EMFs linked to cancer: Brain, breast, leukemia.
Follow the series “EMF: The Invisible Hazard” here.
In this series, we will explore the invisible yet omnipresent electromagnetic fields from common home electronics to 5G and their potential impact on health.
Many people know ultraviolet rays and X-rays can cause cancer.
These are high-frequency, ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Ionizing EMFs are considered carcinogenic, while nonionizing EMFs, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth signals, and fields from electronic devices, are generally not. This perception has prevailed in the public mindset for decades.
However, there’s limited awareness that certain nonionizing EMFs are also classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as class 2B carcinogens—a category indicating potential human carcinogenicity.
Dr. David Carpenter, an environmental health professor at the University of Albany who received his medical doctorate from Havard Medical School, noted that radiofrequency, a type of nonionizing radiation used in telecommunications, might eventually fall under class 2A classification, denoting a probable human carcinogen.
Oxidation, DNA Changes, and Cancer
Cancer is caused by mutation or changes to DNA. Factors like viral infections, radiation, and environmental toxins can alter DNA sequences.
Ionizing EMFs directly damage DNA. Ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays remove electrons from DNA, causing mutations. Accumulated mutations lead to cell malignancy.
Nonionizing radiation doesn’t have enough energy to damage DNA directly. Yet various studies have linked exposure to nonionizing EMFs with DNA breakage. Cells from EMF-exposed animals and phone users have shown genetic damage.
The reason for this isn’t clear, but one possibility suggested by Dr. Carpenter is that EMFs generate “reactive oxygen species” that trigger an oxidative environment leading to DNA changes, like chromosomal breakage.
Professor Emeritus Martin Pall, specializing in biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University, explained that stronger EMFs don’t necessarily mean more DNA damage. Instead, only specific frequencies and intensities cause an effect.
This has been shown in a recent University of Colorado study, finding that at a 4.2 MHz frequency, human fibroblast and fibrosarcoma mitochondria increased in mass, inducing cell stress. This effect was absent at higher and lower frequencies.
According to IARC, possibly carcinogenic nonionizing EMFs include:
- Extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs commonly found at frequencies of 50 to 60 Hz emitted by power lines, electronic wires, and virtually all electrically powered devices.
- Radiofrequency EMFs emitted by wireless devices such as phones, Wi-Fi modems, TVs, and cellphone towers used in telecommunications. These are also utilized in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Research indicates chromosomal breakage after MRI sessions.
IARC rated radiofrequency as class 2B rather than 2A, with one of the reasons being the lack of evidence linking it to cancer in animal studies.
Contrastingly, the 2018 U.S. National Toxicology Program study from the 1990s presented “clear evidence” of radiofrequency-induced heart tumors in rats, along with “some evidence” of brain and adrenal cancers.
The Ramazani Institute’s 2018 study also discovered heart and brain tumors in rats, aligning with these findings.
EMFs and Brain Cancer
Senior consultant in radiation sciences Kjell Hansson Mild from Umeå University in Sweden told The Epoch Times that the link between EMF exposure and brain cancer and tumors is well-established.
A study from the 1980s revealed a 39 percent higher risk of brain cancer among amateur radio operators due to EMFs.
In 2004, oncologist and professor Lennart Hardell from Örebro University in Sweden published a study involving over 1,600 patients with benign brain tumors. His research found a 30 percent higher likelihood of brain tumors in wireless phone users. These tumors primarily developed on the side of the head in contact with the phone, with an over 60 percent higher risk after 10 years of phone use.
Benign tumors typically do not become cancerous; they grow slower and do not invade nearby tissues or other areas of the body.
Another Swedish study in 2004 indicated no initial risk increase of acoustic neuroma (benign brain tumor) associated with phone use within the first year. However, by the 10th year, the risk surged to 90 percent.
Other research on brain tumors emerged from occupational exposure studies.
During the late 1990s, a study examined approximately 880,000 U.S. Air Force personnel with at least one year of service. This study detected 230 cases of brain cancer potentially linked to radiofrequency exposure, revealing a 39 percent heightened risk through occupational exposure. In 2001, a review (pdf) demonstrated that those working with electricity faced an up to 20 percent greater risk of developing brain cancer than the general public. Still, researchers concluded the risk was too low to warrant a discussion on causality.
Despite increased environmental radiofrequency exposures among the public, Mr. Hansson Mild’s primary concerns are power lines and occupational exposures.
He noted that phones used in previous studies emitted stronger signals than today’s phones.
EMFs and Childhood Leukemia
Some of the earliest research linking nonionizing EMF with cancer came from studies on leukemia.
“We know that from Hiroshima and Nagasaki … that the [latency for leukemia] may be five to seven years, but for brain cancer, when you look at ionizing radiation or chemical exposure, the time between exposure and when the cancers are detected is usually 20 to 30 years,” Dr. Carpenter said.
This shorter latency makes it easier to research, he explained.
Leukemia has been strongly linked with ELF EMF exposures through power lines and home wiring. The flow of electricity creates powerful magnetic fields that can penetrate walls and glass. (We will explain more details in the following articles.)
One of the first studies investigating this link came from a 1979 paper on leukemia in Colorado. The authors found that between 1976 to 1977, childhood cancer in the region was disproportionally found in families living near power lines carrying high currents of electricity.
The risks also appeared dose-related; for instance, children who had not moved had the highest cancer risk.
Studies from the early 2000s found that children exposed to 0.3 to 0.4 microtesla of magnetic fields had an up to twofold increased risk of childhood leukemia compared to children exposed to magnetic fields under 0.1 microtesla.
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