About this Research Topic
It is well known and established that different individuals can be differently affected by the same environmental factor/pollutant. One of the more recent additions to the long list of environmental pollutants is electromagnetic radiation emitted by wireless communication devices and networks (wireless radiation). Wireless radiation can induce various biological effects in cells grown in vitro, experimental animals, and voluntarily exposed humans. The currently ubiquitous wireless radiation could in theory, therefore, cause an epidemic of various diseases, like brain cancer. However, so far such an epidemic has not materialized. There might be various reasons for this, including that biological reactions do not necessarily result in adverse health effects, but it could also be that while wireless radiation might cause biological effects, only some (very) sensitive individuals might be affected.
The search for such sensitive individuals using provocation exposures followed by inquiries about acutely occurring symptoms has failed, which might be because these could be prone to bias related to the subjective feelings of the volunteers participating in the experiment. However, there is an ongoing controversy and debate among scientists and the general public about whether the to-date gathered experimental evidence concerning human sensitivity to wireless radiation is of sufficient breadth and quality to prove reliably the existence of individual biological sensitivity to wireless radiation or to disprove this conclusively. Physiological experiments on human volunteers will likely continue to be necessary to determine whether some individuals react differently to wireless exposures, but additionally, the preliminary assessments of the differences in individual sensitivity might be achieved using high-throughput screening techniques of proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, or studies addressing gene-environment interactions. Target molecules, found to be responding to the exposures, may indicate what physiological processes might be affected, and if so subsequently targeted assessments of specific physiological functions of the human body may potentially enable the identification of sensitive individuals.
The Research Topic will present the ongoing research, review published research studies, provide viewpoints and debates, whilst suggesting directions for further physiological/psychological research.
The search for such sensitive individuals using provocation exposures followed by inquiries about acutely occurring symptoms has failed, which might be because these could be prone to bias related to the subjective feelings of the volunteers participating in the experiment. However, there is an ongoing controversy and debate among scientists and the general public about whether the to-date gathered experimental evidence concerning human sensitivity to wireless radiation is of sufficient breadth and quality to prove reliably the existence of individual biological sensitivity to wireless radiation or to disprove this conclusively. Physiological experiments on human volunteers will likely continue to be necessary to determine whether some individuals react differently to wireless exposures, but additionally, the preliminary assessments of the differences in individual sensitivity might be achieved using high-throughput screening techniques of proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, or studies addressing gene-environment interactions. Target molecules, found to be responding to the exposures, may indicate what physiological processes might be affected, and if so subsequently targeted assessments of specific physiological functions of the human body may potentially enable the identification of sensitive individuals.
The Research Topic will present the ongoing research, review published research studies, provide viewpoints and debates, whilst suggesting directions for further physiological/psychological research.
Keywords: Electromagnetic radiation, Biological effects, Human sensitivity, High-throughput screening techniques, Gene-environment interactions
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