Bornhausen
M, Scheingraber H (2000)
The objective of this study was to determine if exposing pregnant
rats to RF fields during pregnancy affected the behaviour of there
offspring at 3 months of age. Twelve rats were exposed continuously
from days 1 to 20 of pregnancy to a low-level (0.1 mW/cm²)
900 MHz, 217 Hz pulse modulated EMF. This is similar to the highest
legal exposure to the radiation of base antennas of the GSM digital
cell-phone technology. The whole body average SAR ranged between
17.5 and 75 mW/kg. Another group of 12 rats was sham-exposed. Four
pups (two of each sex) were selected from each litter for testing,
which took place at 11-12 weeks of age. The food-reinforced lever-pressing
activity and the inter-response intervals between consecutive lever
presses were compared between exposed and sham-exposed animals.
Analyses showed that exposure in utero to the GSM field did not
induce any measurable cognitive deficits. The authors state that
similar experiments should be done at substantially higher power
densities.