Dr. Martin Pall

Millimeter (MM) Wave and Microwave Frequency Radiation Produce Deeply Penetrating Effects: the Biology and the Physics (June 2021)

This paper (attached and available at no cost at: Pall. M.L. 2021.  Millimeter (MM) wave and microwave frequency radiation produce deeply penetrating effects:  The biology and the physics.  Rev Env Health 2021, De Gruyter | Published online: May 26, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2020-0165) is about the confluence of several important factors.  Electromagnetic fields have been known for about 150 years to be vectors with frequency, vector direction, polarity and phase.  Electronically generated EMFs are coherent, being emitted at a specific frequency, vector direction, polarity and phase and that coherence is essential both for their use in wireless communications and for us to understand the production of biological effects.  Because of this coherence, the electric and time-varying magnetic forces produced are many orders of magnitude greater than are such forces produced by incoherent natural EMFs.   

One further important finding is that whereas Maxwell’s equations predict a fixed relationship between the electric and magnetic fields of EMFs, that fixed relationship only occurs in a vacuum or in a highly permeable medium such as air.  In the human body (and many other materials) this relationship breaks down and that breakdown is particularly large with high EMF frequencies, such as millimeter waves (MM-waves).  Consequently, the electric fields of MM-waves, are largely absorbed in the outer 1mm of the body, as have often been observed.  However, the time-varying magnetic fields of MM-waves are very highly penetrating and because of the strong magnetic forces produced by coherent MM-waves, these can produce effects deeply in the human body.

Three reviews are discussed each of which show that non-pulsed low intensity MM-waves produce effects deeply within animals and humans – some specific apparent effects are discussed including neurological/neuropsychiatric effects, EEG change effects, cardiac effects on the electrical control of the heart and electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).  These apparent effects are produced by low intensity, non-pulsed MM-waves, and the very highly pulse modulated and therefore, much more biologically active 5G radiation may, therefore, be much more dangerous. 

Because most EMF effects are produced by forces on the electric charges in the voltage sensor controlling the voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) and other voltage gated ion channels, the finding that time-varying magnetic fields produce penetrating effects raises the question of how those time varying magnetic fields produce forces on the voltage sensor which are, as already stated, particularly strong because of the EMF coherence.  Time-varying magnetic fields can act directly by placing forces on the voltage sensor charges.  They can also act indirectly by placing forces on dissolved ions in aqueous phases in the body, moving those ions and regenerating coherent electric fields deeply within the body which can, in turn, place forces on the charges of the voltage sensor.  The physics of these two mechanisms and biological evidence for each of the two are discussed.

While the essential role of coherence in producing both strong and highly penetrating EMF effects is the most important and central part of the paper, there are also other important findings with regard to three effects produced by MM-waves: neurological/neuropsychiatric and EEG human brain changes, electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) and the electrical control of the heart.  These three EMF effects are associated with each other, as reviewed in [65, 68-70].  The neurological/neuropsychiatric/EEG effects of MM-waves are similar to the much better documented lower frequency microwave effects and are, therefore, only very briefly discussed below.  

