Non-thermal bioeff ects induced by low-intensity microwave ir diation of living systems by G. J. Hyland

Attention is drawn to a multitude of3equency-spec$c, non-thevmal bioefects-induced in living systems by ultra-low-intensity microwave i.adiation-t,he existence of which is not currently taken into account in the

formulation ofthe safety limits to which microwave devices must confooym. A n attractive possibility of accounting fov these efects is in terns of Frohlich's coherent excitations involving stvongly excited macroscopic electvic polavisation waves, which, on quite general pounds, he pifedicted living systems to suppovt-provided they aye su$-iciently active metabolically--in consequence ofthe prevalence theifein of electric dipoles of various kinds. The thevapeutic exploitation of low-intensity miiroiuave ivadiation in Russia and the Ukmine is noted, and attention drawn to some ivecent theovetical wovk which supgests that watev (a dbolar system in its own {(ight) might itself support mesoscopic cohevent domains

he heating effect of microwaves on both dead and alive biosystems (and indeed on non- biosystems) forms the basis not only of T numerous industrial, domestic arid medical

applications (diathermy), but also, in the West, of existing safety limits to which nlicrowave devices must conform. Recently, however, with the proliferation of such devices-especially the mobile phone, whose nsicrowave antenna, when in use, is in close proximity to the head-much consideration has b"m given to possible deleterious effects arising from the ever- thickening 'electro-smog' environment in which we live.

To date, however, it is principally with estimates of the degree of heating realised in various circumstances that most effort has been concentrated, and in the particular case of mobile phones it has been concluded -given the relatively low powers involved-that the induced temperature rises in localised regions of the head adjacent to the antenna are small enough to be accommodated by the body's thermoregulatory systeni in that region, so that chronic hyperthermia does not occur. Public concern over the long-term safety of such devices continues unabated, however--a concern which, as we shall see, is not without foundation, quite apart &om the possible cancer-promoting effect of (pulsed) microwave radiation of the fieqiiency and

intensity used whch has recently been reported'. For in addtion to the heating effect of microwaves

(which is physically well understood* in terms of dielectric loss), there are the more contentious, so- called non-thennu1 effects exhibited by a wide variety of living systems when irradated by microwaves of very low intensities, which in the case of humans can be 12 orders of magnitude lower than those on which existing ( thernd) safety limits are based (in the UK this is currently taken to be 10 mW/cm2 at a distance of 5 cm 6-om the source for up to 2 nlinutes in any one hour-or a short-term exposure of 25 mW/cm2)2. Evidence of the existence of such effects (some of which, however, have tended to defy independent corroboration) has been steadily accumulating over the past 25 years, the attention of the West having been first awakened by a translation in 1974 of a publication3 of the Soviet Academy of Sciences summarising work done in the USSR during the preceding decade, in which a variety of living systems had been irradiated with microwaves of power densities as low as a

*In practice, the relevant considerations can be very complex, necessitating, in the case of the mobile phone, for example, consideration of the interaction of the (lion- radiative) near field of the antenna with the strongly inhomogeneous dielectric constituted by the human head.

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Fig. 1 Normalised growth o f E. coli bacteria as a function o f the frequency o f the applied microwave radiation. NI is the number o f bacteria subjected t o the radiation, and N2 is the control, w i thout radiation. From Berteaud e t

nricrowatt per square centinietre. Knowledge of the existence of such a variety of bioeffects induced by ultra-weak radiation (which is far below that capable of causing any measurable heating) was presumably the origin of the much more stringent safety lirmts imposed in the USSR (and Eastern Europe) at the time, which were at least 1000 times lower than those in the West.

Frequency-specific, non-thermal bioeffects in living systems

In contrast to thermal (heating) effects, the reported non-thermal effects display an exquisite sensitivity of a highly resonant character to the frequency of the irradiating nicrowaves-Q factors as high as 10'' being quite common-values which, it should be

Fig. 2 The synchronising effect o f microwave radiation on cell division in the yeast S. carlsbergensis: (a) control; (b) culture irradiated w i th lef t circularly polarised (LCP) microwave radiation (right circularly polarised radiation has no effect). NINo i!j the ratio o f the number o f cells in the culture t o the starting number NO. The LCP radiation eliminates differences in the duration of the division cycle of individlual cells, which is manifested by the appearance of 'steps' in the growth curve of the irradiated culture. After Golant e t a/.'

appreciated, are enornious in comparison to those which characterise inanimate con- densed matter in thermal equilibrium. Furthermore, the sharpness of the resonant response increases as the micro- wave power density decreases. In the vicinity of these resonant frequencies, on the other hand, the dielectric parameters of the system (upon which the degree ofinduced heating depends) vary very much niore slowly with Grequency. Finally, and again in contrast to heating, non-thermal effects often manifest themselves only after a certain time of irradiation and above a certain threshold intensity being relatively insensitive to further increases in power over many orders of magnitude.

