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PROTECTIVE EFFECT ON
HUMAN PERIPHERAL BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES OF A WATER-FILLED METAL DEVICE ("Personal
Harmoniser") AGAINST CELLPHONE RADIATIONS AT 1800MHz.
COGHILL RESEARCH LABORATORIES Lower Race, Pontypool, GWENT NP4 5UH Tel: 00 44 1495 752122 Fax: 00 44 1495 769882 E-Mail: cogreslab@aol.com Website: http://www.cogreslab.demon.co.uk January 1999 Summary The objective of this study was to test the manufacturer's claim that a device called "Personal Harmoniser" has a beneficial biological effect on human health. The cell model chosen was the lymphocyte because of its easy availability and its well characterised importance to immune defence against infection and in tumour oncostasis. Moreover there are a large number of studies reporting sensitivity of lymphocytes to biophysical agents, including electromagnetic fields and radiations (e.g. Lyie, Schechter et al., 1983; Conti et al., 1983). Viability of lymphocytes following a seven minutes exposure to the device was tested by trypan blue exclusion. It was found that the device had a significantly protective effect against overnight exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiations from a mobile phone on standby, compared both with cellphone-exposed cells not exposed to the device, and with controls.-The effect of exposing cells to the device was even more pronounced when cells were maintained in culture overnight without cell-phone exposure. The study provides some evidence that Personal Harmoniser-exposed cultures can transmit their influence to cultures wirelessly over a short a distance, but the mechanism remains unknown and further research is necessary to verify this effect. GENERAL INTRODUCTION Since ancient times mankind has been aware that radiation at remarkably weak field strengths can have important adverse or beneficial biological effects. The modern word influenza ("the influence") derives from the mediaeval Italian observation that this illness arrived simultaneously among shepherds in distant pastures and their relatives and friends in towns, for who case-to-case transmission was impossible. Decades ago it was established that pandemics of influenza occur predictably at every peak of the sunspot cycle, when electrical storms on the sun send higher than usual electromagnetic cocktails of radiation onto the earth (Hope-Simpson, 1977). This finding has been replicated by other authors since then and confirmed (Hoyleetal., 1990). Other studies have reported serious ilhess repeatedly in buildings located above magnetic subterranean anomalies caused by flowing aquifers ("black streams") which emit erratic electromagnetic fields and radiations (von Pohl, 1987) Three outbreaks of an immune related disorder known as myalgic encephalomyelitis have been chronicled near to such aquifers in London alone in the last forty years ((Ramsay, 1989; Dillon et al., 1974; Acheson et al., 1954). In recent years there has been increasing concern that the weak radiations emitted by cellphone handsets may constitute a health hazard. A number of epidemiological studies would seem to support this view (see table), and recently the World Health Organisation and other institutions have commenced large research programmes to attempt to verify the extent of risk if any. Meanwhile the number of cellphone users in the UK has risen rapidly and preliminary figures at December 1998 suggest some 12 million UK cellphone users. Of these perhaps 5 percent are using their phones for continuous periods in excess of 20 minutes. The scientific studies so far available indicate that excessive usage may be an important parameter in increasing adverse health risk (e.g. Mild, Oftedal et al., 1997, 1998). In response a number of firms have begun offering a wider variety of protective devices such as pouches, flaps, buttons, and warning sound devices, and the major cellphone producers themselves have filed patents for low radiation cellphones. Table: Some human studies/epidemiological studies relevant to mobile phones
Source: Coghill Research Laboratories, 1998 Many of these protective devices have not been tested by any rigorous scientific model. Since a number of the symptoms appear to be immune-related, we decided to test the present device using as a cell model human peripheral blood lymphocytes. METHOD AND MATERIALS Human peripheral blood lymphocytes were isolated from 20ml fresh whole blood drawn from vena cubitale into anti-coagulated vacutainers (Becton Dickinson, EDTA, K3), transported into four 5ml sterile test tubes, and differentially centrifiiged at 450g. The serum was removed for heat inactivation, and then the bufiy coat was detached by micropipetter with as little disturbance as possible of the red blood cells and platelets which were discarded. The collected bufiy coat (approx. 2ml) was mixed with an equal amount of density gradient Ficoll-Triosil prepared according to standard procedures, and centrifiiged for 5 minutes at 800g. The lymphocytes were removed as the layer between the density gradient and the remaining serum, which contained the platelets. The pellet was re-suspended in balanced saline solution with added glucose, and washed twice by centrifugation at lOOg for five minutes. To the final pellet was added a culture medium (RPMI-1640 plus antibiotics and antimycotics). The medium was divided into five samples (A-E) and two of these (A and B) were exposed for seven minutes to a device known as Personal Harmoniser. Another two samples were not exposed to the device (C and D), whilst the final sample (E) served as control. "Implosion" is the description of the process whereby water is energised by the producers, and the device (see cover) is filled with this energised water and sealed prior to use. The method used to energise the samples A and B was to place the cultures after being sealed into their containers on the device for seven minutes so that the gold wire touched the device. One Personal Harmoniser-exposed sample and one unexposed sample were placed in separate mu-metal boxes and then exposed overnight to a Philips 301 mobile phone on standby, by means of a separate 30cm gold wire leading into each box. For the same period one Implosion-exposed sample and one unexposed sample were also placed in separate mu-metal boxes, into which separate but adjacent gold wires were introduced, but kept in a separate room and not near the cellphone. The final (fifth) sample was enclosed in a mu-metal box and then placed inside a double skinned mu-metal container for the duration of the experiment and maintained at 20 ° C. On the day following exposure the cells were mixed sequentially prior to counting with trypan blue dye left for 15 minutes and then counted double-blind in a haemocytometer (Brightline, Hausser-Scientific) in accordance with the method recommended by the suppliers (Sigma-Aldrich Co,, Poole Dorset, UK). At least 500 cells were counted from each sample. After counting the codes were broken and the results analysed statistically. RESULTS The results are set out numerically (Table 1) and graphically (Chart 1) below: Table 1: Human peripheral blood lymphocyte viability after energising with Implosion device
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