Pakhomov et al [17] reviewed findings showing that non-pulsed MM-wave low intensity MM-wave EMFs produced EHS-like changes in three studies of animal nervous tissue and also reviewed three human studies each showing that MM-waves produced EHS neurological neuropsychiatric sensitivity.  The [53] study showed that repeated MM-wave exposures produced cumulative EHS-like effects.  The animal EHS-like sensitivities produced by MM-wave exposures demonstrates EMF causation of EHS and greatly strengthens the case for EMF causation in humans.  That case is also greatly strengthened by the Hecht review of human occupational exposure studies [65] which showed that low intensity microwave frequency EMFs produce cumulative effects over time causing EHS.  MM-wave studies of EHS are important for an additional reason.  The Akoev et al [59] study showed that repeated low intensity MM-wave exposures produced hypersensitivity of the skate electroreceptor.  The skate electroreceptor had been shown earlier to be the CaV1.3 VGCC.  Consequently, EHS is caused, at least in part, by hypersensitivity of the VGCCs to EMF activation.  A human study suggests a similar mechanism in human EHS.  A study of a very sensitive EHS patient published by Dr. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam [62] showed that very low intensity exposures produced a large and rapid drop in extracellular calcium.   Because the only place that the extracellular calcium can go is into the cells of the body, these finding also strongly suggest that EHS is produced, at least in part, by hypersensitivity of the VGCCs to EMF activation.  That, in turn, suggests a specific simple test for EHS.  Because parathyroid hormone controls the levels of extracellular calcium, a drop in extracellular calcium produced by EMF exposure in EHS patients will produce a large consequent increase in parathyroid hormone, which can be measured in a clinical test; accordingly parathyroid hormone should be measured before and after EMF exposure to which the individual is sensitive and the predicted parathyroid increase in EHS should be a specific test for EHS.  This short section of the paper reports three important findings with regard to EHS: it can be caused by EMF exposure; it appears to involve hypersensitivity of the VGCCs to EMFs; and it may be tested for using a simple clinical test measuring parathyroid hormone before and after EMF exposure.

There is a second short section, on MM-wave cardiac electrical effects, which is also of great importance, mainly focused on {53, 54].  The extremely large Chernyakov et al [53] study showed that low intensity MM-wave EMFs produced an instantaneous decrease in the interspike interval in the pacemaker cells of the sinoatrial node of the frog heart.  Whole animal studies [53] showed that such EMFs produced tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), arrhythmias and also bradycardia (slow heartbeat) in anesthetized frogs.  These occurred when hearts were denervated although there was a decrease in effects with the denervated hearts.  These findings show that much of these effects occur via direct EMF impacts on the pacemaker cells.  In the Potekhina et al [54] study in rats, low intensity MM-wave EMFs produced arrhythmias, tachycardia and bradycardia.  When exposures were prolonged to 3h or more, animals died of apparent sudden cardiac death.  Repeated or prolonged pulsed microwave frequency EMFs in rodents [55] produced heart failure-like changes in the sinoatrial node of the heart.  The high sensitivity of the pacemaker cells may be caused by the high levels of VGCCs [55,56] in those pacemaker cells.  We have, as you may know, an epidemic of apparent sudden cardiac death among young apparently healthy athletes, with the timing of this epidemic corresponding at least roughly to the large increases in exposures to microwave frequency EMFs. These findings do not scientifically prove EMF causation of the epidemic but they may provide a prima facie case for causation.

The highly penetrating effects produced by the highly penetrating magnetic fields of MM-waves have important implications with regard to 5G.  At the end of the paper, media reports of apparent 5G effects on the three linked effects discussed above: neurological/neuropsychiatric effects, EHS and cardiac effects.  These are not scientific studies.  They are presented because we have no scientific studies of 5G radiation despite many scientists calling for biological safety testing to be done before any 5G rollouts.  Consequently, these unscientific reports are all we have to judge possible 5G effects.  

Full paper available here: https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2020-0165

Major Concerns about Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and Specifically about 5G

(Sept 2020)

I received my BA degree at Johns Hopkins University in Physics and my PhD in Biochemistry and Genetics from Caltech – two of the most prestigious institutions in the world.

After retiring as Professor Emeritus at Washington State University, I have published 10 papers on how electromagnetic fields impact the cells of our bodies.  This has in turn, lead to by far the largest professional recognition that I have had in my scientific career.

I returned from two different long speaking trips, before COVID-19 shut down my travel plans.  Over a three month period, I had given 10 different invited professional talks as well as a larger number of other talks.  The 10 invited professional talks in 6 countries on 3 continents included three prestigious Keynote Addresses.  All ten of these were on the voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) mechanism as the main mechanism of action of low intensity EMFs.  9 of the 10 also discussed the dangers of 5G.

