Subject: Lai research on memory loss to be published (Kelley)..
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 044422 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
.......Thank you much, Libby!! This is the study which I reported last
night was discussed on the evening CBS news.... (I will be planning to
add Henry's press release to the "Research" file on the website.....)
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
NEW!!! Website
...................People are more important than profits.................
DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST???
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1999 21:20:01 -0800
From: Libby Kelley
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: Lai research on memory loss to be published
Roy:
This is a 11/30/99 press release out of the University of Washington on
Henry Lai's soon to be published (Bioelectromagnetics Society, January
2000) on long term memory loss. Dr Lai was interviewed as part of a story
on TV here today. As it worked out, the coverage also included concerns
raised by local activists regarding the new children's cell phones, just
released by AT&T, Nokia and Disney ("Holiday Magic --- talk as long as you
like) in time for Christmas. The phones feature casings with
images of Mickey, Minnie or Goofy. Someone said, "You have to wonder if
children who use these phones might become a little "goofy"...
Om Gandi found up to 50% more radiation is absorbed into children's
brains. Educated consumers don't buy cell phones for children. I suggest
folks be on the lookout for these Christmas ads.. So far, the NY times, the
Washington Post...others?
Libby Kelley
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Rob Harrill
206-543-2580
rharrill@u.washington.edu
DATE: Nov. 30, 1999
Rats exposed to cell phone microwaves suffer long-term memory loss,
according to new study by a University of Washington researcher
Microwaves similar to those emitted by cell phones may affect long-term
memory, according to a new study by a University of
Washington researcher.
Henry Lai, a research professor in the UW's bioengineering department, has
linked diminished long-term memory and
navigating skills in rats with exposure to microwaves like those from
cellular telephones.
According to Lai, this is the first study to link exposure to the radio
waves to long-term memory function.
"Studies before this one have focused more on short-term memory," he said.
"In this study, the long-term memory of
microwave-exposed rats appears to have been affected."
Lai's findings are scheduled to be published in the January issue of the
journal Bioelectromagnetics.
In the study, Lai placed rats in a large tank of water and trained them to
swim to a submerged platform. Powdered milk, mixed
into the water, ensured that the rats couldn't see the platform and had to
memorize the way to it. The rats had one minute to find
the platform. If they still hadn't found the platform by then, they were
picked up and set on it. The animals were then
reintroduced into the pool from a different location to repeat the process.
Each rat was allowed four attempts to locate the
platform during each of the six training sessions the animals received. A
total of 100 rats went through the process.
The repetition allowed the rats to store the task of locating the ramp in
their long-term memories, according to Lai. Long-term
memory deals with items that have been learned or recalled and stored in
the brain, he explained, as opposed to short-term
memory, which has to do with tasks one has just performed or information
one has just looked at.
Before each training session, rats from one group were exposed for one hour
to pulsed microwaves, radiation similar to that
emitted by cellular telephones. Lai noted that the learning process itself
appeared to have been affected by the exposure. A
control group was not exposed.
"The microwave-exposed rats were much slower in finding the platform during
the training sessions," Lai said. "They tended to
spend more time attempting to climb the wall of the pool or swimming along
the wall." The swimming speed of all the rats
remained the same, however, which indicated that the difference didn't stem
from a change in motor skills or motivation. The
change appeared to be in learning prowess.
Researchers then removed the platform and watched what happened when the
rats were put back into the pool.
The control group spent most of their time swimming in the area where the
missing platform had been located. "They seemed to
be scratching their heads, saying 'We thought it was here,'" Lai said.
But the irradiated rats behaved more randomly, spending more time swimming
in other parts of the pool and showing much less
of a tendency to search for the platform.
"They seemed to have trouble making a map in their heads, like the normal
rats did, so they could recall where the platform
was," Lai said. "Their spatial reference mapping or 'place learning'
strategies seemed to be affected after their exposure. It
could be that they had to resort to a simpler learning strategy that just
didn't work as well and they couldn't remember how to
find the platform."
###
For more information, contact Lai at (206) 543-1071, (206) 543-7147 or
hlai@u.washington.edu.
Libby Kelley
Executive Director
Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
aka ~ Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about
the FCC's Radiofrequency Radiation Health and Safety Rules
____________________________
Website: http://www.ccwti.org
Phone - 415-892-1863
Fax - 415-892-3108
Address:
936-B Seventh Street, # 206
Novato, California 94945
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com