New research has indicated that the radiation from mobile phones might make it easier for poisons to penetrate the brain, leading to such problems as dementia, premature aging, senility and Parkinson`s disease.
The Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, has reported that research conducted by a team from Lund University has found that microwave fields similar to those from a mobile phone handset can make it easier for poisons to penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
The blood-brain barrier is a cell layer between the blood that circulates in the blood vessels of the brain and the actual brain tissue. Oxygen and nutrition is let inside by the barrier while carbon dioxide and waste products are transported out through it.
The researchers found that the protein albumen leaks through the blood-brain barrier into the brain of rats that have been exposed to microwaves similar to those irradiated by a mobile phone. Albumen is naturally contained in blood but it can harm the brain.
"We`re seeing extremely small amounts of protein and we don`t know how dangerous it is," says Leif Salford, head of the research team.
"However, other experiments we have conducted - where albumen has deliberately been injected into rat brains - have shown that very small amounts can harm the brain cells. Amounts not much greater than the ones we have found can kill nerve cells."
He says it is nonetheless still impossible to tell whether the leakage that the research team has found in rats actually means that mobile telephony damages the human brain.
It appears that since albumen can get into the brain, there is reason to believe that other smaller or equal-sized molecules can also penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
Proteins found in the blood can - if they get to the brain - cause autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, while damaged nerve cells could also lead to dementia, premature aging and Parkinson`s disease.
Medication that under normal circumstances wouldn`t be able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier could now do so and possibly cause damage.
According to Salford, the unexplained symptoms of American soldiers after the Kuwait war are suspected to link to the medication they took against nerve gas.
He says the microwaves surrounding soldiers in hi-tech warfare could have opened the blood-brain barrier, and the medication penetrated the brain. This possibility is now being investigated by the US Air Force in co-operation with the Lund scientists.
Salford says the long-term effects were not proven, and it was possible that the neurons would repair themselves in time. However, he says neurons which would normally not become "senile" until people reached their 60s may now do so when they were in their 30s.
"The fear here is that, when one considers the high usage of cellphones among teenagers, there is a possibility that an entire generation may become senile in the prime of their lives."
The research shows that it doesn`t seem to matter how long one talks on a cellphone, as the blood-brain barrier is opened at once. Studies to examine the long-term effects are being planned.
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