Cell phone radiation may hurt memory - study

By David Liu

One study led by University of South Florida researchers suggests that cell phone radiation may help prevent or even cure Alzheimer's disease.

The study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease showed mice prone to having Alzheimer's disease avoided developing the disease, mice with Alzheimer's got rid of the disease and mice without the disease boosted their memory among other things after receiving cell phone radiation.

For the study, Gary Arendash Ph.D. and colleagues placed cages of mice around a cell phone radiation emitter and exposed the animals one hour a time twice a day for a period of seven to nine months.

Another less publicized study led by Schüz J and colleagues from the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, Denmark and published in the Feb 5, 2009 issue of PLoS One found that use of cell phones was associated with fewer hospital contacts for Alzheimer’s disease in men.

The researchers found the hospital contact rates were increased by 10 to 20 percent for migraine and vertigo while the hospital contact rates were decreased by 30 to 40 percent for dementia including Alzheimer's disease, vascular and other dementia, Parkinson disease and epilepsy among men.

Another study gave some discouraging news though.

Fragopoulou AF and colleagues from N. & K. University of Athens also reported their research in the Nov 30, 2009 issue of Pathophysiology saying that mice exposed to cell phone radiation twice a day for four days experienced a negative effect on spatial learning and memory in mice Mus musculus Balb/c using the Morris water maze.