Lit Corner | April 11, 2011
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If you're alive in 20 years, you may be able to live forever.
by Gary Vey for Viewzone
Also see Blood Cancer Stopped By Shortening Chromosomes
From the moment of birth, we begin the battle against death -- against the inevitable. Statistics say that a newborn child can expect to live an average of 76 years. But averages may not be what they use to be.
In 1786, life expectancy was 24 years. A hundred years later it doubled to 48. Right now, it's 76.
"Over half the baby boomers here in America are going to see their hundredth birthday and beyond in excellent health," says Dr. Ronald Klatz of the American Academy of Anti-Aging. "We're looking at life spans for the baby boomers and the generation after the baby boomers of 120 to 150 years of age."
Today's quest for the fountain of youth is taking scientists from inside the genetic structure of cells to analyzing the role of stress and diet on life spans. Would-be immortals flock to anti-aging clinics and shell out as much as $20,000 a year for treatments that include hormone therapy, DNA analysis, even anti-aging cosmetic surgery. These experimental therapies offer no guarantees -- just the promise of prolonging life.
"Anti-aging medicine is not about stretching out the last years of life." says Dr. Klatz. "It's about stretching out the middle years of life... and actually compressing those last years few years of life so that diseases of aging happen very, very late in the life cycle, just before death, or don't happen at all."
The cause of human aging is now being understood.
The cause of what we call "aging" is now finally being understood. This new understanding may soon move anti-aging cosmetics and surgery to the realm of snake oil and Siberian yogurt as life-extension fads. Just when you thought that holographic TV and outer space travel were the future benefits of modern technology, immortality has silently been revealing itself to scientists like Doctor John Langmore [right] of the University of Michigan's Department of Biology. Dr. Langmore and his group have been looking inside human cells, at the very essence of human life: the DNA molecule. Specifically, Dr. Langmore is looking at the tips of the DNA molecule - a previously overlooked part of the double-helix molecule - that contain a kind of chain of repeating pairs of enzymes.
Telomeres - programmed to die?
Called telomeres, these molecular chains have often been compared to the blank leaders on film and recording tape. Indeed, telomeres seem to perform a similar function in aligning the DNA molecule during the replication process. Protecting the vital DNA molecule from being copied out of synch, these telomeres provide a kind of buffer zone where asynchronous replication errors (that are inevitable) will not result in any of the vital DNA sequences being lost.
Other scientists use the analogy of the plastic bands on the ends of shoelaces. Telomeres seem to hold the important DNA code intact, preventing it from freying as the molecules replicate over time.
Perhaps the best analogy I have heard is to compare the telomeres to the white space surrounging an important type written document. Imagine that this paper is repeatedly slapped on a copy machine, a copy is made, and then that copy is used to make another copy. Each time the paper is subject to errors of alignment. After enough copying it is probable that the white space will diminish and some of the actual text will not be copied. That's what happens to our cells' DNA and is the reason we get old and die.
As any cell gets older, it is under attack by oxides and other so-called free-radical chemicals in the body and environment. We survive as living beings because our cells have the ability to duplicate themselves before being killed by these natural causes. Each time our cells duplicate themselves, the DNA molecule, which resembles a spral ladder, splits along the "rungs" of the ladder. Each half of this "ladder" then rebuilds the missing half making two new DNA molecules. But the procedure is not perfect and usually a small portion of the DNA molecule is lost and not copied. Since errors are more frequent on the ends of the DNA molecule, this area does not contain any important DNA information but rather a series or chain of repeating enzymes. The errors are therefore usually confined to this chain, called a telomere, and so the effect is usually insignificant.
Scientists recently noted that the length of these telomere chains were shorter as we grew older. Eventually, the telomeres become so shortened that the losses in replication begin to effect the vital DNA molecule sequence and prevent the cell from being able to duplicate itself. This point, when the cell has lost vital DNA code and cannot reproduce, is called the Hayflick limit. This is why we age.
Dr. Langmore uses physical, biochemical, and genetic techniques to study the structure and function of telomeres. His group has developed a cell-free system to reconstitute functional model telomeres using synthetic DNA, and are studying the mechanism by which telomeres normally stabilize chromosomes and how shortening of the telomeres could cause instability.
The protein factors responsible for stabilizing the ends of chromosomes are being identified, cloned, and studied. Electron microscopy is used to directly visualize the structure of the model telomeres. His group is also using new enzymatic assays to determine the structure of telomere DNA in normal and abnormal cells grown in vivo and in vitro, in order to address specific hypotheses about the role of telomeres in aging and cancer.
Recently, scientists discovered an important enzyme that can turn the telomere production on the DNA molecule "on" and "off." It's called telomerase. It seems that as we get older, the amount of telomerase in our cells decreases. Naturally, the exploration of this enzyme is now the focus of much investigation, but unfortunately the research is aimed at understanding how to turn telomeres "off" to limit the spread of "immortal" cancer cells.
[Right: a 3-d rendering of the telomerase enzyme.] The molecular structure shows an interesting "groove" (show in green) where the enzyme attaches to the DNA molecule. It is believed that by introducing a molecule to block this groove, the telomerase would become unable to attach itself to the DNA and thereby limit the length of telomere production. While this work holds hope for stopping tumor cells from reproducing forever, it does little to extend healthy cells from being rejuvinated. However, if the molecular "blocker" could specifically target only cancerous cells, without blocking telomerase activity in healthy cells, it could be a step towards human life extension if and when a pharmaceutical can be developed that activates telomerase in the human body.
[Thanks to Thomas R. Cech, Steven A. Jacobs and Elaine R. Podell of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder, for image]
Viewzone asked Dr. Langmore to give us his thoughts on the role of telomerase, and the possibilities of using it to repair and lengthen telomeres in human cells. His comments follow:
Telomeres are special, essential DNA sequences at both ends of each chromosome. Each time chromosomes replicate a small amount of the DNA at both ends is lost, by an uncertain mechanism. Because human telomeres shorten at a much faster rate than many lower organisms, we speculate that this telomere shortening probably has a beneficial effect for humans, namely mortality. The telomere hypothesis of aging postulates that as the telomeres naturally shorten during the lifetime of an individual, a signal or set of signals is given to the cells to cause the cells to cease growing (senesce). At birth, human telomeres are about 10,000 base pairs long, but by 100 years of age this has been reduced to about 5,000 base pairs.
Telomerase is actually an enzyme (a catalytic protein) that is able to arrest or reverse this shortening process. Normally, telomerase is only used to increase the length of telomeres during the formation of sperm and perhaps eggs, thus ensuring that our offspring inherit long "young" telomeres to propagate the species.
ViewZone: How is mortality in non-germ line cells a beneficial effect?
Dr. Langmore: The telomere hypothesis of cancer is that the function of telomere shortening is to cause cells that have lost normal control over growth to senesce (i.e. stop growing) before being able to replicate enough times to become a tumor, thus decreasing the frequency of cancer.
Immortal cells like cancer have an unfair advantage over normal human cells which are designed to senesce. But nature seems to have planned this human telomere shortening perhaps to prolong life by hindering the otherwise unchecked growth of non-immortal or benign tumors. Malignant, or immortal tumors can simply outlive the rest of the organism.
Malignant cancer cells are being studied because they appear to have altered the shortening of telomeres by turning "on" the telomerase. Thus it appears that some cancers and aging are both connected with the biology of telomeres.
It is possible that increasing telomerase activity in normal cells might stop the biological clock of aging, yet the side effect of this intervention might be an increase in the rate of cancer. Further understanding and refinement in the telomere hypothesis might lead to a way to slow the aging process and prevent or arrest cancer.
However telomeres function, they are an integral part in the very complex process of cell growth, involving many other factors as well. Telomerase might be the Achilles Heal of aging and cancer, but as our understanding of factors that interact with telomerase, factors that are responsible for telomere shortening in the first place, and non-telomerase mechanisms for increasing the length of telomeres, we might find that one of these factors is more easily manipulated to slow aging or prevent cancer. Also there are additional factors that affect aging and cancer, which might prove in the end to be more important than telomeres and telomerase.
ViewZone: Are telomeres unique to individual DNA? If so, does this preclude any universal treatment for aging?
Dr. Langmore: Different individuals have telomeres with exactly the same DNA sequence but of different lengths. It is too early to say whether there is any relationship between telomere length in an individual and his or her life expectancy, or whether a treatment that would artificially lengthen telomeres would arrest (or reverse) the aging process. One problem is that even in one individual the telomeres of different chromosomes have very different lengths. Therefore an individual might have on average long telomeres; but, he might have one chromosome with a very short telomere that could affect cell growth.
ViewZone: In the work of Shay and Wright (see below), increased telomere length was positively associated with telomerase. How significant is this?
Dr. Langmore: Shay, Wright and all their many collaborators stimulated telomerase activity in normal cells. This was expected to 1) Increase the length of telomeres and 2) Prolong the lifetime of the cells in tissue culture. The treatment did both, in perfect agreement with the telomere hypothesis of aging.
