Advances in Radio Science www.adv-radio-sci.net 1684-9965 1684-9973 5 Kleinheubacher Berichte 2006 2007 10.5194/ars-5-1-2007 http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/5/1/2007/ http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/5/1/2007/ars-5-1-2007.html http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/5/1/2007/ars-5-1-2007.pdf 1 4 2007-06-12 Different biological effectiveness of ionising and non-ionising radiations in mammalian cells E. Schmid T. Schrader thorsten.schrader@ptb.de University of Munich, Radiobiological Institute, 80336 Munich, Germany Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), 38116 Braunschweig, Germany It has been discussed ever since among the scientific communities, whether non-ionising radiation can alter or harm biological systems. While the mechanisms of underlying effects of ionising radiation are well understood and described here, there is less understanding in the effects caused by non-ionising radiation except for heating effects. Recent results have been interpreted, that numerical chromosome aberrations may be induced by exposure to RF radiation. Our own experiments employing the µTEM cell yield results similar to findings observed for aneugenic-inducing chemical agents which can cause spindle disturbances. For comparison purpose to the effects caused by those agents we used the well established human-hamster hybrid (A_L) cell line to evaluate the biological effects after exposure to RF radiation (835 MHz). Crawford, M. L.: Generation of Standard EM Fields Using TEM Transmission Cells, IEEE Trans. EMC, EMC-16, 189–195, 1974. ICNIRP Guidelines: Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz), Health Phys., 74, 494–522, 1998. ICRP: Relative biological effectiveness (RBE), quality factor ($Q$), and radiation weighting factor ($w_R)$, edited by: Valentin, J., ICRP Publication, 92, Elsevier Inc. New York, USA, 2003. IEGMP: Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phone, IEGMP, Mobile phones and health, NRPB, UK, http://www.iegmp.org.uk, 2000. NRC: Health risks from exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation, BEIR VII, Phase 2, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., USA, 2006. Krumrey, M., Ulm, G., and Schmid, E.: Dicentric chromosomes in monolayers of human lymphocytes produced by monochromatized synchrotron radiation with photon energies from 1.83 keV to 17.4 keV, Radiat. Environ. Biophys., 43, 1–6, 2004. Mashevich, M., Folkman, D., Kesar, A., Barbul, A., Korenstein, R., Jerbi, E., and Avivi, L.: Exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to electromagnetic fields associated with cellular phones leads to chromosomal instability, Bioelectromagn., 24, 82–90, 2003. Moulder, J. E., Foster, K. R., Erdreich, L. S., and McNamee, J. P.: Mobile phones, mobile phone base stations and cancer: a review, Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 81, 189–203, 2005. Schmid, E., Bauchinger, M., Bunde, E., Ferbert, H. F., and von Lieven, H.: Comparison of the chromosome damage and its dose-response after medical whole-body exposure to $^60$ Co $\gamma $-rays and irradiation of blood in vitro, Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 26, 31–37, 1974. Schmid, E., Schlegel, D., Guldbakke, S., Kapsch, R. P., and Regulla, D.: RBE of nearly monoenergetic neutrons at energies of 36 keV–14.6 MeV for induction of dicentrics in human lymphocytes, Radiat. Environ. Biophys., 42, 87–94, 2003. Tice, R. R., Hook, G. G., Donner, M., McRee, D. I., and Guy, A. W.: Genotoxicity of radiofrequency signals. I.Investigation of DNA damage and micronuclei induction in cultured human blood lymphocytes, Bioelectromagn., 23, 113–126, 2002.