Study of the potential adverse effects of gsm cellular phones on hearing – european guard project
Abstract
During the last years, cellular phones produced a real, total and incontrovertible revolution, involving the whole social and environmental domain. However, to date, there is only a reduced knowledge on what are the biological systems influenced by the use of this kind of devices. Among them, the produced electromagnetic fields (EMF) could affect, before any other system, the hearing system in its peripheral portion, and, mainly, the inner year.
A European research project (European Research Project GUARD 2002-2005, “Potential Adverse Effects of GSM Cellular Phones on Hearing”, European Commission, Fifth Framework Programme, Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources, Contract Number QLK4-2001-00150), aims to investigate the effects of GSM EMF at 900 and 1800 MHz on the hearing system of animals (Sprague-Dawley rats and Guinea Pigs) and humans. Nine European partners are envisaged: P. Ravazzani, scientific coordinator, CNR Centro di Ingegneria Biomedica, Milan, Italy, J.M. Aran, Audiologie Expérimentale, Hôpital Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France, L. Collet, Laboratoire neurosciences et systèmes sensoriels, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Centre National de la recherche Scientifique, CNRS-UMR5020, Lyon, France, M. Lutman, Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton, United Kingdom, C. Marino, ENEA, Divisione Protezione dell’Uomo e degli Ecosistemi, Rome, Italy, G. Tavartkiladze, Department of Experimental and Clinical Audiology, Moscow, Russia, G. Thuroczy, “Frederic Joliot-Curie” National Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene, Department of Non-Ionizing Radiation, Budapest, Hungary, M. Tsalighopoulos, AHEPA, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Thessaloniki, Greece, I. Uloziene, Kaunas University of Medicine, Biomedical Research Institute, Laboratory of Neurologic Surgery, Kaunas, Lithuania. Quantitative measurements of the effects will be performed by protocols based on typical audiological battery of tests. The study of some hearing-related cognitive effects in humans will be also performed by the analysis of the Contralateral Acoustic Effect (CAS) before and after exposure. The influence of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) and exposure times will be also investigated.
GUARD started on January 1, 2002 with a duration of 36 months. Some expected results are: information on the adverse effects of GSM phones on hearing, data on the minimum level of SAR and minimum exposure times for measuring changes, development and maintenance of the European Database CEPHA for health risk evaluation. In this paper the aims and goals of GUARD and the results of the first six months of activities will be presented.
