Genotoxic Studies Performed After Radiofrequency Radiation Exposure

Objective: With the development of technology human beings are increasingly under the exposure of electromagnetic fields, mainly radio-frequency radiation (RFR) from wireless technologies, mobile phones, base stations etc. There are many genotoxic effects, i.e. DNA and chromosome change studies related RFR exposures. There is still some uncertainty, no definitive conclusions have been reached so far. The aim of present study is to evaluate the genotoxicity studies about RFR exposure reported from 1989 to 2016. Methods: The PubMed database from 1989 to 2016 was searched for “radio-frequency radiation” and “genotoxicity tests”. Genotoxicity studies performed under RFR exposure were selected and classified as reported significant effects and reported no significant effect. Results: There were 53 genotoxic effects of RFR studies totally and 19 of them indicated genotoxic effects (35,8 %) and 34 of total studies reported no significant effect (64,2 %). Conclusion: It is apparent that there is no consistent pattern that RFR exposure could induce genetic damages. However, one can conclude that under certain conditions of exposure, RFR could be genotoxic. Generally the genotoxic effect of short-term exposure to RFR have been studied up to date. Long-term exposure to RFR is increasing in the environment. So, long-term effect of repeated exposure to RFR should also be studied by taking into consideration the DNA repair processes in order to identify the biological mechanisms involved.