They also included a talk at Queens University, one of the top universities in Canada, with that talk having been sponsored by the Department of Engineering and Applied Science.  Another particularly important talk was presented at the World Congress on Physics in Berlin, a talk that was given a prestigious Certificate of Recognition.  These two talks show that both engineering and physics are starting to recognize the extraordinary challenge we are facing from low intensity EMFs acting via VGCC activation to produce widespread massive biological impacts.

In addition to the 10 invited, professional talks I also gave invited talks at the EU Parliament in Brussels and at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki and many other non-professional talks to groups of lay people.  I have, at this writing, given a total of 59 invited professional talks on these topics in 15 countries so the recognition of the VGCC mechanism is very widespread.  This is further documented because the first paper I published on this mechanism, published in 2013, has now been cited 292 times, according to the Google Scholar database.  I have, in addition, eight other papers on the VGCC mechanism, with six of these well on their way to having far above average citation levels (one just published).  As you may know, science is usually very slow in adopting new scientific paradigms, so the adoption of this one is very surprisingly rapid.

First linked document:  90 page, 7 chapter document on how low intensity EMFs, including 5G, produce biological effects (dated May 17, 2018).

This document, which has been translated into German, Italian and Norwegian (a precursor to it was translated into French), has the following chapters:

Chapter 1.  Non-thermal effects of electromagnetic field exposure produce neurological/neuropsychiatric effects, reproductive effects of several types, increased oxidative stress/free radical damage, increased apoptosis (programmed cell death), increased intracellular calcium (the cause of almost everything else), changes in hormone function, attacks on the DNA of our cells, cancer and life-threatening cardiac effects.  Although these effects have been documented in thousands of primary literature studies and hundreds of review articles, the industry denies that any of them have been shown to occur.  Furthermore pulsed EMFs have been shown, in most cases, to be much more biologically active and therefore much more dangerous than are unpulsed EMFs of the same average intensity (13 review articles).  Because all wireless communications devices communicate via modulating pulsations, and the smarter they are the more they pulse and therefore more dangerous they will tend to be.  The industry universally ignores the great importance of pulsation.

Chapter 2.   EMFs ranging from millimeter waves (MM-waves) of 5G radiation through microwave, radio-frequency, intermediate frequency, extremely low frequency (including 50 and 60 Hz) all the way down to static electrical fields and static magnetic fields, all act via activation of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) so that effects are blocked by calcium channel blockers (specific for blocking VGCCs).  When these channels are activated they produce large increases in intracellular calcium, which produces, in turn, the effects described in Ch 1 and in other publications.

Chapter 3 discusses findings showing that many of the non-thermal effects are cumulative, such that longer times of exposure to a particular type and intensity EMF produce progressively more severe effects.

Chapter 4 discusses four reasons why young children are more susceptible to EMF effects than are adults.

Chapter 5 & 6 discuss the corruption of the science on EMF effects.  Ch. 5 discusses the corruption of the science found the SCENIHR 2015 report from Europe.  Ch. 6 dicusses the corruption of the science in the U.S.  These two chapters have over 60% of the text of this seven chapter document, a measure of the profound problems with corruption of the science of EMFs.

Chapter 7 are predictions about 5G effects based on the properties of the 5G EMFs.

The second linked document is centered on the testing of eight different predictions of the ICNIRP and other similar “safety guidelines.”  In each of these eight highly repeated studies, the “safety guidelines” fail and fail massively to predict biological effects.  Three of these findings are focused on the fact that pulsed EMFs are much more biologically active than are unpulsed EMFs of the same average intensities.  These show that the “safety guidelines” which are based on average intensities averaged over a 6 minute period, cannot be used to predict biological effects and therefore cannot be used to predict safety.  Three of those eight repeated studies show that pulsation usually produces large increases in biological activity.  Pulsation particularly important in understanding 5G effects because 5G is designed to carry vast amounts of information per second, with the information being carried by the unprecedented level of modulating pulses in 5G radiation.  The repeated failure of the safety guidelines requires that the safety guidelines be thrown out.  This comes from the core of the scientific method where when predictions made from a scientific theory are shown to be false, that theory must be thrown out.  It also follows from these findings that claims of safety based on these falsified “safety guidelines” are fraudulent.