Quite generally, the reported non-thermal effects (i) are not accompanied by any detectable overall rise in temperature", (ii) cannot be replicated by other forms of heating*, and (iii) are often cont idzevmal , i.e. are in

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‘directions’ opposite to those induced by conventional heating, and, consequently, are vulnerable to being obliterated by thermal influencmes both of microwave and other origins.

The non-thermal bioeffects so far reported are very varied, and include:

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(a) positive+ and negative (resonant) influences on the growth rate of cultures of the yeast S. cerwisiae near 41 GHz‘, and predominantly negative (contrathermal) influences’ on the growth of E. Coli near 71 and 73 GHz (Fig. 1 ) (and also near 66 GHz6, these latter frequencies corres- ponding, respectively, to maxima in the absorption spectra of RNA, a protein, and DNA6)

( b ) synchronisation of cell division in cultiires of the yeast S. carl~beyensis~, provided the microwave radiation is l$t circularly polarised (Fig. 2)

(c) the ‘switching-on’ of certain epigenetic effects- such as the induction of colicin and h-prophage? in lysogenic E. coli-after irradiating with micro- waves of a specific Cequency and sufficient intensity for a sufficiently long time (Fig. 3)

(d) the re-establishment of homeostasis in a .wide range of human pathological conditions by ultraweak microwave irradiation at selected frequ’encies, the radiation having no dscernible effect in the absence of any pathology This so-called ‘microwave resonance therapy”, the efficacy of which actually increases as the intensity of the radiation is reduced (even down to the quantum limit), can be regarded as a (high-frequency) electromagnetic analogue of pharmacology, just as microwave diathermy is of mechanical surgery. Given the increasing, immunity of certain strains of bacteria (e.g. St,qhylococcus aweus and Pseudonzonas aeimginosa) to conventional antibiotics, the possibility of an alternative electromagnetic therapy is a timely and welcome development, meriting further investigation. In the meanwhile, empirical indications that microwave irradation can increase the efficacy of certain drugs and X-irradiation is being pursued and exploited.

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Other frequency-sensitive, non-thermal effe cts exhibi- ted by metabolically active biosystems when irradiated with low-intensity microwaves include:

(i) contrathermal depression of phagocytosis in red blood cells

(ii) increases in the loss of haemoglobin

*It should be appreciated, however, that in consequence of the electrical heterogeneity of biosystenis, selcctim:, hbhly locd heating-resulting in virtually no overall temperature rire- can be reahsed by low-intensity microwave radiation, i.e. some of the reported non-thermal effect5 (including those on inanimate matter) could actually be ‘micro-t.hermal’. +The resonant enhancement observed in the growth rate of yeast is reminiscent ofthe response ofthe amplitude ofa limit cycling oscillator to an external stimulus which varies harmonically with time.

(iii) increases in the survival of W (ultraviolet) damaged E. coli, and X-irradiated L-line cells, if irradiated with nzicrowaves uzer exposure to UV radiation or X-rays

(iv) an increase in the efficiency of the enzyme cellulase, which breaks down cellulose coinpounds

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I Fig. 3 lysogenic E. coli on: (a) frequency; (b) intensity of radiation; (c) time of incubation of a cell. From Webb8 (01979 Elsevier Science, reproduced with permission)

Dependence of the induction of h-prophages in

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metastable state which is far from thermal equilibrium

i e most degrees of freedom remain unaltered by bioactivity

Fig. 4 The far-from-equilibrium nature of metabolically active biosystems

of the coherent microwave radiation-at least down to intensities as low as IO-.'' W/cm'; it is thus under- standable that a biosystem can at least discern such radiation against the level of thermal emission appropriate to ther- mal equilibrium at physio- logical temperatures. What is quite incomprehensible in terms of thermal equhbrium considerations, however, is the highly resonant nature of the interaction of microwaves with living systems, the sharpness of which increases as the radiation intensity decreases.

Frohlich's coherent excitations

Were it not for the pioneering work of H. Frohlich FRS (which dates &om 1967, i.e. seven years before the Soviet publication mentioned above) not only would the early reported cases of non-thermal effects probably have remained curiosities (and the develop- ment of possible electro-

(v) effects on the EEG (electro-encephalogram) (vi) reduction in the efficacy of antihistamines, such as

steroids which are used in the treatment of asthma.