ViewZone: How much was cell lifetime prolonged due to this treatment that reactivated telomerase?
Dr. Langmore: The increased proliferation of the cells was perhaps equivalent to hundreds of years of human life.
Dr. Langmore received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1975. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and at the University of Basel.
A link to cancer:
In the March 15 issue of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Journal, Dr. Jerry Shay and Dr. Woodring Wright, both professors of cell biology and neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, report manipulating the length of telomeres to alter the life span of human cells. Shay and Wright are the first to report this important finding. They received an Allied-Signal Award for Research on Aging to explore this line of research last year.
"By lengthening the telomere, we were able to extend the life of the cell hybrids," Wright explained. "This study is strong evidence that telomere length is the clock that counts cell divisions."
"The expression of the enzyme telomerase maintains stable telomere length. Telomerase is not detected in normal cells and telomeres shorten and then the cells stop dividing and enter a phase called cellular senescence."
Shay and Wright have shown in earlier studies that telomeres maintain their length in almost all human cancer cell lines. This correlated with inappropriate expression of telomerase and as a consequence allowed the cell to become "immortal." Cell immortality is a critical and perhaps rate-limiting step for almost all cancers to progress. Previous work by the UT Southwestern investigators showed that in a special group of advanced pediatric cancers the lack of telomerase activity correlated with critically shortened telomeres and cancer remission.
Consequently, an idea gaining momentum is that the ability to measure and perhaps alter telomere length and/or telomerase activity may give physicians new diagnostic and treatment tools for managing the care of patients with cancer.
Shay and Wright tried to alter already-immortal cells by attempting to inhibit telomerase activity and cause telomeres to shorten. "Unexpectedly, we found the opposite result. Rather than inhibiting telomerase, our treatment caused the immortal cells to develop longer telomeres," Shay explained. "Although we were surprised with the result, we now know there is a causal relationship between telomere length and the proliferate capacity of cells.
"Essentially, we combined the tumor cells containing experimentally elongated telomeres with normal cells and extended the life span of those cell hybrids compared to similar hybrids using cells without experimentally elongated telomeres."
Shay and Wright said the mechanism that causes telomeres to lengthen is still unclear. However, Shay said, "Our observations increase confidence in the hypothesis that immortal cells and reactivated telomerase are essential components of human tumors. Ultimately, we may be able to regulate tumor cells by inhibiting telomerase activity."
The potential implications for research on human aging also are significant. "It is still speculative, but understanding the role of telomere shortening in cell aging may give us the information we need to increase the life span of an organism," Wright said. (News Releases from UT Southwestern)
Other factors that make us "rust"...
DNA damages occur continuously in cells of living organisms. While most of these damages are repaired, some accumulate, as the DNA Polymerases and other repair mechanisms cannot correct defects as fast as they are apparently produced. In particular, there is evidence for DNA damage accumulation in non-dividing cells of mammals. These accumulated DNA damages probably interfere with RNA transcription. It has been suggested that the decline in the ability of DNA to serve as a template for gene expression is the primary cause of aging. Most damage comes in the form of oxidative damage - the same "rusting" process that oxidizes iron - and hence is likely to be a prominent cause of aging. Arteriosclerosis and heart disease are the results of this type of damage to the cells lining our blood vessels.
Without the ability to duplicate itself before being "rusted" to death, a cell is sentenced to senesce, or death. As we gradually lose members of our cumulative body, we wear out and become a mortal. Understanding the biology of telomeres and telomerase hold the potential of unlimited duplication and unlimited life.
It appears then that telomere lengths are shortened by time and the number of times the DNA molecule has reproduced or "copied" itself. This is also limited by inheritance. If your family has a history of living to an old age, it is likely that your telomeres are longer and therefore protect the critical DNA information when your cells make copies of themselves. In a general population, the people who live longer usually have more offspring so it follows that number of people having longer telomeres would increase. But there's a problem. Having longer telomeres also encourages cancerous cells to make more copies of themselves, causing tumors and shortening the lives of people with long telomeres. These two consequences of long telomeres, positive and negative, are balanced by natural selection and today set the average life expectancy to about 76 years.
Remember also that cells are bombarded by environmental poisons that can cause the genetic codes to break, regardless of the telomere length. The more toxic the environment is, the greater the chance for "broken" cells to reproduce themselves and the more beneficial it would be to have shorter telomeres to limit this reproduction.
But what would happen if the population was forced to have offspring at a very young age, eliminating the impact of a toxic environment? This is exactly what happens to laboratory rats and mice who are artificially bred. Their breeding environment is usually free of toxins and highly controlled, thus favoring the expression of longer telomeres. This fact is important because rats and mice are traditionally used to test for toxicity of products in humans.
Bret S. Weinstein & Deborah Ciszek [University of Michigan] observed that captive-rodent breeding protocols, designed to increase reproductive output, simultaneously exert strong selection against reproductive senescence (old age) and virtually eliminate selection that would otherwise favor tumor suppression (i.e. having shorter telomeres). This appears to have greatly elongated the telomeres of laboratory mice. With their telomeric failsafe effectively disabled by forced breeding techniques, these animals are unreliable models of normal senescence and tumor formation. Safety tests employing these animals likely overestimate cancer risks and underestimate tissue damage and consequent accelerated aging.
In short: lab rats are bred in an artificial environment that does not allow for the changes of natural selection and so they have become more prone to cancer and artificially immune to the effects of premature aging. As such, their reaction to pathogens should not necessarily be relied upon to indicate human reactions to such things as food additives, radiation and environmental contaminants. This is a serious problem that has, so far, received little acknowledgement. While we effectively test products for causing cancer we risk the mistake of permitting products that can make us age faster.
It has also been noted that children of young mothers seem to live longer than children of older mothers. This is because all of the eggs of a female are produced while she is still in her mother's womb. She is born with all of the egg cells that she will ever have. The telomeres of the ealy produced eggs are very long but become shortened as more are made. So a woman has a finite number of eggs, some with long telomeres and some with shorter telomeres. After birth, when the female reaches puberty, these long-telomere egg cells are the first to be released by the ovaries, and the first to becme potential embryos. Thus, having children as near to puberty as possible increases the chance that the offspring will inherit long telomeres. It also explains why having children later in life increases the chance for birth defects or miscarriages. This is precisely what is happening to the laboratory rat and mice populations, who are forced to breed early, and explains why these lab animals have unusually long telomeres compared to animals in the general "wild" population.
So for humans to extend life we must do two things: first, eliminate the toxins in our environment that make short telomeres a "good thing" while finding a dietary or pharmaceutical method for increasing and preserving the length of our cells' telomeres. The twenty-first century may well be the era in which humans learn the secrets of eternal life, but it may also be a time to be reminded of the many dangers inherent in exploring these god-like abilities.
From every tree in the garden did he grant them to eat, save but one. And that tree, in the center of the garden, was called the tree of life. And the Snake said to Eve, "Eat of this fruit and you will become as God and never die." -- Genesis
UPDATE: December 2010
Harvard scientists reverse the ageing process in mice -- now for humans
Harvard scientists were surprised that they saw a dramatic reversal, not just a slowing down, of the ageing in mice. Now they believe they might be able to regenerate human organs
Laboratory mouse in a scientist's hand In mice, reactivating the enzyme telomerase led to the repair of damaged tissues and reversed the signs of ageing.
Scientists claim to be a step closer to reversing the ageing process after rejuvenating worn out organs in elderly mice. The experimental treatment developed by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies.
The surprise recovery of the animals has raised hopes among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat in humans -- or at least to slow down the ageing process.
An anti-ageing therapy could have a dramatic impact on public health by reducing the burden of age-related health problems, such as dementia, stroke and heart disease, and prolonging the quality of life for an increasingly aged population.
"What we saw in these animals was not a slowing down or stabilisation of the ageing process. We saw a dramatic reversal – and that was unexpected," said Ronald DePinho, who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature.
"This could lead to strategies that enhance the regenerative potential of organs as individuals age and so increase their quality of life. Whether it serves to increase longevity is a question we are not yet in a position to answer."
The ageing process is poorly understood, but scientists know it is caused by many factors. Highly reactive particles called free radicals are made naturally in the body and cause damage to cells, while smoking, ultraviolet light and other environmental factors contribute to ageing.
The Harvard group focused on a process called telomere shortening. Most cells in the body contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, which carry our DNA. At the ends of each chromosome is a protective cap called a telomere. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres are snipped shorter, until eventually they stop working and the cell dies or goes into a suspended state called "senescence". The process is behind much of the wear and tear associated with ageing.
At Harvard, they bred genetically manipulated mice that lacked an enzyme called telomerase that stops telomeres getting shorter. Without the enzyme, the mice aged prematurely and suffered ailments, including a poor sense of smell, smaller brain size, infertility and damaged intestines and spleens. But when DePinho gave the mice injections to reactivate the enzyme, it repaired the damaged tissues and reversed the signs of ageing.
