Elsevier

Pathophysiology

Volume 16, Issues 2–3, August 2009, Pages 149-156
Pathophysiology

Review
Long-term exposure to magnetic fields and the risks of Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer: Further biological research

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pathophys.2009.01.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective: Extremely low frequency (ELF) and radio frequency (RF) magnetic fields (MFs) pervade our environment. Whether or not these magnetic fields are associated with increased risk of serious diseases, e.g., cancers and Alzheimer's disease, is thus important when developing a rational public policy. The Bioinitiative Report was an effort by internationally recognized scientists who have spent significant time investigating the biological consequences of exposures to these magnetic fields to address this question. Our objective was to provide an unbiased review of the current knowledge and to provide our general and specific conclusions. Results: The evidence indicates that long-term significant occupational exposure to ELF MF may certainly increase the risk of both Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer. There is now evidence that two relevant biological processes (increased production of amyloid beta and decreased production of melatonin) are influenced by high long-term ELF MF exposure that may lead to Alzheimer's disease. There is further evidence that one of these biological processes (decreased melatonin production) may also lead to breast cancer. Finally, there is evidence that exposures to RF MF and ELF MF have similar biological consequences. Conclusion: It is important to mitigate ELF and RF MF exposures through equipment design changes and environmental placement of electrical equipment, e.g., AC/DC transformers. Further research related to these proposed and other biological processes is required.

Introduction

In this review, we emphasize (a) two proposed biological models “explaining” the apparent relationship between high, long-term exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MFs) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of which also relates to breast cancer and (b) areas of biological research needed to confirm or refute these models. Prior to this discussion, we provide the conclusions from our detailed review chapter (Section 12: Davanipour and Sobel [1]) in the Bioinitiative Report [2] related to epidemiologic research, which initially identified these relationships. We refer the reader to Section 12 and supporting, peer-reviewed papers for details of the epidemiologic studies discussed in that section. Other papers in this issue of Pathophysiology (e.g., on the stress response and DNA strand breaks) demonstrate that exposures to ELF MF and radio frequency (RF) MF often have the same biological consequences.

Section snippets

Epidemiologic studies presented in the Bioinitiative Report related to Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer

The conclusions reached from our detailed review of the literature in Section 12 in the Bioinitiative Report (see references for URL) on long-term significant ELF MF exposure and Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer are provided below [1]. The section references below refer to sub-sections of Section 12 of the Bioinitiative Report.

Melatonin production (Section II). Eleven of the 13 published epidemiologic residential and occupational studies are considered to provide (positive) evidence that

Biological hypotheses relating ELF MF exposure to Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer

Two biological hypotheses are discussed. The first one relates ELF MF exposure to increased amyloid beta (Aβ) production and subsequent development of AD. The second one relates ELF MF exposure to decreased melatonin production. Decreased melatonin production appears to have differing deleterious consequences related to AD and breast cancer development.

Discussion and future research

Other papers in this special issue of Pathophysiology provide evidence that RF MF exposure and ELF MF exposure may have similar biological consequences.

We primarily limit our discussion of future research to studies in humans with experimental medicine components, emphasizing the latter. However, we initially discuss limiting exposures.

It should be noted that ELF MF exposure may also be associated with other cancers. This may be because of the decrease in melatonin production and melatonin's

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Dr. James Burch, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, for his review of Section 12 in the Bioinitiative Report.

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