Recalling that the microwave band (nominally 300 MHz to 300 GHz) lies between the radio-6-equency and the infra-red regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, the existence of such lion-thermal effects night, at first sight, be considered puzzling, given the magnitude of a typical microwave energy quantum, hv,,, compared with that of kT at physiological temperatures (hvnl<<kT, by a factor of lo3), and that the radiation is non-ionising! Furthermore, at the intensities used, the electric field of the microwaves (i) is negligibly small in coniparison with physiological electric fields-such as that maintained across a cell membrane by metabolic pumping (the value of which, -10' V/cm, actually exceeds that used in the 'electric chair'!)-and (ii) is also far too small to reorient macro- molecules (even those with an electric &pole moment of 100 debye) against lsruptive thermal influences- an effect which, if realisable, would, of course, be classed as non-thermal. Despite Izv,<<kT, however, the coherency of typical microwave sources is usually so high that, over the associated narrow bandwidth, Av, the thermal energy density at physiological temperatures is at least one order of magnitude lower than that

magnetic therapies reliant solely on empirical advances), but the very motivation for much of the subsequent experimentation (which revealed many other non-thermal effects) would not have existed. This work offers a particularly novel and appealing possibility of understanding at least some of the reported non-thermal effects in terms of the concept of coherent excitations, the prehcted existence of which rests on the remarkable dielectric and elastic properties typical of biomatter-in particular, the prevalence therein of electric dipoles of various kinds-together with the recogmtion of the inherently non-equhbrium (yet structurally stable) nature of living system due to the influx of metabolic energy upon which their vitallty depends (Fig. 4). In terms of a simple theoretical model'" which encapsulated the above features, Frohlich showed-provided certain nonlinear interactions are admitted between the dipolar elements (of a given hnd) and their heat bath environment-that above a certain rate of metabolic energy supply, s2s0, the incoming metabolic energy is no longer completely thermalised-part of it being channelled instead into the lowest fiequency (collective) vibrational mode associated with the entire system constituted by these identical electric dipoles, wherein it is stored in a highly ordered way, pending its biological utilisation (Fig. 5). Accordingly, after a certain time, this single mode of electric polarisation

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becomes very strongly excited mechanically to a degree far above that which would be realised were the vibrating system in thermal equilibrium at the temperature of the surrounding heat bath, i.e. the bio- system behaves in a way somewhat analogous to a pumped

hand, the nonlinear interactions (involving two quanta processes), via which a part of the incoming random energy gets channelled into the lowest frequency collective polarisation mode, can ‘no longer cope’ and dissipation again wins. Thus only for SO<S<SI is the

maser: Although the existence of collective

vibrations involving, for example, an entire macromolecule was already well-established prior to Frohlich’s work, his prediction that above a certain mininium rate of nietabolic pumping the degree of excitation ofjust one such vibrational mode of an intracellular macromolecule actually dominates over all others-whereby this single mode assumes a certain macroscopic significance-was, at the time“ a quite novel and far-reaching one, since to a certain minimum degree of ‘aliveness’ (metabolic activity) it allied a counter-intuitive (non-thermal) dynamic order, the existence of which could not otherwise have been envisaged. It was conjectured that this order perhaps underpinned the global organisation and exquisite control displayed by living systems. In this dynamically ordered state, the individual dipolar units vibrate together in phase, i.e. coherently so that the entire system of dipoles itself behaves as a macroscopic replica of any one of them, and thus oscillates (collectively) as a single ‘giant’ electric dipole (Fig. 6).

Estimates of the associated frequency based on considerations of size and elastic properties, range from IO9 to IO1* H : , depending on the particular dipolar units upon which a particular collective vibration is assumed to be based; typical dipolar candidates are regions of the cell membrane separated by embedded proteins (Fig. 7:), these proteins themselves and other cytoplasnlic biomolecules (often containing frequently occurring H-bonds), whch become nonlinearly polarised by the strong electric field of the membrane.

It must be stressed, however, that any particular coherent excitation exists only within a certain ‘power window’, so<s<s[. At s<s~, the rate of metabolic energy supply is insufficient to overcome the dmipation inherent in the system which, via the exchange of single quanta, tends to bring the dipolar subsystem into thermal equilibriurn with the heat bath, i.e. to impose on it a Planck distribution. At on the other

“Today, of course, the existence of the implied dynamical order is a rather well-known property of open, dissipative systems which reflects their self-organising ability in the nonlinear regime.

incoiling energy flux able to dominate over dissipation

Fig. 5 the coherent excitation of a macroscopic longitudinal electric polarisation wave

Schematic representation of Frohlich’s model for establishing

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and permit a dynamic order to be realised, dielectric heating occur- ring for both s<so and s>s1 (although at s<so it is probably negligible). Thus, at a fixed T, the regime of couiiter-intu- itive, non-thermal effects is strongly demarcated.