"These were severely aged animals, but after a month of treatment they showed a substantial restoration, including the growth of new neurons in their brains," said DePinho.
Repeating the trick in humans will be more difficult. Mice make telomerase throughout their lives, but the enzyme is switched off in adult humans, an evolutionary compromise that stops cells growing out of control and turning into cancer. Raising levels of telomerase in people might slow the ageing process, but it makes the risk of cancer soar.
DePinho said the treatment might be safe in humans if it were given periodically and only to younger people who do not have tiny clumps of cancer cells already living, unnoticed, in their bodies.
David Kipling, who studies ageing at Cardiff University, said: "The goal for human tissue 'rejuvenation' would be to remove senescent cells, or else compensate for the deleterious effects they have on tissues and organs. Although this is a fascinating study, it must be remembered that mice are not little men, particularly with regard to their telomeres, and it remains unclear whether a similar telomerase reactivation in adult humans would lead to the removal of senescent cells."
Lynne Cox, a biochemist at Oxford University, said the study was "extremely important" and "provides proof of principle that short-term treatment to restore telomerase in adults already showing age-related tissue degeneration can rejuvenate aged tissues and restore physiological function."
DePinho said none of Harvard's mice developed cancer after the treatment. The team is now investigating whether it extends the lifespan of mice or enables them to live healthier lives into old age.
Tom Kirkwood, director of the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University, said: "The key question is what might this mean for human therapies against age-related diseases? While there is some evidence that telomere erosion contributes to age-associated human pathology, it is surely not the only, or even dominant, cause, as it appears to be in mice engineered to lack telomerase. Furthermore, there is the ever-present anxiety that telomerase reactivation is a hallmark of most human cancers."
[from Korean Times Newspaper]
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
A team of South Korean scientists on Sunday claimed to have created a "cellular fountain of youth," or a small molecule, which enables human cells to avoid aging and dying.
The team, headed by Prof. Kim Tae-kook at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, argued the newly-synthesized molecule, named CGK733, can even make cells younger.
The findings were featured by the Britain-based Nature Chemical Biology online early today and will be printed as a cover story in the journal’s offline edition early next month.
"All cells face an inevitable death as they age. On this path, cells became lethargic and in the end stop dividing but we witnessed that CGK733 can block the process," Kim said.
"We also found the synthetic compound can reverse aging, by revitalizing already-lethargic cells. Theoretically, this can give youth to the elderly via rejuvenating cells," the 41-year-old said.
Kim expected that the CGK733-empowered drugs that keep cells youthful far beyond their normal life span would be commercialized in less than 10 years.
Other researchers here heaped praises on the discovery but they were cautious about the practical therapeutic application of the new substance.
"Obviously, it is an innovative finding. But we need to see whether or not CGK733 could really rejuvenate cells inside human bodies without generating side effects," Prof. Kim Sung-hoon at Seoul National University said.
Prof. Kim Tae-kook, however, is confident about the commercial viability of CGK733, believing the efficiency of the material was created using state-of-the-art magnetic nano-probe technology.
"We have the magnet-associated technology to identify molecular targets inside living cells, which allowed us to examine the mechanisms of CGK733 directly," Kim said.
"Unlike other research teams that must make candidates materials for drugs without being able to see their intra-cell activities, we know the precise mechanism of CGK733. So we have the better chance of making a success of the substance," he continued.
Indeed, Kim basked in global recognition last June when he and his associates developed a technology dubbed MAGIC, short for magnetism-based interactive capture.
MAGIC uses fluorescent materials to check whether any drug can mix with targeted proteins inside the cell. The results were globally recognized by being printed by the U.S.-based journal Science at the time.
"MAGIC is kind of a source technology to see inside cells. Based on the method, we also found a pair of promising substances that can deal with cancers," Kim said.
Key Target Of Aging Regulator Found
ScienceDaily (June 16, 2009) -- Researchers at The Wistar Institute have defined a key target of an evolutionarily conserved protein that regulates the process of aging. The study, published June 11 in Nature, provides fundamental knowledge about key mechanisms of aging that could point toward new anti-aging strategies and cancer therapies.
Scientists have long known that a class of proteins called sirtuins promotes fitness and longevity in most organisms ranging from single-celled yeast to mammals. At the cellular level, sirtuins protect genome integrity, enhance resistance to adverse stresses, and antagonize senescence. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have remained poorly understood.
The team, led by senior author Shelley Berger, Ph.D., Hilary Koprowski Professor at The Wistar Institute, demonstrated for the first time a molecular target for a member of this class, Sir2, in regulation of aging in yeast cells. Sir2 removes an acetyl group attached to a specific site (lysine at position 16 or K16) on histone H4óhistones are proteins that package and organize the long strands of DNA within the nucleus and also are central regulators in turning genes on and off. The study reveals that removal of this acetyl group by Sir2 near the chromosome ends -- the telomeres -- is important for yeast cells to maintain the ability to replicate. Researchers found that Sir2 levels decline as cells age, and there is a concomitant accumulation of the acetylation mark along with disrupted histone organization at telomeres.
Deacetylation of H4K16 by Sir2 and consequent telomere stability play a major role in maintaining long lifespan in yeast. Since sirtuins deacetylate many different proteins, these results clarify a key role of Sir2 protein in control of lifespan.
"Some modifications on histones, like this acetylation on histone H4 lysine 16, are persistent and are maintained through generations of cell divisions. This DNA-independent inheritance is called epigenetics," Berger says. "Characteristic epigenetic features have been discovered for various developmental processes in recent years. Understanding epigenetic changes associated with aging is a hugely exciting direction in aging research. It will provide insights and ideas not only for new therapies to regulate cells that have lost control of proliferation, such as 'immortal' cells found in cancers, but also for new strategies to maintain health and fitness."
"We plan to continue to search for new targets of Sir2 and other aging regulators," says lead author Weiwei Dang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scientist working with Berger. "We are designing unbiased screens for other aging targets and mechanisms in chromatin. Using yeast as our aging model enables us to do many discovery screens that are impossible with other, more complex organisms. Yet it is remarkable that many of these chromatin mechanisms associated with yeast could turn out to be relevant even for aging human cells."
Handle With Care: Telomeres Resemble DNA Fragile Sites
ScienceDaily (July 17, 2009) -- Telomeres, the repetitive sequences of DNA at the ends of linear chromosomes, have an important function: They protect vulnerable chromosome ends from molecular attack. Researchers at Rockefeller University now show that telomeres have their own weakness. They resemble unstable parts of the genome called fragile sites where DNA replication can stall and go awry. But what keeps our fragile telomeres from falling apart is a protein that ensures the smooth progression of DNA replication to the end of a chromosome.
The research, led by Titia de Lange, head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, and first author Agnel Sfeir, a postdoctoral associate in the lab, suggests a striking similarity between telomeres and common fragile sites, parts of the genome where breaks tend to occur, albeit infrequently. (Humans have 80 common fragile sites, many of which have been linked to cancer.) De Lange and Sfeir found that these newly discovered fragile sites make it difficult for DNA replication to proceed, a discovery that unveils a new replication problem posed by telomeres.
At the center of the discovery is a protein known as TRF1, which de Lange, in an effort to understand how telomeres protect chromosome ends, discovered in 1995. Using a conditional mouse knockout, de Lange and Sfeir have now revealed that TRF1, which is part of a six-protein complex called shelterin, enables DNA replication to drive smoothly through telomeres with the aid of two other proteins.
"Telomeric DNA has a repetitive sequence that can form unusual DNA structures when the DNA is unwound during DNA replication," says de Lange. "Our data suggest that TRF1 brings in two proteins that can take out these structures in the telomeric DNA. In other words, TRF1 and its helpers remove the bumps in the road so that the replication fork can drive through."
The work, published in the July 10 issue of Cell, began when Sfeir deleted TRF1 and saw that the telomeres resembled common fragile sites, suggesting that TRF1 protects telomeres from becoming fragile. Instead of a continuous string of DNA, the telomeres were broken into fragments of twos and threes. To see if the replication fork stalls at telomeres, de Lange and Sfeir joined forces with Carl L. Schildkraut, a researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Using a technique called SMARD, the researchers observed the dynamics of replication across individual DNA molecules -- the first time this technique has been used to study telomeres. In the absence of TRF1, the fork often stalled for a considerable amount of time.
The only other known replication problem posed by telomeres was solved in 1985 when it was shown that the enzyme telomerase elongates telomeres, which shorten during every cell division. The second problem posed by telomeres, the so-called end-protection problem, was solved by de Lange and her colleagues when they found that shelterin protects the ends of linear chromosomes, which look like damaged DNA, from unnecessary repair. Working with TRF1, the very first shelterin protein ever to be identified, de Lange and Sfeir have not only unveiled a completely unanticipated replication problem at telomeres, they have also shown how it is solved.
