Magnetocarcinogenesis: is there a mechanism for carcinogenic effects of weak magnetic fields?

ABSTRACT: Extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields have been classified as possibly carcinogenic, mainly based on rather consistent epidemiological findings suggesting a link between childhood leukaemia and 50-60 Hz magnetic fields from power lines. However, causality is not the only possible explanation for the epidemiological associations, as animal and in vitro experiments have provided only limited support for carcinogenic effects of ELF magnetic fields. Importantly, there is no generally accepted biophysical mechanism that could explain such effects. In this review, we discuss the possibility that carcinogenic effects are based on the radical pair mechanism (RPM), which seems to be involved in magnetoreception in birds and certain other animals, allowing navigation in the geomagneti

SUBMITTER: Juutilainen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5998098 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature