The identification of an intensity ‘window’ on the bioeffects of mobile telephony radiation

Purpose: The increased bioactivity ‘windows’ of GSM 900 and 1800 MHz radiations, (Global System for Mobile telecommunications) revealed recently by us and published in this issue, manifesting themselves as a maximum decrease in the reproductive capacity of the insect Drosophila melanogaster, were examined to discover whether they depend on the intensity of radiation-fields. Methods: In each experiment, one group of insects were exposed to the GSM 900 or 1800 radiation at 30 or 20 cm distances, respectively, from the antenna of a mobile phone, where the bioactivity ‘window’ appears for each type of radiation and another group was exposed at 8 or 5 cm, respectively, behind a metal grid, shielding both microwave radiation and the extremely low frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic fields for both types of radiation in a way that radiation and field intensities were roughly equal between the two groups. Then the effect on reproductive capacity was compared between groups for each type of radiation. Results: The decrease in the reproductive capacity did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions: The bioactivity window seems to be due to the intensity of radiation-field (10 μW/cm2, 0.6–0.7 V/m) at 30 or 20 cm from the GSM 900 or 1800 mobile phone antenna, respectively.

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