The research lays new groundwork for the study of common fragile sites throughout the genome, explains de Lange. "Fragile sites have always been hard to study because no specific DNA sequence preceeds or follows them," she says. "In constrast, telomeres represent fragile sites with a known sequence, which may help us understand how common fragile sites break throughout the genome -- and why."
Source: ViewZone
Would you allow 1600 chest x-rays for yourself or your child?
Some scientists say that’s what 24 hours of cell phone use amounts to. Here’s visual proof.
Slide one (top left) shows a normal healthy cell under magnification. This cell is a bright energetic little orb with its DNA and other genetic materials safely inside the cell membrane.
Slide two (top right) shows a living cell exposed to 1600 chest X-rays. This cell is shrunken and has lost its energetic brightness. There is a comet trail of fragmented DNA particles, visible streaming out of the cell. These DNA fragments are called micronuclei, typical mutations from excessive X-rays, or from gamma waves of nuclear detonation.
Slide three (bottom) shows a cell exposed to 24 hours of cell phone radiation. Its comet tail of micronuclei damage is virtually identical to that of 1600 chest x-rays.
The frequency used was 1.8 gigahertz (1800 megahertz), typical cell phone frequencies are around 1.9 gigahertz (and also from many household cordless phones).
The power level used to micronucleate this photograph was 1.3 W/k Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). SAR is the calculated amount of energy absorbed by the human body from microwave phones. Many cell phones produce MORE power than that.
KIDS SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED CELL PHONES. Instead, they live with them like a second appendage.
By 2010 there will be 31 million young cell phone users, 10.5 million of them pre-teens.(1) "Parents have made teens and their younger 8-12 year old siblings the fastest growing segment of the cell phone market," says Yankee Group, a consulting firm which promotes all things wireless.(2) In 2007, a Harris Interactive survey reported that American kids age 10-17 admit to using a cell phone an average of up to 3.75 hours per day.(3) A teen boasting five or more hours per day is not uncommon.
As heavy users of wireless, these millions of idle, entertainment-starved kids are among the radiation industry’s most lucrative cash cows. But getting milked at an early age should garner hazard pay, according to thousands of scientific studies compiled over decades. There is ample evidence that kids who continually irradiate themselves with pulsing, ELF-embedded microwaves from wireless devices are being set up for general health degradation, severe nerve damage, mental incapacitation and life threatening tumors.
Cell phone warnings from all over the world
AUSTRALIA
"I would not want to be a heavy user of a mobile phone," says Professor Bruce Armstrong, researcher at the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Heading the Australian component of the multi-nation Interphone study project, Armstrong told the media in April, 2008, that evidence of a mobile phone connection with harmful effects, including tumors, is accumulating.(4)
For kids, this is bad news. In 2005, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed that children are especially sensitive to all electromagnetic fields because their developing nervous systems are fragile, their brain tissues more conductive and their smaller skeletons more easily penetrated by the waves.(5)
RUSSIA
Russian scientists responsible for public health have issued an urgent warning about wireless health damage, recommending that children under 18 limit the use of cell phones to emergency calls only.(6)
The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection says that we may expect kids who use cell phones to suffer not only brain tumors and dementia, but also increased epileptic readiness and depressive mental illness.(47)
British and Austrian health officials warn that kids may be especially susceptible to serious health problems from wireless devices.(7) Canadian officials say that children should limit cell phone use until health science catches up with technology.(8) The French health minister advised in January, 2008, that kids be allowed no more than 6 wireless minutes at any one time.(9) (Cleanup workers at Chernobyl were limited to a few minutes in nuclear radiation areas).
Yet, not a single U.S. health agency is warning about the horrific risks to kids. Which is ironic, since American kids have the most WiFi gadgets. It’s supposed to be “cool” but actually they are getting pretty hot to fried with this stuff. Wireless radiation guarantees major disruption in the chemical communication pathways between all the cells of the body and that’s been known since WW2.(10)
Because the wireless industry controls the mainstream media with $billions in advertising, there is a conspicuous media blackout of important radiation science coming from labs all over the world. Here’s what you are NOT being told:
1. Microwave phones can make kids hearing-impaired. According to research presented in 2007 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology, cell phone radiation incrementally damages the inner ear, causing high frequency hearing loss. Those who talk an hour a day or more, sustain the most damage.(11) Youthful cell phone habituates will suffer major and irreversible hearing damage by the time they reach young adulthood.
2. Microwave phones can make kids vision-impaired. Microwaves cause eye lens opacity similar to cataracts. In the 1970s, researcher Milton Zaret demonstrated that weak microwave fields cause debilitating subcapsular eye lesions, sometimes years after exposure.(12) Israeli researchers have confirmed that microwaves at cell phone intensities cause macro and micro damage to the entire visual system, including tiny bubbles that can form on the eye lens.(13) Dr. Om Gandhi at the University of Utah reported that the eye lens of a 10 year old child will absorb five times more cell phone radiation than an adult eye.(14) Metal-rimmed eyeglasses can absorb microwaves, then re-emit that radiation onto the eye surface.(15)
This is like micro-cooking a child’s eyes.
3. Microwave phones can make kids brain-impaired. Brain scans show that microwave phone radiation penetrates deeply into a child’s brain.(16) Within minutes, cell phone microwaves can open the blood brain barrier, allowing albumin and other chemicals from tiny blood vessels to leak into sensitive brain tissues. This leakage causes irreversible oxidative stress and nerve tissue damage.(17) Brain hormones, including melatonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and thyroid stimulating hormone are disrupted by phone microwaves.(18)
4. Microwave phones highly elevate a child’s cancer risk. In late 2007, Israeli experts announced that talking as little as 10 minutes on a cell phone triggers changes in brain tissues linked to abnormal cell division and cancer.(19) Phone microwaves are implicated in both eye and salivary gland tumors.(20) In 2006, studies by three European research groups reported an increased incidence of brain tumors in people who have used mobile phones for ten years or more. After 2000 hours of microwave phone exposure, kids face a 240 percent increased risk of developing brain malignancy.(21) If the 1.75 million 8 and 9 year olds who now use cell phones average only half an hour a day, they will be at high risk for radiation cancer in their teen years. Cancer is the number two cause of death for American children.
EUROPE
No sane parent would submit his child to 1600 chest X-rays over a 24 hour period. Yet a mere 24 hours of wireless phone radiation can inflict the same damage to a child’s tissues as 1600 chest X-rays. This is the crux of studies completed by 12 groups of researchers from seven European countries who collaborated in the REFLEX study project to gauge the effects of wireless radiation on human health. The truth of what they found is shown in a series of images above (22).
The U.S. government allowed wireless phones to be put on the market in the 1980s with absolutely no safety testing.
The truth is that tissue damage from wireless microwave radiation is known to be as cumulative as that from ionizing X-radiation. If we divide the tissue damage of 1600 chest X-rays by 24 cell phone hours, you could argue the following:
For each minute a child presses a microwave phone to his head, he may suffer radiation damage equivalent to approximately 1.1 chest X-rays.
For each hour a child uses a transmitting wireless phone or wireless laptop to communicate, watch videos/TV or play games, he may be exposing his developing brain, eye and gut tissues to radiation damage equivalent to 66.6 chest X-rays.
Ionizing X-radiation, like that used for chest X-rays and other medical procedures, is on carcinogen "List One," compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). IARC is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization. IARC ranks X-radiation on par with gamma radiation, plutonium, dioxin and benzene, all known to induce cancer in both animals and humans. There is no "safe" dose determined for any substance or exposure on IARC’s List One.
It’s sobering that microwave radiation, blasting from an entire generation’s wireless phones, inflicts the same kind of DNA damage as ionizing radiation on IARC’s carcinogen List One. What REFLEX studies prove is how quickly that devastating damage takes place.
INDIA
The public health catastrophe being unleashed by indiscriminate use of wireless phones is further brought into focus by a double-blind medical study completed in India in 2005 and published in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics.(23)
The study analyzed micronucleated cell damage in blood and buccal (mouth) tissues of people who use their cell phone one to 15 hours a day. The control group had never used cell phones at any time. DNA samples were coded and scored blind in strict protocol.
The test results of the "Indian study" are as stunning as the REFLEX work. The non cell phone users had an average of only four percent of their cells with DNA damage. The human body has a chance of meeting this moderate cellular reconstruction challenge, although every DNA repair operation carries with it a chance of error.
A whopping average of 39.75 percent of cells taken from mobile phone users showed DNA damage. The blood of one 24-year-old male revealed 63 percent micronucleated cells. He had used a cell phone for 1-2 hours per day for two years, the norm for millions of kids.
The Indian study confirms that the human body, overwhelmed with the continual and brutal assault of wireless radiation, is unable to perform normal cellular repair. Other studies confirm that microwave radiation, which causes a critical need for continual cellular repair, simultaneously shuts down cellular repair mechanisms.(24) The body’s exhausted immune and repair systems eventually become too decimated to do much more than survive poorly.
