ID Number		1520
Study Type		In Vivo
Model		900 MHz exposure to mice for 16 weeks + followed for 18 months, analysis of cancer, tissue pathology, and oxidative stress
Details		Ico:OFI mice (n=20 per group, female) were exposed to 900 MHz RF for 1 hour per week for 4 months and followed for 18 months to assess tumor endpoints. In addition, separate animals were injected with 45-Ca++, exposed for 1 hour, and sacrificed either immediately or 24 hours after exposure to evaluate Ca++ uptake in various tissues. Samples were also taken 1 and 24 hours after actual exposure sessions to evaluate lipid peroxidation. Animals that died during the study were pathologically analyzed, and the rest were sacrificed at 18 months. The authors report significantly higher mortality in exposed animals by 18 months, as well as general lymphocyte infiltration and lymphoblast ascites, and extranodal tumors of various histopathological types. Calcium uptake was reported to increase in exposed animals in the brain, spleen, and liver. The authors conclude that calcium homeostasis and age-determined thymus involution appear to be important factors in RF-induced carcinogenesis.
Findings		Effects
Status		Completed With Publication
Principal Investigator		University of Nancy, France - leopoldo.anghileri@wanadoo.fr
Funding Agency		Private/Instit.
Country		FRANCE
References		Anghileri, LJ et al. Int J Radiat Biol, (2005) 81:205-209 Anghileri, LJ et al. European journal of cancer prevention., (2006) 15:191-195 Anghileri, LJ et al. Immunopharmacology and immunotoxicology., (2009) 31:358-362
Comments		Only 20 mice per group were used, and these were only exposed 1 hour per week, or 16 hours over a 4 month period, yet the effects over an 18 month observation period were quite significant. There is no discussion of the exposure system other than stating that an Alcatel OT 501: 800 MHz phone was placed in the center of the animal restrainer (tube) that was covered with aluminium foil. Not only is there no description of SAR in the animals, the paper does not give a field strength nor state if the phone was connected to the network (as opposed to a constant transmit mode). Assuming the phone was connected to the network, there is no description of the power and/or base station signal level, or whether this level varied during the course of the study or due to movement of the animal exposure setup within the lab. One would assume the actual exposure might have been well below the maximal allowable ICNIRP limits for peak exposure, which makes the findings all the more incredible. While a control set of animals (20) was run, the background tumor level was apparently (?) taken from historical data provided from the animal supplier (IFFA CREDO) from a previous 200 mouse study over 18 months that they had apparently performed (? - not clear from the methods section). The amount of variation within this particular set of mice or in the treatment conditions was apparently not considered. For the "extra nodal" tumors, no specific data for statistical evaluation by histological type is provided, just general descriptions in the text of various types of "extra nodal" tumors all lumped together in the Tables.