Microwave symptoms explained

There is both enough evidence to say that microwave radiation causes a range of symptoms in humans and a mechanism to explain how this happens. This is the conclusion of an important new paper, published in August, by Professor Martin Pall from Washington State University.

Professor Pall argues that microwave radiation activates voltage-gated calcium channels in the cell membrane that allow the passage of calcium. This causes calcium to flood into the cell, leading ultimately to the production of nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and free radicals that cause oxidative stress. As evidence, he cites 26 studies which showed that agents that block calcium channels either prevented or limited the effects of EMR exposure.

These effects occur at levels far below international standards. Whereas these standards are based on the assumption that only the heating (thermal) effects of radiation are problematic, the effects that Pall documents occurred at athermal (below-heating) levels of exposure.

Pall says that voltage-gated calcium channels are extremely prevalent in the nervous system, where they are involved in the release of neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine hormones. Significantly, the nervous system is also the system that has been shown to be most vulnerable to microwave exposure. Many studies published in Russia during the 1950s and 60s showed that athermal exposures resulted in changes in the bodies of rats, mostly within the nervous system. They also showed that pulsed signals produced more changes than unpulsed signals.

Pall describes the symptoms resulting from disorders of the nervous system as neuropsychiatric symptoms. They include sleep disturbance and insomnia; headaches; fatigue/depression/ dysfunctions of vision, hearing and smell; concentration and cognitive problems/dizziness and vertigo; memory changes, restlessness, tension, anxiety, stress; irritability; loss of appetite or weight; skin tingling or burning and nausea.

He cites numerous studies which have shown that people exposed to microwave radiation developed neuropsychiatric symptoms, including two US Government reports and one by the US Air Force.

But is the connection between these symptoms and exposure sufficient for the exposure to be said to have caused them? Pall says it is. He lists five criteria that are required to prove a cause and effect relationship and demonstrates that the evidence supports them all. (Pall, ML, ‘Microwave frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produce widespread neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression,’ J Chem Neuroanat Aug 21, 2015.) [See more research from Martin Pall on page 6.]