So the latest studies reveal what no one wants to hear: Kids who endlessly cell-phone socialize, even sleep with perpetually transmitting wireless devices (to keep intermittent conversations on line), are doing immense damage to their tissues, especially the brain and setting up a storm of problems which they will reap in later life. The profiteers or corporate America don’t care. They want their money NOW; to Hell with the future of these kids.
Radiation researcher Dr. Milton Zaret told congressional investigators years ago that the dangers of non-ionizing radiation cannot be overstated because "most non-ionizing radiational injuries occur covertly, usually do not become manifest until after latent periods of years, and when they do become manifest, the effects are seldom recognized."(25)
The hundreds of types of human cancers have one thing in common—they all begin at the cellular level when genetic material in one or more cells becomes damaged. This damage can be passed from parents, or caused by the effects of an environmental carcinogen. "…Genetic mutations in one single cell are sufficient to lead to cancer," says Dr. Henry Lai. Dr. Lai is a celebrated scientist at the University of Washington who has years of genetic and bioenergetics research to his credit.(26)
But long before epidemic cancers, young cell-phone users are destined to suffer the symptoms of neurasthenia, or what the Soviets used to call "radiowave sickness." The symptoms include headache, fatigue, skin rashes, weakness, tinnitus, dizziness, moodiness and sleeplessness. These warning signs are just the beginning of a long, downward spiral of general deterioration, including circulatory ailments, immune dysfunction, allergies and premature aging.
Immune System Dysfunction.
A child’s body, kept in chronic allergic stress by wireless phone radiation, may end up with an exhausted immune system which no longer responds effectively. European experts prognosticate that many people heavily exposed to wireless radiation may eventually suffer the manifestations of electro-hypersensitivity (EHS).(34) EHS is a devastating allergic, auto-immune-like condition in which over-irradiated persons become severely sensitive to both chemical and electromagnetic pollution. Similar to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, EHS symptoms can be so disabling that victims are often forced to isolate themselves from even the smallest electromagnetic fields.
Within two minutes of microwave phone exposure, the electrical activity of a child’s brain is abnormally altered for up to one hour.(39) British radiation expert Dr. Gerald Hyland reported that cell phones which use repetitive, pulsing 2 Hz and 8.34 Hz frequencies can badly disrupt the delta and alpha stabilization process in a child’s developing brain.(40)
Dr. Hyland confirmed that cell phone energy can cause radical changes in human mood and behavior.(41) This is the case because microwaves at cell phone levels can unleash a cornucopia of radical damage to all parts of the brain, including the cortex, the hippocampus (memory center) and the basal ganglia. To wit:
Scientists have demonstrated that cell phone radiation causes immediate blood flow changes in the brain, and also deregulates calcium efflux from brain cells, causing cell membranes to weaken and leak.(42)
Researchers in Finland have shown that one hour of cell phone radiation causes brain cells to shrink, indicating permanent damage to cell structure as confirmed by REFLEX studies.(43)
The Max Planck Institute in Germany reported that cell phones can blast heat spikes into the brain which may flash burn cell membranes to the boiling point of water. (44)
British researchers have shown that weak microwave radiation can change the shape of brain proteins into formations resembling pathological fibrils associated with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. (45)
Swedish scientists demonstrated that cell phone radiation makes holes (lesions) in rat brains and they predict a wave of early-onset Alzheimer’s in young cell phone users. (46)
And what about environmental microwave transmitters?
Millions of American kids, struggling with physical disabilities and mental manias, are heavily irradiated not only with Wi-toys, but also by ubiquitous environmental transmitters needed to feed those toys. Nearly 200,000 cell tower and roof top transmitters continuously saturate American cities, playgrounds and passing vehicles with DNA-damaging waves equivalent to ionizing radiation. Living in transmitter-zapped neighborhoods where microwaves pass easily into homes, millions of infants and small kids have no respite from daily, deadly radiation assault.
Unregulated Wi-Fi systems, wireless local area network routers, security monitors, cordless phone systems and other types of wireless transmitters X-ray the interiors of malls, airports, offices, schools, hospitals and millions of homes 24/7. Many commercial and retail enterprises are switching to wireless inventory systems. These and retail inter-personnel push-to-talk radio systems literally "cook" stores and malls where kids congregate.
Many public transport systems are being wired for Wi-Fi. Soon, commercial aircraft will offer Wi-Fi computer services, compelling all passengers to absorb the toxic rays of mid-flight entertainment. Many vehicles are wired with GPS navigation and/or tracking systems. These rolling hotspots zap not only passengers, but people passing by.
The federal government has never developed adequate safety standards for long-term environmental exposure to this barrage of wireless radiation. U.S. standards are antiquated and calculated for short term exposure only. In 2002, the EPA’s Radiation Protection Division confirmed that the FCC’s current exposure guidelines are thermally (burn) based and do not apply to chronic exposure of non-thermal wireless pollution which now enshrouds the nation.(48)
In 2007, 14 world-class public health experts and radiation researchers announced in their BioInitiative Report on Electromagnetic Radiation that current public microwave exposure standards are thousands of times TOO LENIENT. Having compiled the weight of evidence from thousands of studies, these experts conclude that current exposure standards must be drastically revised because they are absolutely NOT protective of the public health.(49)
You’d better do something for yourselves, or you and your kids will literally fry.
Thanks to Amy Worthington for doing all the heavy lifting work in compiling this, from a piece in the Idaho Observer.
NOTES
1. "Growing Concern over Safety of Cell Phones for Children," D.Carvajal, 3/7/2008, www.emfacts.com; Yankee Group predicts 10.5 million preteen cell phone users by 2010, see www.microwavenews.com, March 2007.
2. "Family Logistics Should Determine Whether Your Child is Ready for a Cell Phone," L. Flam, Associated Press, 2-5-08.
3. "Teen and Tween Cell Phone Calls Rise During the Summer," Fox 51, 8-6-2007.
4. Armstrong quoted by Microwave News, March/April 2008. The Interphone project is coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Teams of researchers across the globe have gathered health data since 2000 on long term mobile phone users and their various types of tumors. The data is being analyzed at IARC’s headquarters in France.
5. Pediatrics, Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Vol. 116, No. 2 August 2005, pp. 303-313.
6. "Children and Mobil Phones: The Health of the Following Generations is In Danger," Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, Moscow, Russia, 4-14-2008.
7. "Cell Phones ‘Should Not be Given to Children,’ " W. Knight, London, NewScientist.com news service, 1-11-2005; "Why Cell Phones Will Hurt Your Children," mercola.com, 2-07-2008: The Vienna Medical Association says "Children under the age of 16 should never use a mobile phone."
8. "Canadian Health Official Warns Consumers to ‘Limit Cell Phone Use’ Especially by Children," The Toronto Star, July 12, 2005.
9. "Growing Concern over Safety of Cell Phones for Children," D.Carvajal, (France) 3/7/2008, www.emfacts.com.
10. "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields," Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, 4-13-2007. Dr Goldsworthy is a researcher and honorary lecturer with the Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.
11. "Cell Phone Use Causes High Frequency Hearing Loss," Newswire, Source: American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 09-12-2007.
12. For information on Dr. Zaret’s ground-breaking microwave research see: The Microwave Debate, Nicholas H. Steneck, 1984, p.162.; also The Zapping of America, Paul Brodeur, 1977, pp. 61-64.
13. "Israeli Research: Cell Phone Radiation May Cause Visual Damage," 07-29-2005, www.isracast.com.
14. Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards In the Wireless Age, Dr. George Carlo and Martin Schram, 2002, p. 216.
15. Confidential Report On Tetra Strictly for the Police Federation of England and Wales, Barrie Trower, September 2001, p. 7. This report by a renown British physicist is an outstanding archive of microwave health issues.
16. "What Cell Phones Can Do To a Child’s Brain In Two Minutes," Sunday Mirror, UK ,12-26-01.
17. Salford, Brun, Eberhardt, Malmgren and Persson, 2003, "Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain After Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Phones." Environmental Health Perspectives 111:881-883; also "Swedes find GSM Radiation Causes Nerve Damage at Very Low Doses," Microwave News, Jan/Feb 2003.
18. Koyu, et al., "Effects of 900 MHz electromagnetic Field on TSH and Thyroid Hormones in Rats," 06-10-2005; also "Aspects of Hypothalamic Neuronal Systems in VMH lesion-induced Obese Rats", Takahasi et al, Journal of Autonomic Nervous System, August 1994; 48 (3): 213-9.
19. "Only Ten Minutes on a Mobile Could Trigger Cancer, Scientists Believe," D. Derbyshire, Daily Mail, UK, 08-30-2007. This research was done at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and published in the Biochemical Journal, August 1, 2007, 9405 (Pt3) 559-568.
20. "Scientists Link Eye Cancer to Mobile Phones," J. Leake, The Sunday Times, UK, 01-14-2001, Electromagnetic Hazard and Therapy 2001, Volume 11, Numbers 2 to 4; also "Cell Phone Linked to Salivary Gland Tumors," United Press International, 02-14-2008 (Tel Aviv University).
