In a study that may shed some light on whether cell-phone use is harmful to callers, Swedish scientists found that radiation emitted by the world's most common mobile phones burns holes in the brains of rats.
The Swedish study included three groups of rats that were exposed for two hours to various GSM phones at different levels of radiation. The study found a link between electromagnetic frequency exposure and a leakage in albumin -- a protein in human tissue -- through the blood-brain barrier. The researchers also noticed that the neuron damage the rats suffered increased in response to the amount of EMF exposure.
Swedish neurosurgeon Leif Salfold and his team tested the radiation emitted from Global System for Mobile communications phones on 12- to 26-week-old rats. The age group of the animals tested, researchers say, is equivalent to that of human teenagers -- who tend to lead the pack in cell-phone use worldwide. GSM phones are the most commonly used around the globe, particularly in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The authors of the study acknowledged that their test sample was small, but that "the combined results are highly significant and exhibit a clear dose-response relation."
News source: Wired
