microwave thread and notes

The official summaries of the final reports of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) cell phone radiation studies, the NTP press release, and a new NTP fact sheet can be found below along with the FDA press release that addresses these studies.


In 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked the NTP to conduct cell phone radiation studies on animals.The FCC's exposure guidelines for cell phone radiation adopted in 1996 and still in effect today were designed to protect humans from thermal (or heating) effects. However, scientists at that time were concerned that low level exposures could increase cancer risk through nonthermal mechanisms. This was the basis for the FDA's request to the NTP in 1999:

"The existing exposure guidelines are based on protection from acute injury from thermal effects of RFR exposure, and may not be protective against any non-thermal effects of chronic exposures. Animal exposure research reported in the literature suggests that low level exposures may increase the risk of cancer by mechanisms yet to be elucidated, but the data is conflicting and most of thisresearch was not conducted with actual cellular phone radiation."


Nineteen years later on November 1, 2018, the NTP published the final reports on the effects of two-years of exposure to 2G (GSM and CDMA) cell phone radiation on rats and mice. Since these studies utilized radiation levels that would not induce significant heating (greater than one degree Centigrade), any observed effects would be due to nonthermal mechanisms (e.g., oxidative stress).

The NTP final reports found "clear evidence" of increased cancer risk in male rats from low level (i.e., nonthermal) exposures (c.f., heart schwannoma). Furthermore, many hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have found evidence of biologic and health effects from low level exposures to cell phone radiation. Hence, the FCC's exposure guidelines must be re-assessed as they are likely inadequate to protect human health.