MOPHORAD-Project
The exposure of the population to electromagnetic fields (EMF) did considerably increase with the introduction of mobile phones. Currently there is fear that especially children and adolescents are exposed to a health risk, because it cannot be ruled out that the central nervous system in the developing organism is especially responsive to mobile phone radiation. Both, such reservations as well as early warnings of possible effects on human health, have been and still are secondary to economic interests – although the safety of EMF has already been doubted since the middle of the last century.
With the MOPHORAD project (Potential Health Effects of Mobile Phone Radiation in Childhood and Adolescence) we responded to the call from the EU Commission within its 7th Framework Programme in February 2008. This call was explained with the interest of European citizen in the mobile radiation technology being more and more confronted with the uncertainty concerning possible health effects and, too, with the controversial discussion within the scientific community about possible hazardous effects of mobile phone radiation. The external reviewers of the Commission, giving the project a total score of 12.5 out of 15, proposed funding. According to their evaluation the work plan is scientifically sound and it promises a significant advancement of the state-of-the-art. The range of the consortium is considered to be a broad and well-balanced one and the tasks assigned to the various partners are complementary and well distributed. However, we became alerted when we read the reviewers’ statement that if ever diseases of the central nervous system could be connected partly to the use of mobile phones the quota would be rather low, because if a connection exists it would have been detected long ago in epidemiological studies. This scientific untenable statement made us doubt their expertise. In the meantime, the Commission preferred to support an epidemiological study from which we can hardly expect a gain in knowledge.
The MOPHORAD project is aimed at the clarification and characterization of cellular, sub-cellular and molecular processes that are relevant in disease development:
- Assessment of mobile phone radiation absorption in children, adolescents, and adults in relation to their anatomical and physiological state.
- Analysis of skin and buccal mucosa cells from adolescents and adults after mobile phone radiation exposure with regard to molecular-biological alterations in protein expression, gene expression, signal transduction and the structure of genes.
- Analysis of isolated primary human brain cells from normal and tumour tissues of donors of different ages (after brain surgery) and of cell cultures of different generations (measured according to the amount of cell divisions) after mobile phone radiation exposure.
- Investigation of the causal mechanisms that lead to genetic cell instability as well as alterations in gene expression and signal transduction in human fibroblasts after mobile phone radiation exposure.
- Investigation of young rats after long-term mobile phone radiation exposure with regard to protein expression, gene expression, signal transduction, and the structure of genes in brain cells as well as to the development and function of the whole central nervous system.
The main objective of MOPHORAD is to obtain data that tell us whether the assumption of a health risk especially for children and adolescents, but also for adults, is plausible or not. Should we, after mobile phone radiation exposure, observe alterations in cells of the human organism just as we did in isolated human cells in the already completed REFLEX project, would this provide clear evidence that mobile phone radiation in the present form constitutes a risk to the health of the people. In case of positive results for humans, the need of precautionary measures would be confirmed in a way the responsible decision makers in politics and industry can no longer ignore. Important precautionary measures would be the immediate and clear lowering of the safety limits and their subsequent conversion from a physical to a biological basis. The protection of children and adolescents would have to be attributed highest priority.
The following scientific institutions intend to take part in the project: Medical University of Vienna; University of Basel; Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki; Foundation for Research on Information Technologies, Zurich; Zhejiang University; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifica, Madrid; Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tuebingen; The Weizman Institute of Science. Coordination will be done by the VERUM Foundation in Munich that organized the REFLEX project.
The term planned for the MOPHORAD project will be four years. Costs of the already drawn-up project will amount to 4.5 million Euro, to which the various partners are able contribute about 1 million Euro. Of course, the project can also be carried out in steps over a longer period.