It must be stressed that the (non-thermal) effects in question are not to be regarded as noli-thermal simply because they occur at s values too low to produce any measur- able overall rise in temperature; rather, they are non-thermal in principle, in consequence of the nonlinear inter- actions admitted in Frohlich’s model, which, within the power

s i so (incoherent vibrations)

s 2 so (in-phase (coherent) vibrations)

L equivalent to an N-fold ‘magnification’ of a single oscillating unit, i.e.

a giant oscillating dipole

Fig. 6 Formation of a giant dipole oscillation at supercritical pumping rate, s a 0

window (so<s<s~) essentially ‘protect’ a part of the incomiiig ene rg against thermalisation.

If to each group of identical dipolar constituents there corresponds a coherent excitation characterised by a specific frequency and ninimuiii rate of meta- bolic energy supply-the values of which wdl, in general, vary from group to group (as also will the time of irradiation)-then it is to the totality of these coherent excitations (each of which night only occur for a certain limited period in the life cycle of the

Fig. 7 Dipolar properties of a cell membrane and characteristic vibrational frequencies

system) that the orderly functioning (homeostasis) of a (non-pathological) living system is perhaps to be ascribed-but in a way which, despite many recent empirical advances in so-called ‘quantum medicine’”, stdl eludes us.

Coherent excitations as a basis for understanding non- thermal bioeffects

Notwithstanding this somewhat enigmatic state of affairs, the existence of such coherent excitations would certainly afford a basis of a qualitative understandmg of some of the non-thermal respon-

ses of living systems to ultra-weak microwave irradiation mentioned above. Thus, for example:

( a ) the hkhly resonant enhancement in. thegi,owth rate ofyeast tinder microwave irradiation becomes understandable if associated with the yeast cell cycle (in some as yet unknown way) is an underlying coherent excitation-the frequency ofwhich matches that of the radiation, the enhanced growth rate (and the associated satellite reductions) being simply the

a Cell membranes support an electric double iayer

b Inner and outer layers vibrate against one another, resulting in vibration of the associated electric polarisation field.

sound speed lo5 cmls frequencyv = ~ - - 2a 10“ cm

- 10” HZ c Other frequencies are possible based on

biomolecules both within the cell membrane and the cytoplasm which become (nonlinearly) polarised in the strong electric field of the membrane

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response (Fig. 8) of the biosystem to the external radiation when, in the coherent mode, it oscillates nonlinearly in a limit cycle4.

( b ) the ability of ultra-weak microwave 1,adiation to ‘rwitch- on’ (tr$ger) a particular epkenetic @ct becomes understandable if associated with the effect is a coherent excitation for which the endogenous rate of metabolic energy supply, se, is just. subcritical (s,<so); for then the microwave radiation has only to supply the deficit (so-sJ-which might be arbitrarily small-to achieve ‘switch-on’. Calcula- tions based on Frohlich’s model shows that the time of irradation, At, necessary before the coherent excitation is established is minimum when the microwave frequency matches that of the excita- tion.

In some cases, it is possible that the observed ‘switch-on’ effects are connected with a short- range chemical reaction between two different bioconstituents, which are brought into close enough proximity for such a reaction to be able to occur by a long-range attractive force (proportional to the inverse cube of their separation) which is predicted12 to exist between two different dipolar systems, provided both are coherently excited to approximately equal frequencies; in this case, the role of the external radiation is to switch on one (or both) of the coherent excitations. Evidence in support of such a frequency-selective, long-range interaction is provided by the phenomenon of rouleaux formation (coin-like stacks of cells) amongst red blood cells13.

(c) the therapeutic effects of ultra-weak microwave irradation at specific frequencies becomes under- standable if a given pathology is connected with the inability of the body, on account of inadequate or defective metabolism, to maintain some essential coherent excitation. Once again, the microwave radiation can be considered to augment the endo- genous rate of energy supply sufficiently to achieve threshold (SO), whence, after a sufficient period of irradation (which again is minimum at resonance) the coherent excitation is switched back on, thereby restoring homeostasis; clearly, ifthe relevant coherent excitation is already excited endo- genously, then the nlicrowave radiation is deprived of its ‘triggering’ role, consistent with reports that ramation has no effect when homeostasis obtains.

