Evidence For Genotoxic Effects (RFR AND ELF Genotoxicity)

s on Effects of Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) EMF on DNA 27 (E)effect reported; 14 (NE)no significant effect reported Ahuja YR, Vijayashree B, Saran R, Jayashri EL, Manoranjani JK, Bhargava SC. In vitro effects of low-level, low-frequency electromagnetic fields on DNA damage in human leucocytes by comet assay. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 36(5):318-322, 1999. (E) The sources for the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have been traced to timevarying as well as steady electric and magnetic fields, both at low and high to ultra high frequencies. Of these, the effects of low-frequency (50/60 HZ) magnetic fields, directly related to time-varying currents, are of particular interest as exposure to some fields may be commonly experienced. In the present study, investigations have been carried out at low-level (mT) and low-frequency (50 Hz) electromagnetic fields in healthy human volunteers. Their peripheral blood samples were exposed to 5 doses of electromagnetic fields (2,3,5,7 and 10mT at 50 Hz) and analysed by comet assay. The results were compared to those obtained from unexposed samples from the same subjects. 50 cells per treatment per individual were scored for comet-tail length which is an estimate of DNA damage. Data from observations among males were pooled for each flux density for analysis. At each flux density, with one exception, there was a significant increase in the DNA damage from the control value. When compared with a similar study on females carried out by us earlier, the DNA damage level was significantly higher in the females as compared to the males for each flux density. Cantoni O, Sestili P, Fiorani M, Dacha M. Effect of 50 Hz sinusoidal electric and/or magnetic fields on the rate of repair of DNA single strand breaks in cultured mammalian cells exposed to three different carcinogens: methylmethane sulphonate, chromate and 254 nm U.V. radiation. Biochem Mol Biol Int. 38(3):527533, 1996. (NE) Treatment of cultured mammalian cells with three different carcinogens, namely methylmethane sulphonate (MMS), chromate and 254 U.V. radiation, produces DNA single strand breaks (SSB) in cultured mammalian cells. The rate of removal of these lesions is not affected by exposure to 50 Hz electric (0.2 20 kV/m), magnetic (0.00020.2 mT), or combined electric and magnetic fields. These results indicate that, under the experimental conditions utilized in this study, 50 Hz electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields (over a wide range of intensities) do not affect the machinery involved in the repair of DNA SSBs generated by different carcinogens in three different cultured mammalian cell lines, making it unlikely that field exposure enhances the ability of these carcinogens to induce transformation via inhibition of DNA repair.