Health Canada’s radiofrequency exposure guidelines, known as Safety Code 6, are the standard by which Canada’s wireless communications industry (Bell, Rogers, etc.) limits human exposure to nonionizing electromagnetic frequencies, aka EMFs. The limits set by the code are based on tissue heating (and nerve stimulation) from short-term exposures only, i.e. how much does the temperature of a specified amount of biological tissue increase in relation to the amount of radiation received. But is tissue heating the only possible negative effect? Or could there be other mechanisms of damage?

Dr. Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University, describes how low-level (i.e. below the levels that produce tissue heating) EMF exposure can interfere with the voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs) found in all plant and animal cell membranes. VGCCs are the gateways through which cells maintain a lower concentration of calcium ions inside the cell relative to its surroundings. EMFs artificially open these gateways, whereby flooding the cell’s interior with calcium ions and upsetting the delicate balance required for optimal health.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, a US-based Board Certified Family Medicine Osteopathic Physician, explains in his book EMF*D, that an unbalanced increase in calcium ions inside cells sets off a chain reaction that ultimately ends with an excess production of a molecule called peroxynitrite. Peroxynitrite is a strong oxidant that reacts with biological molecules within cell membranes, proteins and mitochondria (the power plants of the cell) for example, causing damage. Moreover, peroxynitrite’s primary breakdown product is carbonate free radicals, which are molecules with unpaired electrons that can react with DNA molecules to cause damage.

So how does EMF induced excess calcium in your cells lead to cellular damage? Dr. Mercola traces the following mechanism of action:

The cellular damage caused by peroxynitrite increases the risk of chronic degenerative diseases and premature aging. In fact, a scientific paper funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) called “Nitric Oxide and Peroxynitrite in Health and Disease” documents over 60 chronic diseases associated with elevated levels of peroxynitrite. In addition, calcium channels are more concentrated in cells making up the brain, heart and reproductive organs, which Dr. Mercola speculates may be related to the increased anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, alzheimer’s, and decreased fertility within the past 20 years.

Interestingly, Dr. Mercola explains that ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays not only directly break the chemical bonds holding DNA molecules together, but also indirectly damage DNA through the creation of hydroxyl free radicals. Thus we see a connection between nonionizing EMFs and ionizing radiation, namely the creation of highly reactive free radicals capable of damaging DNA.

The question is (rhetorically): why has Health Canada dismissed these scientific findings in its 2015 update of Safety Code 6?