The linked document is a description of the 5G effects that we are apparently seeing, mostly from Europe.  I have summarized that third linked document as follows:

In summary, we have a series of 5G linked events that have apparently occurred in more than one situation, where we have plausible mechanisms by which 5G radiation can cause them and where we know that counter arguments are based on “safety guidelines” which fail to predict biological effects and are, therefore, fraudulent.  These apparently include:

1. Neurological/neuropsychiatric effects reported both in Switzerland and in Stuttgart Germany following 5G “rollout”, effects similar to but more severe than effects caused by other EMF exposures.
2. Three suicides within 11 days of each other in the first 5G ambulance personnel.
3. Cardiac effects also reported in both in Switzerland and in Stuttgart Germany, effects similar to those found in in humans in following other EMF exposures as well as in animal experimental studies.
4. Two cases of massive, almost instantaneous 5G bird sudden cardiac death effects, one in the Netherlands and one in the UK.
5. We have cases of mass panic in cattle, as well as other neurological/neuropsychiatric effects in cattle and sheep.
6. We have multiple cases of human limb birth defects in France and Germany.
7. We have multiple cases of apparent 5G fires in Korea and in Southern California.
8. We have large apparent increases in electromagnetic hypersentivity (EHS) in Stuttgart Germany.  While this is a single example, to my knowledge, similar although more slowly developing examples of EHS have been shown to occur in occupational EMF exposure studies and in the two smart meter studies.  The case may be weaker here than for the other seven, because it is based solely on the Stuttgart example, but is still substantial.

These press reports are not what one wants to have in controlled scientific studies performed by highly professional scientists.  I am referring to these reports because no one is systematically collecting the data on 5G effects and because the industry and the regulatory agencies have rushed the “rollout” of millions of 5G antennae, without doing one single biological safety test of 5G radiation, despite scientific groups calling for such studies to be done!

In each of these eight types of apparent effects, we have plausible mechanisms by which each of them can be produced by 5G EMF exposure and where all contrary claims that there cannot be any effects, based on “safety guidelines” are simply fraudulent.  In the first seven of these effects we have, in my opinion, a prima facie case for 5G causation.

And let me repeat that any effects seen with the initial “rollout” of 5G radiation will be a tiny fraction of those predicted by a mature 5G system interacting with the “internet of things” because any initial 5G system has very little to communicate with on initial rollout and therefore will produce only a tiny fraction of highly pulsed EMF effects of such a mature system.  The very high impacts of modulating and non-modulating pulses mean that the extraordinarily high level of modulating pulses in 5G radiation, with those pulses communicating vast amounts of information per second, means that 5G radiation is vastly more dangerous than the exposures we previously have had and those previous exposures have already having massive impacts on us and on other organisms.

The eight apparent 5G effects listed above do not include other predicted massive effects of 5G radiation where we have no evidence of whether they are occurring from 5G or not.  We do have with each of these, massive evidence that each of them are produced following exposures to other EMFs which each acting via VGCC activation.  Predicted effects include:

1. Massive impacts on male reproduction, where 5G radiation may well produce very rapid crashes in male reproduction to close to zero.
2. Universal of near universal very early onset Alzheimer’s dementias (AD).  Here we know that all you have to do to produce universal or near universal very early onset AD in a rat model, is to give a series of EMF pulses during one day and even during one second.  If you give pulses every day, you get universal or near universal AD in six month old rats (roughly the equivalent age of a 12 year old child).
3. Universal or near universal autism.  We know, from genetic studies, that human autism is caused by excessive VGCC activity and because this is the primary mechanism of action of EMFs, including MM-wave EMFs of 5G, it is highly plausible that the very highly pulsed 5G may cause universal or near universal autism.
4. Very high levels of germ line mutations caused by the impact of 5G radiation acting via VGCC activation on the DNA of human sperm and on the DNA of human oocytes.  What this argues is that what little human reproduction survives the effects of #1 may well be heavily impacted by very high levels of de novo mutation.

