Abstract
Prolonged exposure to weak (~1 μT) extremely-low-frequency (ELF, 50/60 Hz) magnetic fields has been associated with an increased risk of childhood leukaemia. One of the few biophysical mechanisms that might account for this link involves short-lived chemical reaction intermediates known as radical pairs. In this report, we use spin dynamics simulations to derive an upper bound of 10 parts per million on the effect of a 1 μT ELF magnetic field on the yield of a radical pair reaction. By comparing this figure with the corresponding effects of changes in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, we conclude that if exposure to such weak 50/60 Hz magnetic fields has any effect on human biology, and results from a radical pair mechanism, then the risk should be no greater than travelling a few kilometres towards or away from the geomagnetic north or south pole.
Highlights
Residents in developed countries are almost continuously exposed to the 50 or 60 Hz electromagnetic fields generated by electrical appliances and power transmission lines
Our aim is to determine the change in the yield of a radical pair reaction caused by a 1 mT ELF field superimposed on the geomagnetic field
The initial ‘bump’, known as the ‘low field effect’ (LFE), has been observed in experiments on a variety of radical pair reactions (Maeda et al, 2012; Kattnig et al, 2016a; Timmel et al, 1998; Brocklehurst, 1976; Eveson et al, 2000). (c) When the lifetime of the radical pair is much shorter than 1 ms, the LFE vanishes and the magnetic field effect becomes mono-phasic. (d) Compared to B0 1⁄4 0, a typical geomagnetic field (B0 = 50 mT) produces the largest change in FT when the LFE is at its most prominent, that is for lifetimes, t » 1 ms
Summary
Residents in developed countries are almost continuously exposed to the 50 or 60 Hz electromagnetic fields generated by electrical appliances and power transmission lines. There is scant evidence from animal experiments to support a causative link (IARC, 2002; WHO, 2007), numerous in vitro investigations have reported biological effects of ELF fields (reviewed in Juutilainen et al, 2006; Mattsson and Simko , 2014; Juutilainen et al, 2018). Not many of these observations have been independently replicated (Lacy-Hulbert et al, 1998). More than 10 years ago, Swanson and Kheifets (Swanson and Kheifets, 2006) and Adair (Adair, 1991; Adair, 1999; Adair, 2000) assessed a range of potential mechanisms and concluded that none was likely to have biological consequences at magnetic flux densities of order 1 mT
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