It is known that the endocrine system of experimental animals is susceptible to perturbation by radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Because of the recent interest in health and safety issues of cellular telephones, an experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of a 900 MHz RF radiation emitted by a Global System for Mobile radiotelephone (217 Hz impulses, one‐eighth duty cycle, 2 W peak power) on human endocrine functions. Twenty healthy male volunteers aged from 19 to 40 were inducted in the present experiment. Each subject was exposed to RF radiation through the use of a cellular phone 2 h/day, 5 days/wk, for 1 month. Subjects were their own control. End points were serum adrenocorticotropin, thyrotropin, growth hormone, prolactin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone concentrations. These end points were determined in nine weekly blood samples obtained starting 3 weeks before the commencement of the exposure and ending 2 weeks after exposures. All but one blood sample was drawn 48 h after each weekly session. The seventh drawing was performed the morning after the last weekly exposure. Within each individual, the preexposure hormone concentration was used as a control. Results indicated that all hormone concentrations remained within normal physiologic ranges. A difference was not noted among the nine weekly samples in five of six hormones studied. There was a significant change only in thyrotropin concentration, showing a 21% decrease on the seventh sampling. Because this change recovered fully during the postexposure period, it is concluded that 1 month of intermittent exposures to RF radiation from a cellular telephone does not induce a long‐lasting or cumulative effect on the hormone secretion rate of the anterior pituitary gland in humans. Bioelectromagnetics 19:271–278, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Mucopolysaccharide storage disease (MPS) presents clinically with a broad spectrum of abnormalities, among which cardiovascular involvement has been described. The echocardiographic findings have recently been reported for the various types of MPS. Among these, asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) has been documented. We present a case of a 9-year-old girl suffering from type I MPS, atypical variant, with echocardiographic signs of ASH. She was given a bone marrow transplant after which the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy regressed.

A decrease in melatonin secretion has been observed in small mammals under exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields. As there is some concern about possible health effects of the increasing use of radiocellular telephones emitting radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, we examined whether such fields would alter melatonin levels in the human. Volunteers were two groups totalling 38 men, 20-32 yr old. Exposures were to commercially available cellular telephones of the GSM 900 type (Global System for Mobile communication at 900 MHz) or DCS 1800 type (Digital Communication System at 1800 MHz), for 2 hr/day, 5 days/wk, for 4 wk, at their maximum power. Attention of the volunteers was sustained by TV projection of movies. Blood samples were collected hourly during the night and every 3 hr in the daytime. Four sampling sessions were performed at 15-day intervals: before the beginning of the exposure period, at the middle and the end of the exposure period, and 15 days later to evaluate the persistence or late appearance of potential effects. Evaluated parameters were the maximum serum concentration, the time of this maximum, and the area under the curve of the hormone profile. Melatonin circadian profile was not disrupted in 37 young male volunteers submitted to a typical pattern of exposure to the electromagnetic fields generated by two common types of cell phones.