Harmful Effects of GSM Waves Demonstrated on Ants and Protozoa

Thank you to Teslabel for the following Press Release, which was originally published on their site in French. (www.teslabel.be)  Original article in French.

Harmful Effects of GSM Waves Demonstrated on Ants and Protozoa

A first in Belgium: Studies conducted at the Université Libre de Bruxelles show clearly that GSM waves affect the memory and response to pheromones in ant colonies, and that they worsen the motility of cell membranes of protozoa.

(Brussels - 11/07/12) Hide this truth that I would not like to see … Anything to discredit these alarmist studies which prevent me from calling in peace. Reassure me. Tell me that all this is exaggerated and doesn’t concern me … - Such is the substance of the unspoken reaction of each person who continues to not want to face up to reality and refuses to take into account the progress of independent research.

In Belgium in 2008, the results of a doctoral thesis at the UCL were disclosed which had shown that rats chronically exposed to a weak level of microwaves lost memory and died prematurely. [1]

This time, a research team at ULB turned towards ant societies and single-celled organisms to study the effects of micro-waves from telecommunications on the living.

Damning results on ants … at 1 volt per meter

In a first series of experiments [2], researchers observed that under the effect of a wave generator similar to that of a GSM, the learning capacity as well as olfactory and visual capacities was affected with average scores on the order of 50% compared to the control group. Sheltered from the waves and after a period of recuperation of 30 hours, the ants regained a certain memorization capacity (60-80%).

Then, subjected again to waves when they were learning, the ants immediately lost what they had acquired and did not maintain any visual memory. This effect on memory recalls a study conducted at UCL in 2008 which had shown a serious deterioration of the capacities of long-term memorization of rats, in this case, after 15 months of exposure to microwaves.

In another series of experiments [3], the entire organizational capacity of the colony was affected. Under the effect of waves, the ants only followed their pheromone trail very little, hardly came to the indicated area of their pheromone and oriented themselves poorly towards their alarm pheromone. Moreover, subjected to waves, the ants did not recruit their fellow ants and were incapable of returning to the nest after having found food.

Before exposure

After exposure (1 V/m)

  

At the end of one after another of this series of experiments, the societies deteriorated:_the ants were walking with difficulty, eating little, dying ; the larvae were no longer developing and even the queens were dying. A situation which is similar to the decline of beehives suffering from CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) actually observed on a world scale [4].

Motility and cell membrane of protozoa damaged

When the research group at ULB found themselves prevented by their superiors from studying the phenomenon of beehives, they turned towards “paramecia” (French: “paraméties) – single-celled organisms currently used in practical work. [5]

Placed near a GSM transmitter in operation, these protozoa moved poorly and swelled up: their cilia were beating less well, their cytopharynxes expanded, their pulsating vesicles poorly evacuated waste, and the cell membrane seemed larger.

All these dysfunctions may come from damage suffered by the cell membranes of protozoa. The nervous influx spread all along the membrane of the neurons. If this membrane is no longer uniform, the influx will not properly take place. Here is the connection between the effects of waves at the cellular level and those at the level of behavior, memorization and larval development (which require neurosecretions).

All this applies without doubt not only to bees (which are not returning to their hives) but also to other insects (including pollinators) and other living creatures (frogs, birds, rats … human beings – we have little hair cells in the ear, and men produce sperm cells: an Argentine study in 2012 showed a loss of motility and fragmentation of DNA from waves )[6].

In conclusion, to date, many works reveal similar alarming observations in a large variety of organisms and go so far as to show the impact of communication waves on nerve cells and on the cell membrane.

Will man understand too late?

Media reactions following initial press release in French

http://www.rtl.be/videos/video/404244.aspx

http://www.rtl.be/info/magazine/sciencesenvironnement/892297/une-etude-de-l-ulb-demontre-les-effets-nocifs-des-ondes-gsm-sur-les-fourmis-et-les-protozoaires

http://archives.lesoir.be/le-gsm-grille-le-cerveau-des-fourmis-reaction_t-20120712-020NK6.html

http://www.lalibre.be/societe/insolite/article/749242/les-ondes-gsm-tuent-les-fourmis.html

http://www.lalibre.be/archives/divers/article/750508/pas-sur-la-meme-longueur-d-onde.html

http://www.levif.be/info/belga-generique/une-etude-demontre-les-effets-nocifs-des-ondes-gsm-sur-les-fourmis-et-les-protozoaires/article-4000137202766.htm

http://datanews.levif.be/ict/actualite/apercu/2012/07/11/une-etude-de-l-ulb-demontre-l-effet-nuisible-du-rayonnement-du-gsm-sur-les-fourmis/article-4000137673290.htm

http://www.dhnet.be/infos/societe/article/401276/les-ondes-gsm-tuent-les-fourmis.html

http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20120711_00180977

http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/4133/Multimedia/article/detail/1468285/2012/07/11/Une-etude-demontre-les-effets-nocifs-des-ondes-GSM.dhtml

http://www.fdf.be/spip.php?article5167

Contacts

Marie-Claire Cammaerts
Département de Biologie des Organismes, ULB
Private phone. 00 32 (0)2 673 49 69 (evening)

mtricot@ulb.ac.be

References

[1] Results of a Long-Term Low-Level Microwave Exposure of Rats
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=5232818

[2] GSM 900 MHz radiation inhibits ants' association between food sites and encountered cues. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=22268919

[3] To be published soon

[4] ETUDE : La téléphonie mobile perturbe le comportement des abeilles
http://www.teslabel.be/antennes/132-la-telephonie-mobile-perturbe-le-comportement-des-abeilles

 [5] Changes in Paramecium caudatum (protozoa) near a switched-on GSM telephone.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21554102

[6] Use of laptop computers connected to internet through Wi-Fi decreases human sperm motility and increases sperm DNA fragmentation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22112647

Translated from French by Meris Michaels and Teslabel.

Available in French here:

1. http://www.teslabel.be/antennes/255-etudes-a-lulb-effets-nocifs-des-ondes-gsm-mis-en-evidence-sur-des-fourmis-et-des-protozoaires