Possible causation of each of these by 5G radiation could have been tested by animal model studies, before any 5G rollout.  It is my opinion that it is an atrocity of almost unbelievable proportions that no such tests have been done or the other effects that where we now do have data.

How MM-waves can produce highly penetrating effects.

The fourth linked document is a paper that provides extensive evidence that millimeter waves (MM-waves) used in 5G can produce penetrating effects both in humans and in animals.  Most of the paper discusses how we get such highly penetrating effects, considering in detail the relevant physics.  It shows that the very highly penetrating magnetic parts of MM-waves can act on the voltage sensor, via two distinct mechanisms, to produce activate VGCCs and therefore produce highly penetrating effects.  In each of these two mechanisms, time varying magnetic fields produce the effects such that modulating pulses and pure pulses which produce large time variation are predicted to produce very large highly penetrating effects.  The findings in this paper contradict two claims made by the industry regarding 5G:  1. That MM-waves do not produce penetrating effects and 2. That the physics tells us that such penetrating effects cannot occur.

Now let’s discuss some of the findings with regard to environmental EMF effects .  The fifth linked document is a study of a highly protected area of Australia centered on Mt. Nardi, an area where despite such protections, enhanced 3G and later 4G antennae were allowed to be put in place and activated based on the fraudulent claims of the “safety guidelines” discussed above and the first two linked documents.  What you can see analyzed in detail in the fifth linked document, is that there were very large effects of the enhanced 3G antennae on insects, birds, mammals and amphibia.  The 4G antennae produced massive effects on each of these four groups of animals including apparent extinction of many species.  Now the 5G system is designed to work with 4G as essential part of the system such that with the very high level of 4G/5G antenna densification, the 4G part alone will produce massive effects.  It is essential, therefore, that any environmental impact statement of 5G “rollout” include massive expected effects on insects, birds, mammals and amphibia.  The insect impacts will be particularly massive as shown by two US patents issued for using unpulsed millimeter wave EMFs as insecticides (patent #s 6,073,365 and 6,192,598).  It follows that extremely highly pulsed millimeter wave 5G radiation will produce even more massive impacts on insect populations.

EMFs produce also produce large impacts on plants as shown in the sixth linked document, analyzing EMF effects on trees.  The sixth linked document shows that trees are impacted by cell phone tower radiation, which produced cumulative damage on trees but where parts of trees that are partially shielded from such radiation by buildings are partially protected from such effects.  I have published on how EMFs impact plants and as is the case in animals including humans, EMFs activate ion channels which then produce excessive intracellular calcium levels.  It follows. from this, that excessive calcium signaling in plants produces much of the EMF effects in plants, allowing us to predict what types of effects may be expected in plants.  One of the effects produced is that EMFs, acting via increased intracellular calcium, cause plants to produce very high amounts highly volatile and highly flammable terpenes which causes the plants to become highly flammable. This predicts, in turn, possible 5G fires and as shown in the first linked document there are several severe fires which may well have been caused by 5G radiation.  In South Korea, by far the worst fires in the history of the country, occurred in five smaller cities along the north-east coast of the country.  There were thousands of firefighters and vast amounts of equipment that were used to fight these unprecedented fires, which broke out 1½ days after 5G was turned on in South Korea.  It is possible, of course, that the time of these unprecedented fires following 5G was just coincidental.  Nevertheless, there is probably a good prima facie case for 5G causation.

Wired communication is always preferable to wireless — it is faster, more reliable, has much better security and is much more energy efficient and, most importantly, wired communications have minimal biological impact.  We already know that 5G is a nightmare and must be stopped, completely apart from the many severe predicted effects where we have no data.  Assurances of safety based on “safety guidelines” that have been falsified based in eight different highly repeated findings are fraudulent.  We can benefit from these technologies using wired connections or in some cases a combination of wired connections and much safer wireless infrared, so there is no need for 5G or indeed for most of the EMFs used for wireless communication.