lane, causing a mile-long “gapers block” on both sides of the highway. One more example pertinent to our subject: the popular “Blackberry” brand PDA is described as “addictive” by friends and relatives of dedicated owners. In other words, the world of technology is a psychology experiment and we are the rats. Interestingly, we came across a potential explanation for why, hypothetically speaking, the young male executive can’t resist the urge to cradle his PDA upon his gonads, craning his neck toward it in the posture of an ancient one, or a female user, to balance the PDA on her gorgeous head. And that explanation, Dear PDA User (or Abuser) comes from a recent study of the electromagnetic output of several such devices, from which from inferences can be made as to why their extended use is not just behaviorally, but also physically addictive. A recent study of hand held wireless devices (Sage, Johansson, & Sage, Bioelectromagnetics, 2007) reported measurements of the extra-low electromagnetic frequencies emitted when PDAs are sending or receiving data streams. Peak emissions up to 975 milligauss were recorded. During email send and receive functions, the PDAs commonly had spikes of 30 to 60 milligauss. (Full abstract of the study is presented below the fold). Now we move on to human response to EMF exposure. When that heartthrob shows up at the party, and he or she is leaning up against the microwave while it’s running and also thumbing away at a PDA, this may be a person with his or her brain’s endogenous opioid system on full tilt boogey. (See second abstract below the fold for explanation) Something to consider in this circumstance: is it hug time or tin foil hat time?
Exposure reduction options: keep the unit in "not transmit/receive mode" except to download and send emails, place the PDA several feet away at your work space or desk, and use as cell phone with an ear piece.
Note for abstract readers: 1 milligauss (mG) = 10 microtesla (mT)
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Cell Phone Units Produce Elevated Extremely-Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field EmissionsCindy Sage,1* Olle Johansson,2 and S. Amy Sage1
1 1396 Danielson Road, Santa Barbara, California
2 The Experimental Dermatology Unit, Department of Neuroscience,
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, SwedenInitial tests indicate that personal and occupational use of personal digital assistants (PDAs or palm-held wireless units) produce high intensity bursts of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF). These emissions could result in comparatively high ELF-EMF exposure in persons that carry a PDA close to the body (i.e., in a pocket or on a belt); or held to the head for cell phone conversations. ELF-EMF emissions of 10 uT were recorded on PDAs during normal office use over a 24 h test period. Results of ELF-EMF measurements show that email transmit and receive functions produce rapid, short-duration ELF-EMF spikes in the 2 – 10 uT range, each lasting several seconds to over a minute apparently depending on file download size. Some units produced spikes as high as 30 – 60 uT during email activities. Cell phone activity on PDAs produced continuously elevated ELF- EMF readings in the 0.5 – 1 uT range, as opposed to the rapid spiking pattern for email receipt and transmission. Switching the PDA unit from ‘‘OFF’’ to ‘‘ON’’ position resulted in single ELF-EMF pulses of over 90 uT on two units. Email downloads into the PDA can occur randomly throughout the day and night when the unit is ‘‘ON’’; thus the user who wears the PDA may be receiving high-intensity ELF-EMF pulses throughout the day and night. The frequency of email traffic on the PDA, and the power-switching unit (battery unit) may affect the frequency and intensity of ELF-EMF emissions. Bioelectromagnetics. 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Lai H, Horita A, Guy AW, Microwave irradiation affects radial-arm maze performance in the rat. Bioelectromagnetics 15(2):95-104, 1994After 45 min of exposure to pulsed 2450 MHz microwaves (2 microseconds pulses, 500 pps, 1 mW/cm2, average whole body SAR 0.6 W/kg), rats showed retarded learning while performing in the radial-arm maze to obtain food rewards, indicating a deficit in spatial "working memory" function. This behavioral deficit was reversed by pretreatment before exposure with the cholinergic agonist physostigmine or the opiate antagonist naltrexone, whereas pretreatment with the peripheral opiate antagonist naloxone methiodide showed no reversal of effect. These data indicate that both cholinergic and endogenous opioid neurotransmitter systems in the brain are involved in the microwave-induced spatial memory deficit.
Image credit: Rimarkable
This theory sounds unlikely. If there is a link between PDA microwaves and activation of the brain's opiate system, then the PDA would have to be held against one's head, in phone mode, as microwave intensity diminishes rapidly with distance.
People are also 'addicted' to the internet (wired and wireless), and television before that. Both produce pleasure and feelings of well-being without RF stimulation, even to the point of socially inappropriate behavior in the user.
A thought provoking article and study. As we layer our world with ever increasing levels of EMF, RF, ELF etc., we need to pay attention to the potential risks. Good reporting like this, and studies like the one cited need to be understood, discussed encouraged and supported.
Thanks for bringing this to the fore Mr. Laumer and kudos to the research team. (Sage, Johansson, & Sage). We do need more study of these issues. The question is how do you pay attention to the risk of the "device" when its so helpful and it's making people oodles of money?
Until these energy fields are proven safe, the prudent course is to follow the article's simple advice and avoid and minimize your exposure.
It needs to be remembered, that the Earth has a magnetic field, and when we move in that field, we are subjecting ourselves to ELF. The Earth's field is about half a Gause, or about 50 micro Tesla. If you spin around, the field changes sign, going from +50 microTesla to -50 microTesla, every time you make a 180 degree turn. That is an ELF of 100 microTesla.
The Earth's field isn't constant, either in time or space. The complete absence of ELF might not be "good". (this is speculation, but maybe natural variations in the Earth's magnetic field are used by organisms to tell them something about the environment, perhaps the phase of the moon? If that is the case, then it is the frequency that is important, and it is likely to be most important when people are stationary, such as during sleep.
One of the worst emitters of ELF is the old analog alarm clock. It uses a very open magnetic circuit (because it is cheap), and emits a huge amount of 60 Hz ELF. If your body needs to "read" the Earths magnetic field while you sleep, such a clock near your head might swamp out the Earth's signal. I suspect that the body uses those signals to "reset" biorhythms, and when it can't, the biorhythms get out of whack.
The "example" actually seems kind of extreme to me. 500 pps at 2 microseconds with an average power of 1 mW/cm2, is actuall a peak power of 1 Watt/cm2. The energy of full, noon day sunlight is about 1 kw/m2, or about 0.1 Watt/cm2. If you subjected rats to a strobe 10x brigher than sunlight, would it disorient them?
From reading the article and comments, I've decided to call my stock broker first thing in the morning. I'll be buying stocks in an aluminum-foil factory. It suddenly dawns on me that hat styles seem to be changing.
Sorry, but you are wrong !
You wrote :
Note for abstract readers: 1 milligauss (mG) = 10 microtesla (mT)
But 1 milliGauss = 0,1 MicroTesla !!!
Affe above presupposes the sort of linear relationship between dose and response that is familiar to us in the case of chemistry, but is not always true there either. We have the case of "window effects" of endocrine disruptors, which exert effects at exceedingly low dosages, which don't occur at higher dosages, defying our expectation. Our assumptions need to be examined. There is new research showing the repeatedly observed effects of low-level electromagnetic fields are occurring in the cell wall, where the chemical balance can be affected strongly by subtle influences. We don't know all there is to be known about biology. Our hubris in going forward with this technology has already hurt many people.