21. "Cell Phone Risks Cited in Studies: Three Groups Find Danger, Tumors," South Florida Sun Sentinel, 02-01-2006; "Long-Term Mobile Phone Use Raises Brain Tumor Risk: Study," Reuters, March 31, 2006.
22. An in-depth report on the REFLEX project can be found in the on-line brochure Health and Electromagnetic Fields: EU-funded research into the Impacts of Electromagnetic Fields and Mobile Phones on Health published by the European Commission., 02-29-2008.
23. Ghandi, G. "Genetic Damage in Mobile Phone Users: Some Preliminary Findings," Indian J Hum Genetics, 2005, 11:99-104.
24. "EMF and the Role of Increased Charge in Promoting Disease and Impairing Tissue Repair," Gerald Goldberg, MD. Find this excellent article at: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/emf_and_charge_promotion.pdf
25. Dr. Zaret quoted in The Zapping of America, Paul Brodeur, 1977, p.74.
26. "Evidence for Genotoxic Effects (RFR and ELF Genotoxicity)" Dr. Henry Lai, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington,. Prepared for the BioInitiative Working Group, July 2007, see BioInitiative Report..
27. "Mobile Phones Linked to Cancer," BBC news, 11-09-1998, "Mr. Philips told the court…"It has been repeatedly shown that a few minutes exposure to cell phone type radiation can transform a 5% active cancer into a 95% active cancer for the duration of the exposure and for a short time afterwards."
28. "Health Risk of Electromagnetic Fields: Research on the Stress Response," Martin Blank, PhD., Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, Prepared for the BioInitiative Working Group, July 2007, see BioInitiative Report..
29. "Proteins Hold Clues to Cancer and Brain Diseases," C. Deriso, Medical College of Georgia, Medical News, February 2006.
34. "Will We All Become Electrosensitive?" Orjan Hallberg and Gerd Oberfeld, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 25:189-191, 2006. Worldwide, the number of reported cases of extreme electrosensitivity has been steadily increasing since the condition was first documented in 1991.
35. "Teen Mental Health Declining in the United States," Oxford University Press, 06-29-05, www.truthout.org.
36. "Four Anti-Depressants Shown Unsafe for Kids," The Washington Post, 04-22-04.
37. "A Systematic Chart Review of the Nature of Psychiatric Adverse Events in Children and Adolescents Treated with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors," T.Wilens, MD. et al., Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, Volume 13, Number 2, pp.143-152.
38. PBS Frontline: The Medicated Child, January 8, 2008.
39. "What Cell Phones Can Do To a Child’s Brain In Just Two Minutes," Sunday Mirror, UK, 12-26-2001.
40. From statement by Dr. Hyland reporting to STOA Committee of the EU regarding children and cell phones. Dr. Hyland is with the University of Warwick, Coventry, England and also the International Institute of Biophysics, Neuss-Holzheim, Germany.
41. "Cell Phones Hurt Children Even Worse than Adults," William Thomas, 2005, www.willlthomas.net. See also EMF Health Report March/April 1995.
42. "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields," Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, 4-13-2007.
43. "New Study Shows Cell Phones Cause Brain Changes," Reuters, 06-20-2002. This study was done by Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.
44. "Germans Worried about the Health Effects of Mobiles," Expatica, July 15, 2007, www.expatica.com.
45. "Changes in Protein Folding: A Nonthermal RF Mechanism," Microwave News, May/June 2003. This is an excellent summary of Dr. David de Pomerai’s work how on weak microwaves can change the shape of cellular proteins, causing them to clump together and form protein fibrils similar to those associated with neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Dr. dePomerai is with University of Nottingham, UK.
46. Leif Salford et al., "Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain after Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Mobile Phones," Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 111, Number 7 June 2003.
47. "Children and Mobil Phones: The Health of the Following Generations is In Danger," Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, Moscow Russia, 4-14-2008.
48. Quoted from letter by Norbert Hankin, chief environmental scientist with EPA’s Radiation Protection Division. This letter was received by EMR Network 7-16-02 and can be found at www.emrnetwork.org.
49. BioInitiative: A Rationale for a Biologically-based Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic Radiation, see "Summary for the Public and Conclusions," Cindy Sage, MA, August 2007.
Call me a technophobe (one correspondent did!) but DON’T FALL FOR THE OFFICIAL LIES, INCOMPETENCE AND DECEIT!
Find out how many transmitter antennas are near you: go here and type in your zip code http://www.antennasearch.com
Source: http://alternative-doctor.com/blog/cell-phones-as-bad-as-x-rays/
Would you allow 1600 chest x-rays for yourself or your child?
Some scientists say that’s what 24 hours of cell phone use amounts to. Here’s visual proof.
Slide one (top left) shows a normal healthy cell under magnification. This cell is a bright energetic little orb with its DNA and other genetic materials safely inside the cell membrane.
Slide two (top right) shows a living cell exposed to 1600 chest X-rays. This cell is shrunken and has lost its energetic brightness. There is a comet trail of fragmented DNA particles, visible streaming out of the cell. These DNA fragments are called micronuclei, typical mutations from excessive X-rays, or from gamma waves of nuclear detonation.
Slide three (bottom) shows a cell exposed to 24 hours of cell phone radiation. Its comet tail of micronuclei damage is virtually identical to that of 1600 chest x-rays.
The frequency used was 1.8 gigahertz (1800 megahertz), typical cell phone frequencies are around 1.9 gigahertz (and also from many household cordless phones).
The power level used to micronucleate this photograph was 1.3 W/k Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). SAR is the calculated amount of energy absorbed by the human body from microwave phones. Many cell phones produce MORE power than that.
KIDS SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED CELL PHONES. Instead, they live with them like a second appendage.
By 2010 there will be 31 million young cell phone users, 10.5 million of them pre-teens.(1) "Parents have made teens and their younger 8-12 year old siblings the fastest growing segment of the cell phone market," says Yankee Group, a consulting firm which promotes all things wireless.(2) In 2007, a Harris Interactive survey reported that American kids age 10-17 admit to using a cell phone an average of up to 3.75 hours per day.(3) A teen boasting five or more hours per day is not uncommon.
As heavy users of wireless, these millions of idle, entertainment-starved kids are among the radiation industry’s most lucrative cash cows. But getting milked at an early age should garner hazard pay, according to thousands of scientific studies compiled over decades. There is ample evidence that kids who continually irradiate themselves with pulsing, ELF-embedded microwaves from wireless devices are being set up for general health degradation, severe nerve damage, mental incapacitation and life threatening tumors.
Cell phone warnings from all over the world
AUSTRALIA
"I would not want to be a heavy user of a mobile phone," says Professor Bruce Armstrong, researcher at the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Heading the Australian component of the multi-nation Interphone study project, Armstrong told the media in April, 2008, that evidence of a mobile phone connection with harmful effects, including tumors, is accumulating.(4)
For kids, this is bad news. In 2005, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed that children are especially sensitive to all electromagnetic fields because their developing nervous systems are fragile, their brain tissues more conductive and their smaller skeletons more easily penetrated by the waves.(5)
RUSSIA
Russian scientists responsible for public health have issued an urgent warning about wireless health damage, recommending that children under 18 limit the use of cell phones to emergency calls only.(6)
The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection says that we may expect kids who use cell phones to suffer not only brain tumors and dementia, but also increased epileptic readiness and depressive mental illness.(47)
British and Austrian health officials warn that kids may be especially susceptible to serious health problems from wireless devices.(7) Canadian officials say that children should limit cell phone use until health science catches up with technology.(8) The French health minister advised in January, 2008, that kids be allowed no more than 6 wireless minutes at any one time.(9) (Cleanup workers at Chernobyl were limited to a few minutes in nuclear radiation areas).
Yet, not a single U.S. health agency is warning about the horrific risks to kids. Which is ironic, since American kids have the most WiFi gadgets. It’s supposed to be “cool” but actually they are getting pretty hot to fried with this stuff. Wireless radiation guarantees major disruption in the chemical communication pathways between all the cells of the body and that’s been known since WW2.(10)
Because the wireless industry controls the mainstream media with $billions in advertising, there is a conspicuous media blackout of important radiation science coming from labs all over the world. Here’s what you are NOT being told:
1. Microwave phones can make kids hearing-impaired. According to research presented in 2007 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology, cell phone radiation incrementally damages the inner ear, causing high frequency hearing loss. Those who talk an hour a day or more, sustain the most damage.(11) Youthful cell phone habituates will suffer major and irreversible hearing damage by the time they reach young adulthood.
