Review of RFR-genotoxicity studies

There has been growing concern about the possible adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radiofrequency radiations (RFR), such as those from mobile communication devices. Since the introduction of mobile phones many investigations have been conducted on alleged health effects, but there is still a lot of uncertainty and no definitive conclusions have been reached so far. Although thermal effects are well known to occur, they are not of great concern to mobile communication, as permissible radiofrequency radiation exposure levels exclude this kind of effect. Concern is therefore associated with the possibility that radiofrequency fields may induce non-thermal and long term effects. Genetic effects are one of the endpoints that are of great concern. A review of studies presenting data on alleged RFR-induced genetic effects from in vitro and in vivo investigations is given below. Attention is also paid to combined exposures of RFR with chemical or physical agents and data from human cytogenetic biomonitoring surveys are also presented. It is obvious that our present knowledge still does not allow the identification of a consistent pattern of RFR effects on genotoxicity. Most studies did not indicate that RFR is genotoxic but there are positive studies yet. Many, but not all of them, appear to be due to thermal exposure levels or methodological errors. There yet remains uncertainty and the possibility that sporadic effects could be attributed to non-thermal exposure levels, cannot be ruled out.