Generalities and outlook

The ability of external microwave radiation (which is transversely polarised) to resonantly couple to the coherently excited oscdlatory electric mode (which in the bulk is longitudinally polarised) is due to the existence ofinternal bounding surfaces which not only confine the oscillating system to a region much smaller than the millimetre (vacuum) wavelength of the radiation, but also endow the excitation with a certain degree of transversality. Conversely, a weak emission of

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Fig. 8 Comparison of (a) the observed frequency dependence of the normalised growth rate of the yeast 5. cerevisiae (when irradiated with 5 pW/cm2 microwave radiation with 8 kHz square wave modulation) with the frequency response of (b) a non-self-sustained (linear) oscillator and (c) a self-sustained (nonlinear) limit cycling oscillator driven by Fcoswt. From Grundler and Kaiser4 (01992 Gordon and Breach Publishers, reproduced with permission)

radiation must be anticipated from a coherently excited &polar oscdlation in such a system, a topic which is currently under investigation14.

Essentially, in terms of Frohlich’s coherent excita- tions, the ability of an active biosystein to ‘recognise’ and respond to coherent electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region arises because such radiation is the electromagnetic concomitant (Fig. 9) of the coherent mechanical vibration which the system itself already supports (or would support if it were sufficiently active), i.e. the endogenous coherent excitation effectively ‘tunes’ the biosystem to be receptive to weak external electromagnetic stimuli in much the same way as an energised radio receiver is. Indeed, the abdity of external microwave ra&ation of millimetre wavelengths to influence cellular (and even subcellular) processes most likely arises fi-om its trans- formation into various internal, coherent mechanical vibrational modes of subcellular wavelengths.

Early laser Raman experiments which provided rather compelling evidence for the existence of supra- thermal endogenous coherent excitations (in E. coli and B. megaterium) have not, as yet, been independently corroborated, as neither, incidently, has the resonant

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Fig. 9 coherent excitation

enhancement of the growth of yeast mentioned above. In attempting to assess the present experimental

situation, one should guard against undue pessinllsm" since, given the manifold complexity of the systems under investigation and the multifactorial nature of the related effects, it is invariably easier to obtain a negative result than a positive one. It is also necessary to consider whether a negative result might be more an indictment of some particular conjectured process for establishing biocoherence-such as the one considered by Frohlich, for example-than of the existence of bio- coherence per se; for the interpretation of experimental results (if not the very design of an experiment itsew can oiten be 'conditioned' by a particular pre-existing theoretical model, which might, of course, represent only one of a number of possible ways of reahsing biocoherence-and there is no guarantee that Nature chooses Frohhch's! Clearly, a 'second generation' of experiments is now required if the present, rather non-definitive, situation is to be resolved. In this connection, mention should be made of the extensive experimentation conducted in Russia during the 1990s, which has provided rather compelling evidence of non-thermal influences? of coherent microwave radiation (down to intensities so low that the quantum limit is approached) on the genome conformational state in E. coli, which strongly suggests that chromo- somal DNA is the ultimate target of the resonant interaction of millimetre microwaves with t h s system". Possibly related to this is a recent report"

"Adrmttedly the possibility of determirustic chaos (in consequence of the nonlinearities inherent in the systems concerned) does constitute a more serious impemment to reproducibility

+This work has also revealed a dependence on the polarisation (chirality) of the radiation, similar to that mentioned above in the case of the yeast S. cavlsbeyenrir.

Electromagnetic concomitant of the mechanical

that low-intensity microwave irradiation of leukocytes results in a sipficant increase in biophoton emission in the optical range (the origin of which is again thought to involve DNA)-an effect possibly connected with the synchronising effect of ilvcrowave irradiation mentioned above.

Finally and of particular interest and potential importance, is the possible repercussion of the concept of biocoherence on our understanding of iwuter, which is, of course, a dipolar system in its own right, and the majority constituent of biosystems. Although its influence on the properties of dissolved biomolecules has long been appreciated (as has their reciprocal structuring effect on cell water), the structuring effect of a coherently excited macroscopic electric polarisa- tion wave on cell water is yet to be considered. Furthermore, the suggestion that water (both biological and non-biological) might itself support a (symbiotic) coherent excitation-comprising a (meso- scopicdy) self-confined, strong electromagnetic field which osclllates in-phase with a collective material excitation involving intramolecular electronic transi- tions between the ground-states and a certain excited state of the water molecules-is an exciting and relatively recent development" which, in the bio-case, would elevate water from its traditional role as a space- f i n g solvent to a position of singular importance, the full significance of which is yet to be fully elucidated; non-biologically, the implications could be even more kr-reaching.

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