2. Microwave phones can make kids vision-impaired. Microwaves cause eye lens opacity similar to cataracts. In the 1970s, researcher Milton Zaret demonstrated that weak microwave fields cause debilitating subcapsular eye lesions, sometimes years after exposure.(12) Israeli researchers have confirmed that microwaves at cell phone intensities cause macro and micro damage to the entire visual system, including tiny bubbles that can form on the eye lens.(13) Dr. Om Gandhi at the University of Utah reported that the eye lens of a 10 year old child will absorb five times more cell phone radiation than an adult eye.(14) Metal-rimmed eyeglasses can absorb microwaves, then re-emit that radiation onto the eye surface.(15)
This is like micro-cooking a child’s eyes.
3. Microwave phones can make kids brain-impaired. Brain scans show that microwave phone radiation penetrates deeply into a child’s brain.(16) Within minutes, cell phone microwaves can open the blood brain barrier, allowing albumin and other chemicals from tiny blood vessels to leak into sensitive brain tissues. This leakage causes irreversible oxidative stress and nerve tissue damage.(17) Brain hormones, including melatonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and thyroid stimulating hormone are disrupted by phone microwaves.(18)
4. Microwave phones highly elevate a child’s cancer risk. In late 2007, Israeli experts announced that talking as little as 10 minutes on a cell phone triggers changes in brain tissues linked to abnormal cell division and cancer.(19) Phone microwaves are implicated in both eye and salivary gland tumors.(20) In 2006, studies by three European research groups reported an increased incidence of brain tumors in people who have used mobile phones for ten years or more. After 2000 hours of microwave phone exposure, kids face a 240 percent increased risk of developing brain malignancy.(21) If the 1.75 million 8 and 9 year olds who now use cell phones average only half an hour a day, they will be at high risk for radiation cancer in their teen years. Cancer is the number two cause of death for American children.
EUROPE
No sane parent would submit his child to 1600 chest X-rays over a 24 hour period. Yet a mere 24 hours of wireless phone radiation can inflict the same damage to a child’s tissues as 1600 chest X-rays. This is the crux of studies completed by 12 groups of researchers from seven European countries who collaborated in the REFLEX study project to gauge the effects of wireless radiation on human health. The truth of what they found is shown in a series of images above (22).
The U.S. government allowed wireless phones to be put on the market in the 1980s with absolutely no safety testing.
The truth is that tissue damage from wireless microwave radiation is known to be as cumulative as that from ionizing X-radiation. If we divide the tissue damage of 1600 chest X-rays by 24 cell phone hours, you could argue the following:
For each minute a child presses a microwave phone to his head, he may suffer radiation damage equivalent to approximately 1.1 chest X-rays.
For each hour a child uses a transmitting wireless phone or wireless laptop to communicate, watch videos/TV or play games, he may be exposing his developing brain, eye and gut tissues to radiation damage equivalent to 66.6 chest X-rays.
Ionizing X-radiation, like that used for chest X-rays and other medical procedures, is on carcinogen "List One," compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). IARC is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization. IARC ranks X-radiation on par with gamma radiation, plutonium, dioxin and benzene, all known to induce cancer in both animals and humans. There is no "safe" dose determined for any substance or exposure on IARC’s List One.
It’s sobering that microwave radiation, blasting from an entire generation’s wireless phones, inflicts the same kind of DNA damage as ionizing radiation on IARC’s carcinogen List One. What REFLEX studies prove is how quickly that devastating damage takes place.
INDIA
The public health catastrophe being unleashed by indiscriminate use of wireless phones is further brought into focus by a double-blind medical study completed in India in 2005 and published in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics.(23)
The study analyzed micronucleated cell damage in blood and buccal (mouth) tissues of people who use their cell phone one to 15 hours a day. The control group had never used cell phones at any time. DNA samples were coded and scored blind in strict protocol.
The test results of the "Indian study" are as stunning as the REFLEX work. The non cell phone users had an average of only four percent of their cells with DNA damage. The human body has a chance of meeting this moderate cellular reconstruction challenge, although every DNA repair operation carries with it a chance of error.
A whopping average of 39.75 percent of cells taken from mobile phone users showed DNA damage. The blood of one 24-year-old male revealed 63 percent micronucleated cells. He had used a cell phone for 1-2 hours per day for two years, the norm for millions of kids.
The Indian study confirms that the human body, overwhelmed with the continual and brutal assault of wireless radiation, is unable to perform normal cellular repair. Other studies confirm that microwave radiation, which causes a critical need for continual cellular repair, simultaneously shuts down cellular repair mechanisms.(24) The body’s exhausted immune and repair systems eventually become too decimated to do much more than survive poorly.
So the latest studies reveal what no one wants to hear: Kids who endlessly cell-phone socialize, even sleep with perpetually transmitting wireless devices (to keep intermittent conversations on line), are doing immense damage to their tissues, especially the brain and setting up a storm of problems which they will reap in later life. The profiteers or corporate America don’t care. They want their money NOW; to Hell with the future of these kids.
Radiation researcher Dr. Milton Zaret told congressional investigators years ago that the dangers of non-ionizing radiation cannot be overstated because "most non-ionizing radiational injuries occur covertly, usually do not become manifest until after latent periods of years, and when they do become manifest, the effects are seldom recognized."(25)
The hundreds of types of human cancers have one thing in common—they all begin at the cellular level when genetic material in one or more cells becomes damaged. This damage can be passed from parents, or caused by the effects of an environmental carcinogen. "…Genetic mutations in one single cell are sufficient to lead to cancer," says Dr. Henry Lai. Dr. Lai is a celebrated scientist at the University of Washington who has years of genetic and bioenergetics research to his credit.(26)
But long before epidemic cancers, young cell-phone users are destined to suffer the symptoms of neurasthenia, or what the Soviets used to call "radiowave sickness." The symptoms include headache, fatigue, skin rashes, weakness, tinnitus, dizziness, moodiness and sleeplessness. These warning signs are just the beginning of a long, downward spiral of general deterioration, including circulatory ailments, immune dysfunction, allergies and premature aging.
Immune System Dysfunction.
A child’s body, kept in chronic allergic stress by wireless phone radiation, may end up with an exhausted immune system which no longer responds effectively. European experts prognosticate that many people heavily exposed to wireless radiation may eventually suffer the manifestations of electro-hypersensitivity (EHS).(34) EHS is a devastating allergic, auto-immune-like condition in which over-irradiated persons become severely sensitive to both chemical and electromagnetic pollution. Similar to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, EHS symptoms can be so disabling that victims are often forced to isolate themselves from even the smallest electromagnetic fields.
Within two minutes of microwave phone exposure, the electrical activity of a child’s brain is abnormally altered for up to one hour.(39) British radiation expert Dr. Gerald Hyland reported that cell phones which use repetitive, pulsing 2 Hz and 8.34 Hz frequencies can badly disrupt the delta and alpha stabilization process in a child’s developing brain.(40)
Dr. Hyland confirmed that cell phone energy can cause radical changes in human mood and behavior.(41) This is the case because microwaves at cell phone levels can unleash a cornucopia of radical damage to all parts of the brain, including the cortex, the hippocampus (memory center) and the basal ganglia. To wit:
Scientists have demonstrated that cell phone radiation causes immediate blood flow changes in the brain, and also deregulates calcium efflux from brain cells, causing cell membranes to weaken and leak.(42)
Researchers in Finland have shown that one hour of cell phone radiation causes brain cells to shrink, indicating permanent damage to cell structure as confirmed by REFLEX studies.(43)
The Max Planck Institute in Germany reported that cell phones can blast heat spikes into the brain which may flash burn cell membranes to the boiling point of water. (44)
British researchers have shown that weak microwave radiation can change the shape of brain proteins into formations resembling pathological fibrils associated with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. (45)
Swedish scientists demonstrated that cell phone radiation makes holes (lesions) in rat brains and they predict a wave of early-onset Alzheimer’s in young cell phone users. (46)
And what about environmental microwave transmitters?
Millions of American kids, struggling with physical disabilities and mental manias, are heavily irradiated not only with Wi-toys, but also by ubiquitous environmental transmitters needed to feed those toys. Nearly 200,000 cell tower and roof top transmitters continuously saturate American cities, playgrounds and passing vehicles with DNA-damaging waves equivalent to ionizing radiation. Living in transmitter-zapped neighborhoods where microwaves pass easily into homes, millions of infants and small kids have no respite from daily, deadly radiation assault.
Unregulated Wi-Fi systems, wireless local area network routers, security monitors, cordless phone systems and other types of wireless transmitters X-ray the interiors of malls, airports, offices, schools, hospitals and millions of homes 24/7. Many commercial and retail enterprises are switching to wireless inventory systems. These and retail inter-personnel push-to-talk radio systems literally "cook" stores and malls where kids congregate.
Many public transport systems are being wired for Wi-Fi. Soon, commercial aircraft will offer Wi-Fi computer services, compelling all passengers to absorb the toxic rays of mid-flight entertainment. Many vehicles are wired with GPS navigation and/or tracking systems. These rolling hotspots zap not only passengers, but people passing by.
