Safety of Wireless: The Scientific View

This article is a summary of the paper “Safety of Wireless Technologies: The Scientific View” published on ResearchGate in February 2025 by Richard Lear and Camilla Rees. It features data from a US Navy Study on biological effects from wireless technologies, which may explain and seems to predict the current US Health Crisis decades before it unfolded.

Unseen Crisis: Wireless Technology and Public Health

In the span of just a few decades, wireless technology has transformed society. From the moment cell phones, WiFi, and smart devices entered our daily lives, we embraced the convenience, mobility, and instant connectivity they provided. Today, more than 300 million Americans own at least one wireless device. Tens of billions of these devices are in use.

But beneath this seamless digital revolution lies an overlooked question: Are these technologies truly safe? For years, we’ve accepted the assumption that microwave radiation from wireless devices is harmless. But the scientific record tells a different story.
As early as the 1950s, the U.S. Navy began investigating health effects from radar exposure after sailors reported concerning symptoms. By 1971, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute had documented 132 biological effects and diseases linked to microwave radiation. A groundbreaking study by Dr. Zorach Glaser examined over 2,300 studies, identifying links between low-intensity microwave radiation and conditions affecting the nervous system, cardiovascular health, metabolism, blood glucose, fertility and even genetic and chromosomal disorders. All these effects are eerily similar to those associated in more recent years with microwave radiation from cell phones, WiFi and other wireless devices.

Decades later, the scientific evidence has only grown stronger. The BioInitiative Report, a comprehensive study first published in 2007, reviews over 2,200 studies linking wireless radiation to DNA damage, brain cancer, fertility issues, blood brain barrier damage, fetal effects, breast cancer promotion, effects on immune function and oxidative stress. More commonly known as the presence of free radicals, oxidative stress is a key driver of chronic disease. Even the World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified wireless radiation as a possible human carcinogen in 2011.

Timeline of Declining Health

The 1990s marked the beginning of the wireless revolution. It was also the beginning of an explosion in chronic disease. Between 1990 and 2015, cases of the 36 fastest-growing chronic conditions more than doubled in the U.S., with over 704 million instances reported in a population of just 321 million. This implies an average of 2.2 conditions per American. Many of these conditions—ADHD, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, erectile dysfunction, and bipolar disorder—were rare before 1990. Other diseases saw staggering increases:

• Autism (+2,094%)
• Alzheimer’s (+299%)
• Sleep Apnea (+430%)
• Depression (+280%)
• Diabetes (+305%)
• Hypothyroidism (+722%)

By 2015, the cost of managing chronic disease in the U.S. exceeded $2.6 trillion. Estimates now exceed more than $4.9 trillion, of which 90% is attributed to chronic illnesses. While several environmental factors could contribute to this surge, the correlation with the rise of wireless technology is too strong to ignore.

Regulatory Blind Spot

Despite decades of scientific warnings, federal agencies such as the FCC and FDA have dismissed research on the biological effects of low-intensity EMR exposure. The FCC’s safety standards remain based solely on whether wireless signals generate enough heat to burn human tissue—a physics-based framework developed in the 1950s when public exposure to EMR was rare. Today, this outdated standard allows regulators to overlook thousands of studies showing biological effects at non-thermal exposure levels.

Surprisingly, the FCC has never established its own safety standards.  Instead, the agency outsourced safety guidelines, adopting standards set by private technical organizations—the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Neither is a US government agency, and both lack biological expertise.

The Body Electric: A Perfect Storm for Biological Disruption

The human body incorporates an electrical system. Our brains and hearts rely on finely-tuned electrical impulses to function. The trillions of cells in our bodies use bio-electrical communication to regulate essential processes. Devices like EKGs and EEGs measure this electrical activity, demonstrating its critical role in human health.

Given this delicate balance, what happens when electromagnetic energy floods into the living environment? How do the most vulnerable—children, the elderly, and the chronically-ill – respond when exposed daily to unprecedented and ever-increasing  levels of wireless radiation?

