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Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care

Electromagnetic signals from everyday wireless technologies are an ever-present environmental stressor, affecting biological systems. In this article, we substantiate this statement based on the weight of evidence from papers collated within the ORSAA database (ODEB), focusing on the biological and...

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Autores principales: McCredden, Julie E., Cook, Naomi, Weller, Steven, Leach, Victor
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9809975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36605238
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.986315
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author McCredden, Julie E.
Cook, Naomi
Weller, Steven
Leach, Victor
author_facet McCredden, Julie E.
Cook, Naomi
Weller, Steven
Leach, Victor
author_sort McCredden, Julie E.
collection PubMed
description Electromagnetic signals from everyday wireless technologies are an ever-present environmental stressor, affecting biological systems. In this article, we substantiate this statement based on the weight of evidence from papers collated within the ORSAA database (ODEB), focusing on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields and radiation. More specifically, the experiments investigating exposures from real-world devices and the epidemiology studies examining the effects of living near mobile phone base stations were extracted from ODEB and the number of papers showing effects was compared with the number showing no effects. The results showed that two-thirds of the experimental and epidemiological papers found significant biological effects. The breadth of biological and health categories where effects have been found was subsequently explored, revealing hundreds of papers showing fundamental biological processes that are impacted, such as protein damage, biochemical changes and oxidative stress. This understanding is targeted toward health professionals and policy makers who have not been exposed to this issue during training. To inform this readership, some of the major biological effect categories and plausible mechanisms of action from the reviewed literature are described. Also presented are a set of best practice guidelines for treating patients affected by electromagnetic exposures and for using technology safely in health care settings. In conclusion, there is an extensive evidence base revealing that significant stress to human biological systems is being imposed by exposure to everyday wireless communication devices and supporting infrastructure. This evidence is compelling enough to warrant an update in medical education and practice.
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spelling pubmed-98099752023-01-04 Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care McCredden, Julie E. Cook, Naomi Weller, Steven Leach, Victor Front Public Health Public Health Electromagnetic signals from everyday wireless technologies are an ever-present environmental stressor, affecting biological systems. In this article, we substantiate this statement based on the weight of evidence from papers collated within the ORSAA database (ODEB), focusing on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields and radiation. More specifically, the experiments investigating exposures from real-world devices and the epidemiology studies examining the effects of living near mobile phone base stations were extracted from ODEB and the number of papers showing effects was compared with the number showing no effects. The results showed that two-thirds of the experimental and epidemiological papers found significant biological effects. The breadth of biological and health categories where effects have been found was subsequently explored, revealing hundreds of papers showing fundamental biological processes that are impacted, such as protein damage, biochemical changes and oxidative stress. This understanding is targeted toward health professionals and policy makers who have not been exposed to this issue during training. To inform this readership, some of the major biological effect categories and plausible mechanisms of action from the reviewed literature are described. Also presented are a set of best practice guidelines for treating patients affected by electromagnetic exposures and for using technology safely in health care settings. In conclusion, there is an extensive evidence base revealing that significant stress to human biological systems is being imposed by exposure to everyday wireless communication devices and supporting infrastructure. This evidence is compelling enough to warrant an update in medical education and practice. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-12-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9809975/ /pubmed/36605238 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.986315 Text en Copyright © 2022 McCredden, Cook, Weller and Leach. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
McCredden, Julie E.
Cook, Naomi
Weller, Steven
Leach, Victor
Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title_full Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title_fullStr Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title_full_unstemmed Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title_short Wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
title_sort wireless technology is an environmental stressor requiring new understanding and approaches in health care
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9809975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36605238
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.986315
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