Topic

Influence of low and high frequency electromagnetic fields on spontaneous leukaemia in AKR/J mice

Start

01.10.2002

End

30.09.2004

Project Management

International University Bremen

Objective

The objective was to investigate whether chronic exposure to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields or to GSM modulated 900 MHz electromagnetic fields of mobile telecommunication technology influence either the leukaemia rate or the production of solid tumours in a leukaemia animal model, the AKR/J mouse. The study was carried out in close connection to the project on "in vivo experiments on exposure to the high frequency electromagnetic fields of mobile telecommunication - B. carcinogenesis ", in which the effects of high frequency fields according to UMTS standard are studied. Therefore a direct comparison of possible chronic effects of these different fields in the same animal model will be possible for the first time.

Results

The experiment was performed with AKR mice, which is an accepted animal model for leukaemia. With high probability, these mice develop the disease within their lifespan, so that the time course of the onset of leukaemia, bodyweight, blood picture, time of survival, and pathological examinations were the endpoints of the investigation.

The following experiments were performed: A) Exposure for 24 hrs / day at 1 µT 50 Hz MF (group 1; n = 160), exposure to 100 µT 50 Hz MF (group 2, n = 160), sham-exposure (group 3; n = 160); B) Exposure for 24 hrs / day at 1000 µT 50 Hz MF (group 1; n = 160), exposure for 12 hrs / day at 1000 µT 50 Hz MF (group 2; n = 160), sham-exposure (group 3; n = 160); C) Exposure for 24 hrs / day at EMF 900 MHz GSM modulated at 0.4 W/kg SAR (group 1; n = 160), sham exposure (group 2; n = 160). All experiments were performed in a blinded fashion.

Survival rates, lymphoma incidence or other endpoints did not differ between exposed and sham-exposed animals. The only significant difference turned out to be a slightly elevated relative body weight in GSM-900 exposed animals (not detected in mice exposed to 50 Hz magnetic fields).

The final report is available as PDF-file (573 KB) in German.

References

• Sommer, A.M., Lerchl, A., The risk of lymphoma in AKR/J mice does not rise with chronic exposure to 50 Hz magnetic fields (1 µT and 100 µT), Radiation Research (2004) 162, 194-200
• Sommer, A.M., Streckert, J., Bitz, A.K., Hansen, V., Lerchl, A. No effects of GSM-modulated 900 MHz electromagnetic fields on survival rate and spontaneous development of lymphoma in female AKR/J mice, BMC Cancer (2004) 4:77, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/4/77
• Sommer, A.M., Lerchl, A. (2006) 50 Hz magnetic fields of 1mT do not promote lymphoma development in AKR/J mice, Radiation Research 165, 343-349

Conclusion

The results of the study do not support the hypothesis, that chronic exposure to 50 Hz magnetic fields or to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields is a risk factor for developing hematopoietic malignancies.