Bioelectromagnetics, also known as bioelectromagnetism, is a branch of science studying the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Areas of study include electromagnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues or organisms, the effects of man-made sources of electromagnetic fields like mobile phones, and the application of electromagnetic radiation toward therapies for the treatment of various conditions.
History Western From WW2 until around the 1980's the study of non-ionizing radiation in biological systems was considered a subset of radiobiology, or simply referred to as "effects" or "bioeffects" of a particular frequency band. The term "bioelectromagnetics" was coined by Thomas C. Rozzell of the Office of Naval Research.DTIC ADA159221: Biological Sciences and Bioelectromagnetics in Europe: Summary Report pp 5 As the program manager for BEM at ONR [Office of Naval Research] for 12 years prior to coming to ONRL [Office of Naval Research London], I naturally concentrated my attention in this area.
BEM [BioElectroMagnetics] is a relatively new research area and one which I am proud to have helped shape in my position at ONR. In fact, I coined the name for this research area in 1978. ONR, and indeed the Navy and the DoD, can be proud of their contributions to BEM research in the US and throughout the world.
A multdisciplinary area, BEM encompasses biology from micro to macro, physiology, psychology, immunology, biophysics, physics, engineering, etc. Though the area is new in terms of organization, BEM may actually be traced back almost 100 years. The patron scientific saint of the field is now accepted to be Arsene d'Arsonval of France, whose research on electrophysiological activity of muscles and nerves in the last quarter of the 19th century led him to explore the effects of low and high-frequency currents, which led, in turn, to his development of radiofrequency generators and applicators for use in the clinic. This modality is known now as "diathermy" but earlier was known as "d'Arsonvalisation." The physician d'Arsonval was the first to use field-induced hyperthermia in the treatment of cancer (Justesen and Guy, 1985).
Much of the research in BEM over the past two decades has been driven by an intense desire to determine the nature and degree of biological hazard posed by exposure to electromagnetic (EM) fields. By far the largest majority of the research has been concentrated in the frequency range of about 300 MHz to 100 GHz, the so-called microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (see Figure 1). In the US, the DoD is probably the largest single user of EM energy in the form of radar or radio waves. It is this use that has caused the DoD to spend large sums on research designed to answer questions regarding the hazards to personnel due to working in the environments of EM fields. Microwaves, generated in great abundance by radar equipment, have been the "mother ship" of the BEM research community, with at least 80 percent of the research centered around one frequency--2450 MHz. That this came about was due primarily to the availability of equipment, for one thing, and the early assumption that extrapolations could be made to other frequencies if certain parameters were adjusted.
The primary effect of the interaction of EM fields, and especially microwaves, and biological systems is the production of heat. The energy of the fields is absorbed by the target system resulting in molecular motion. The EM energy in this part of the spectrum does not cause ionization of atoms as x-rays and gamma rays do. For this reason, it was felt for a long time that in the absence of heat there was no hazard from short-term exposure. It is now generally accepted that this is not so, that there are field-specific effects that can occur at levels that do not produce heat. In the past 5 to 7 years, the most exciting research has been conducted in this area. It is here that the quest continues for the elusive interactive mechanisms that are responsible for effects at the level of the cell membrane and intra-cellular components. Early studies generally concentrated on the organism and looked for phenomena such as changes in behavior, or in growth and development. Now the search has turned to the cell and to macromolecules. Such scientific probing calls for a substantial increase in the precision of measurement of biological responses.
The quest for adverse biological effects has paid dividends in ways not originally anticipated. As more was learned about the responses of biological systems, it was found that some of the responses were not detrimental but were indeed beneficial. On even closer examination, it was found that almost all living systems have bioelectric components, such as nerve activity or muscle conduction, and that many such as birds and other species, use EM information for navigation. We now can use EM energy in an ever-increasing number of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Witness such techniques as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), bone healing by EM field stimulation, cancer treatment by hyperthermia, and microwave imaging, among others (Rozzell and Lin in press).
With the realization that extremely low levels of EK energy are capable of eliciting a response from a biological system, attention is now being turned to further understanding of exactly how and where such sensitive receptors reside and how they react in the presence of such weak fields as those generated by the Earth or other natural and synthetic sources.
