evermore

Today we're going to pick up virtually any consumer magazine or open any Internet news web site and read about a frightening new threat: That radiation from cell phones is dangerous, it can causing brain tumors or other cancers. Most people have no knowledge of science other than what they hear on the news, so we have a whole population growing up with this understanding. Is the fear justified? Do cell phones have the potential to cause physical harm, or are they completely safe? Or, like so many other questions, is the truth somewhere in the middle?

Live cells can absorb signals from cellular telephones, states a new study by Prof. Roni Zeger of the Department of Biological Regulation at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The study examined how live cells respond to radiation emitted by mobile telephones. Although the study sheds no light on the debate regarding the effects on health of cellular communications, the researchers hope that the present study’s results will enable future researchers to address health issues.

The study examined both the intracellular and intercellular communications system. The Human Genome Project discovered that each cell has 200 switchboards which transfer incoming signals to the cell nucleus. The intracellular route is based on a chain of five to eight receptor proteins that forward the signal. The signals are mainly external physical stimuli, such as heat, or the identification of various molecules. In the latter case, the receptors transmit a message to the addresses within the cell.

According to Zeger, the study found that there are a number of extensions for each communications channel, and that each extension handles designated signals, which are sent to the address in the cell for expression. He adds that understanding these channels can help researchers understand disruptions in intracellular communications and help develop more effective treatments with few side effects for various diseases, including cancer.

The researchers claim that cellular telephone radiation might be one factor that activates the intracellular communications system, which enables living cells to respond in various ways to different radiation strengths and frequencies. The results cannot determine whether the use of cellular telephones carries any health risk. The study was conducted on cells exposed to radiation in the cellular frequency range for 45 minutes.