RF, mice and lymphoma

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

John Moulder makes excellent points about the significance of using
cancer-prone vs normal mice. It's a point consistently ignored in policy
evaluation when applied to the IR studies, eg, the supposed lack of
reproducibility in the 70's of the beneficial effects seen in the '40s-'50s
studies (and even that is a small effect compared to "in the wild" animals).
Cancer-prone animals are immune deficient. It's hard to "stimulate" an absent
immune system, although in general it seems to manifest in smaller responses
at more limited exposures in more carefully controlled conditions. (When the
leading scientists of the age, like Bruce Ames and Don Luckey and others, make 
this point about many studies, whether IR or chemical, they are just ignored
by the "regulatory science" interests.) 

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com
Radiation, Science, and Health, Inc.

> Summary of the Australian RF lymphoma study
> John Moulder (jmoulder@its.mcw.edu)
> Radiation Oncology
> Medical College of Wisconsin
> 
> Source:  MH Repacholi, A Basten et al:  Lymphomas in Eu-Pim1 Transgenic Mice 
> Exposed to Pulsed 900 MHz Electromagnetic Fields. Rad Res 147:631-640, 1997.
> 
> This recently published study reports that lymphoma-prone mice exposed for 18 
> months to intense, but intermittent, radio-frequency fields of the type used 
> by digital mobile phones have an increased incidence of lymphomas.  No 
> increase in incidence of other types of tumors were found.  The field 
> intensities used are above the guidelines for public exposure recommended in 
> the ANSI/IEEE standard, and are far above those that exist in publicly-
> accessible areas near cellular phone and PCS base station antennas.  
> 
> While this study is very interesting, its impact on regulation of RF exposure 
> to the public is quite unclear:
> - It cannot be determined from this study whether lymphomas, or other types of 
> tumors, can be induced in normal (as opposed to cancer-prone) animals by 
> exposure to RF.
> - It cannot be determined from this study what exposure level is required for 
> induction of lymphoma in these mice.  
> 
> Clearly the study will need to be repeated with both normal and lymphoma-prone 
> mice.  If the effect can be replicated, it will be critical to determine the 
> dose-response relationship for lymphoma induction, and whether the effect 
> occurs for other tumors and/or in other species.