Cook et al reviewed the early use and study of electricity and EMR.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11610730/ Early research on the biological effects of microwave radiation: 1940-1960 Background, 1885-1940: early work on short-waves and therapy
Interest among researchers in the effect of electricity on biological systems arose almost as soon as electricity could be generated in a controlled form. This same interest rapidly shifted to research on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation when, during the years 1885-1889, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz demonstrated a technique for propagating electromagnetic energy through space. Typical of this shift is the Parisian scientist, Arsene d'Arsonval. Prior to the late 1880s, d'Arsonval had devoted considerable time to the investigation of the physiological effects of electrocution. Shortly after learning about the new Hertzian apparatus, d'Arsonval developed his own equipment, which produced 10^4 - 10^5 cm waves at power levels nearing 20 amp, and turned his attention to its possible physiological and medical uses. By 1893, he was publishing papers on the influence of radio waves on cells.
In 1911 Knight Dunlap et al at Johns Hopkins University published a replication of Thompson's earlier reporthttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.1910.0032 A physiological effect of an alternating magnetic field of flickering lights in the visual fields when the head was placed in the field of a coil supplied by AC.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17788965/ VISUAL SENSATIONS FROM THE ALTERNATING MAGNETIC FIELD The experiments reported by S. P. Thompson in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, B, 82 (557), pp. 396 ff., are of great importance, especially in view of the negative results which have been obtained in the several earlier attempts to arouse sensations by subjecting the head to the influence of a magnetic field. Previous experimenters seem, however, to have used direct current, while Thompson used alternating current.
Eastern Europe and USSR Following the Moscow Signal, the initiation of ARPA's Project Pandora, and other key events, public sector funding and interest in the Soviet work in this area increased greatly. Translations of Soviet journals were published regularly by the JPRS. An international symposium was held in Warsaw, 1973, sponsored by the WHO, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Ministry of Health (Poland).
Symposium held at Virginia Commonwealth University, 1969. Titled: Biological Effects and Health Implications of Microwave Radiation.https://zoryglaser.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Biological_Effects_and_Health_Implications_of_Microwave_Radiation.pdf Virginia Commonwealth University 1969: Biological Effects and Health Implications of Microwave Radiation Page 140: Dodge - CLINICAL AND HYGIENIC ASPECTS OF EXPOSURE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS (A Review of the Soviet and Eastern European Literature)
As early as 1933, certain Soviet scientists had already recognized that electromagnetic fields affected the human nervous system. In 1937, Turlygin published one of the first comprehensive Soviet accounts of the effects of centimeter waves on the human central nervous system. He found that CNS excitability was increased by 100% of the control level when a crude spark oscillator in the vicinity of the head of a subject was switched on. In a lengthy review article, Livshits cited no fewer than 28 Soviet publications on the general subject of clinical and biological microwave effects which had been published by the end of the 1930's.
During the 1940's and early 1950's, there was an understandable lull in research on this subject due to World War II. By the middle and late 1950's, there appeared a veritable deluge of Soviet literature dealing, in the main, with the clinical and hygienic aspects of microwave exposure which has continued unabated to this day. By the early 1960's, the Eastern European countries of Czechoslovakia and Poland had also become extremely active in the area of microwave exposure effects.
At the 1973 Warsaw symposium, titled "Biologic Effects and Health Hazards of Microwave Radiation",https://archive.org/details/biologiceffectsh0000unse/mode/2up Warsaw Symposium 1973: Biologic Effects and Health Hazards of Microwave Radiation ZV Gordon et al summarized Soviet work, methods, and thinking in the field. Page 22: Gordon - Main directions and results of research conducted in the USSR on the biologic effects of microwaves
We used an experimental model of intermittent irradiation based on actual regimes of irradiation accompanying production. We found that, according to a number of indicators (fluctuations in weight and blood pressure, electroencephalography and electromyography, neurosecretory activity of hypothalamic nuclei), intermittent exposure to irradiation results in more pronounced biologic effects than those of steady irradiation under conditions of equal strength and time parameters. One could hypothesize that intermittent exposure, is much more strenuous for the adaptation and compensation mechanisms owing to the frequent changes in the irradiation parameters.
Without dwelling upon the clinical direction of research, to which a separate paper by Dr. M. N. Sadcikova is devoted, we will only note that clinico-hygienic correlations made it possible to link the clinical indicators with intensity of microwave irradiation under industrial conditions. This unique material accumulated as a result of 20 years' observations made it possible to establish a very important fact, namely, that the biologic effects become more severe with increasing duration of work accompanied by irradiation of low intensities (less than 1 mW/cm^2).
Before going into experimental research, it is necessary to define certain terms which are frequently treated ambiguously. These are thermal and non-thermal effects. Thermal effects are those biologic suquelae which are due to integral rise of temperature of the body and its separate parts during whole body or local irradiation.