The answer is unfolding right before our eyes. The period from 1990 to 2015 saw a dramatic rise in four major chronic disease categories in the US. In a single generation, the incidence of neurological disorders, auto-inflammatory diseases, sleep disorders, and obesity in the US had reached more than 521 million. Here’s a snapshot:

• Neurological Conditions 91+ million
• Auto-inflammatory 209+ million
• Sleep insufficiency 101+ million
• Obesity 110+ million

Causation vs. Correlation: The Missing Link

Yet, critics argue that while the rise in chronic disease coincides with wireless expansion, correlation alone does not confirm causation. These skeptics contend that no clear biological mechanism links wireless radiation to disease. However, research suggests otherwise.

In 2013, Dr. Martin Pall, Ph.D., identified a biological mechanism that connects EMR exposure to systemic biological dysfunction. His study, Electromagnetic Fields Act Via Activation of Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels to Produce Beneficial or Adverse Effects, reveals how wireless radiation disrupts cellular processes.

Biological Tipping Point: How Wireless Triggers Disease

Pall’s research highlights voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), which regulate the flow of calcium ions into cells. According to his papers, wireless signals hyperactivate these channels, flooding cells with excess calcium. This triggers a biochemical cascade:

1. Increased Calcium Influx → Leads to elevated nitric oxide (NO) levels.
2. Nitric Oxide Reacts with Superoxide → Forms peroxynitrite (ONOO¯), a highly reactive and damaging molecule.
3. Peroxynitrite Causes Cellular Chaos → Linked to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic inflammation.

Peroxynitrite appears to be the culprit. It has been identified as a major factor in more than 60 chronic diseases, as documented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study Nitric Oxide and Peroxynitrite in Health and Disease. In a conversation Richard had with Dr. Pal Pacher in 2016, a top-cited researcher in the field, Pacher agreed that peroxynitrite is likely the root cause, or  “smoking gun” behind the modern chronic disease epidemic.

Along with peroxynitrite, six more biological markers are associated with all 36 of the fastest-growing chronic diseases, underlying the US Chronic Disease crisis:

• Oxidative stress – Excess free radicals damage cells.
• Nitrative stress – Disrupts cellular function.
• Mitochondrial dysfunction – Impairs energy production.
• Autonomic dysfunction – Dysregulates nervous system responses.
• Epithelial dysfunction – Damages organ linings.
• Chronic systemic inflammation – A root cause of numerous diseases.

These bio-factors suggest a definitive biological profile for chronic, germless diseases.

US Navy Study predicts the US Health Crisis decades before it unfolded

The groundbreaking study by Dr. Zorach Glaser in 1971, which examined over 2,300 studies on microwave radiation, listed 132 biological effects, diseases and chronic conditions associated with this environmental toxin. The warning by the US Navy was clear. The 54 year- old study identified 23 chronic conditions that have exploded in the US today:

• ADHD
• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Autism
• Cataracts
• Chronic Fatigue
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Impotence
• Fibromyalgia
• Hypertension
• Hypothyroidism
• Insomnia
• Leukemia
• Lupus
• Melanoma
• Sleep Insufficiency
• Squamous Cancer
• Stroke
• Thyroid Dysfunction
• Heart Disease
• Auto-immune Disease
• Celiac Disease

Wireless technologies have been deeply correlated with impacts to our health. The sudden rise of chronic, germless disease between 1990 and 2015 matches the dramatic growth of wireless technologies during the same period. More than 250 studies link wireless radiation with the proliferation of free radicals in the body, including superoxide and peroxynitrite. Peroxynitrite has been called the root cause of chronic disease. This molecule causes more than 97 biological disruptions, including damaging proteins and healthy fats, while reducing normal levels of serotonin and dopamine. Dr. Martin Pall and others have demonstrated plausible mechanisms for biological impact from wireless radiation. Yet US regulators remain reticent to recognize the science.

Meanwhile the American public remains largely uninformed about the dangers of wireless. The result is that most of us have not made the clear connection between our health issues and the cell phones, earbuds and smart watches we intimately carry on our bodies. What doctors have previously been unable to explain, is right there in front of us in plain sight.

Will we Listen? The question is no longer whether wireless technologies are safe, or not.  The evidence is clear. The real question: What will it take for us to finally listen to the science?