The federal government has never developed adequate safety standards for long-term environmental exposure to this barrage of wireless radiation. U.S. standards are antiquated and calculated for short term exposure only. In 2002, the EPA’s Radiation Protection Division confirmed that the FCC’s current exposure guidelines are thermally (burn) based and do not apply to chronic exposure of non-thermal wireless pollution which now enshrouds the nation.(48)
In 2007, 14 world-class public health experts and radiation researchers announced in their BioInitiative Report on Electromagnetic Radiation that current public microwave exposure standards are thousands of times TOO LENIENT. Having compiled the weight of evidence from thousands of studies, these experts conclude that current exposure standards must be drastically revised because they are absolutely NOT protective of the public health.(49)
You’d better do something for yourselves, or you and your kids will literally fry.
Thanks to Amy Worthington for doing all the heavy lifting work in compiling this, from a piece in the Idaho Observer.
NOTES
1. "Growing Concern over Safety of Cell Phones for Children," D.Carvajal, 3/7/2008, www.emfacts.com; Yankee Group predicts 10.5 million preteen cell phone users by 2010, see www.microwavenews.com, March 2007.
2. "Family Logistics Should Determine Whether Your Child is Ready for a Cell Phone," L. Flam, Associated Press, 2-5-08.
3. "Teen and Tween Cell Phone Calls Rise During the Summer," Fox 51, 8-6-2007.
4. Armstrong quoted by Microwave News, March/April 2008. The Interphone project is coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Teams of researchers across the globe have gathered health data since 2000 on long term mobile phone users and their various types of tumors. The data is being analyzed at IARC’s headquarters in France.
5. Pediatrics, Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Vol. 116, No. 2 August 2005, pp. 303-313.
6. "Children and Mobil Phones: The Health of the Following Generations is In Danger," Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, Moscow, Russia, 4-14-2008.
7. "Cell Phones ‘Should Not be Given to Children,’ " W. Knight, London, NewScientist.com news service, 1-11-2005; "Why Cell Phones Will Hurt Your Children," mercola.com, 2-07-2008: The Vienna Medical Association says "Children under the age of 16 should never use a mobile phone."
8. "Canadian Health Official Warns Consumers to ‘Limit Cell Phone Use’ Especially by Children," The Toronto Star, July 12, 2005.
9. "Growing Concern over Safety of Cell Phones for Children," D.Carvajal, (France) 3/7/2008, www.emfacts.com.
10. "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields," Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, 4-13-2007. Dr Goldsworthy is a researcher and honorary lecturer with the Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.
11. "Cell Phone Use Causes High Frequency Hearing Loss," Newswire, Source: American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 09-12-2007.
12. For information on Dr. Zaret’s ground-breaking microwave research see: The Microwave Debate, Nicholas H. Steneck, 1984, p.162.; also The Zapping of America, Paul Brodeur, 1977, pp. 61-64.
13. "Israeli Research: Cell Phone Radiation May Cause Visual Damage," 07-29-2005, www.isracast.com.
14. Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards In the Wireless Age, Dr. George Carlo and Martin Schram, 2002, p. 216.
15. Confidential Report On Tetra Strictly for the Police Federation of England and Wales, Barrie Trower, September 2001, p. 7. This report by a renown British physicist is an outstanding archive of microwave health issues.
16. "What Cell Phones Can Do To a Child’s Brain In Two Minutes," Sunday Mirror, UK ,12-26-01.
17. Salford, Brun, Eberhardt, Malmgren and Persson, 2003, "Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain After Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Phones." Environmental Health Perspectives 111:881-883; also "Swedes find GSM Radiation Causes Nerve Damage at Very Low Doses," Microwave News, Jan/Feb 2003.
18. Koyu, et al., "Effects of 900 MHz electromagnetic Field on TSH and Thyroid Hormones in Rats," 06-10-2005; also "Aspects of Hypothalamic Neuronal Systems in VMH lesion-induced Obese Rats", Takahasi et al, Journal of Autonomic Nervous System, August 1994; 48 (3): 213-9.
19. "Only Ten Minutes on a Mobile Could Trigger Cancer, Scientists Believe," D. Derbyshire, Daily Mail, UK, 08-30-2007. This research was done at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and published in the Biochemical Journal, August 1, 2007, 9405 (Pt3) 559-568.
20. "Scientists Link Eye Cancer to Mobile Phones," J. Leake, The Sunday Times, UK, 01-14-2001, Electromagnetic Hazard and Therapy 2001, Volume 11, Numbers 2 to 4; also "Cell Phone Linked to Salivary Gland Tumors," United Press International, 02-14-2008 (Tel Aviv University).
21. "Cell Phone Risks Cited in Studies: Three Groups Find Danger, Tumors," South Florida Sun Sentinel, 02-01-2006; "Long-Term Mobile Phone Use Raises Brain Tumor Risk: Study," Reuters, March 31, 2006.
22. An in-depth report on the REFLEX project can be found in the on-line brochure Health and Electromagnetic Fields: EU-funded research into the Impacts of Electromagnetic Fields and Mobile Phones on Health published by the European Commission., 02-29-2008.
23. Ghandi, G. "Genetic Damage in Mobile Phone Users: Some Preliminary Findings," Indian J Hum Genetics, 2005, 11:99-104.
24. "EMF and the Role of Increased Charge in Promoting Disease and Impairing Tissue Repair," Gerald Goldberg, MD. Find this excellent article at: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/emf_and_charge_promotion.pdf
25. Dr. Zaret quoted in The Zapping of America, Paul Brodeur, 1977, p.74.
26. "Evidence for Genotoxic Effects (RFR and ELF Genotoxicity)" Dr. Henry Lai, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington,. Prepared for the BioInitiative Working Group, July 2007, see BioInitiative Report..
27. "Mobile Phones Linked to Cancer," BBC news, 11-09-1998, "Mr. Philips told the court…"It has been repeatedly shown that a few minutes exposure to cell phone type radiation can transform a 5% active cancer into a 95% active cancer for the duration of the exposure and for a short time afterwards."
28. "Health Risk of Electromagnetic Fields: Research on the Stress Response," Martin Blank, PhD., Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, Prepared for the BioInitiative Working Group, July 2007, see BioInitiative Report..
29. "Proteins Hold Clues to Cancer and Brain Diseases," C. Deriso, Medical College of Georgia, Medical News, February 2006.
34. "Will We All Become Electrosensitive?" Orjan Hallberg and Gerd Oberfeld, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 25:189-191, 2006. Worldwide, the number of reported cases of extreme electrosensitivity has been steadily increasing since the condition was first documented in 1991.
35. "Teen Mental Health Declining in the United States," Oxford University Press, 06-29-05, www.truthout.org.
36. "Four Anti-Depressants Shown Unsafe for Kids," The Washington Post, 04-22-04.
37. "A Systematic Chart Review of the Nature of Psychiatric Adverse Events in Children and Adolescents Treated with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors," T.Wilens, MD. et al., Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, Volume 13, Number 2, pp.143-152.
38. PBS Frontline: The Medicated Child, January 8, 2008.
39. "What Cell Phones Can Do To a Child’s Brain In Just Two Minutes," Sunday Mirror, UK, 12-26-2001.
40. From statement by Dr. Hyland reporting to STOA Committee of the EU regarding children and cell phones. Dr. Hyland is with the University of Warwick, Coventry, England and also the International Institute of Biophysics, Neuss-Holzheim, Germany.
41. "Cell Phones Hurt Children Even Worse than Adults," William Thomas, 2005, www.willlthomas.net. See also EMF Health Report March/April 1995.
42. "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields," Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, 4-13-2007.
43. "New Study Shows Cell Phones Cause Brain Changes," Reuters, 06-20-2002. This study was done by Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.
44. "Germans Worried about the Health Effects of Mobiles," Expatica, July 15, 2007, www.expatica.com.
45. "Changes in Protein Folding: A Nonthermal RF Mechanism," Microwave News, May/June 2003. This is an excellent summary of Dr. David de Pomerai’s work how on weak microwaves can change the shape of cellular proteins, causing them to clump together and form protein fibrils similar to those associated with neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Dr. dePomerai is with University of Nottingham, UK.
46. Leif Salford et al., "Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain after Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Mobile Phones," Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 111, Number 7 June 2003.
47. "Children and Mobil Phones: The Health of the Following Generations is In Danger," Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, Moscow Russia, 4-14-2008.
48. Quoted from letter by Norbert Hankin, chief environmental scientist with EPA’s Radiation Protection Division. This letter was received by EMR Network 7-16-02 and can be found at www.emrnetwork.org.
49. BioInitiative: A Rationale for a Biologically-based Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic Radiation, see "Summary for the Public and Conclusions," Cindy Sage, MA, August 2007.
Call me a technophobe (one correspondent did!) but DON’T FALL FOR THE OFFICIAL LIES, INCOMPETENCE AND DECEIT!
Find out how many transmitter antennas are near you: go here and type in your zip code http://www.antennasearch.com
Source: http://alternative-doctor.com/blog/cell-phones-as-bad-as-x-rays/
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