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US Government Releases Report on Pilot Studies of Cell Phone Radiation and DNA Damage

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US Government Releases Report on Pilot Studies of Cell Phone Radiation and DNA Damage

Safety is not assured, and questions remain unanswered.

Reposting courtesy of Dr. Joel Moskowitz, ICBE-EMF Commissioner and Director of the Center for Family and Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

From Dr. Moskowitz’  website Electromagnetic Radiation Safety, August 13, 2025

 
In August 2025, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) published a peer-reviewed report online that described its pilot studies on cell phone radiation exposure conducted by the Division of Translational Toxicology (DTT). These pilot studies were launched specifically “to better understand the biological mechanisms that produced tumor development and DNA damage” as reported in the 2018 rodent studies conducted by the NIEHS National Toxicology Program (NTP).
 
Although the pilot studies reported “limited findings” and claimed no DNA damage in its 5-day exposure tests, these results cannot be used to conclude that cell phone radiation is safe. Not only were the experiments short-term and limited in scope, but contrary to the stated conclusion of no effects, the authors reported statistically significant evidence of DNA damage. These findings do not negate the findings from the earlier NTP research that reported animals exposed to 14 to 19 weeks of cell phone radiation experienced DNA damage.
 
The NIEHS’s decision to disregard the findings of the DTT and NTP studies, which linked cell phone radiation to DNA damage and cancer, and to halt further research on this environmental carcinogen, represents a failure to uphold its mandate of protecting public health.
 
The DTT Pilot Studies

The DTT developed a small-scale radio frequency radiation (RFR) exposure system with a signal generator capable of generating a broader array of RF signals than the 2G/3G signals employed in the NTP studies. This system was developed to allow for efficient testing of later generations of cell phone technology (e.g., 4G and 5G).

To help understand the NTP studies, the DTT conducted 2G/3G pilot studies that were limited to 5 days of exposure and used smaller sample sizes compared to the original NTP studies. Nevertheless, these peer-reviewed studies found statistically-significant (p < .05) (in addition to marginally-significant, p < .10) trend effects of cell phone radiation on DNA damage (Wyde et al., 2025):

Male rats: GSM — hippocampus (p-trend = .002), blood (p-trend = .053), frontal cortex (p-trend = .064)
Female rats: CDMA — frontal cortex (p-trend = .043)
Male mice: CDMA — liver (p-trend = .010), heart (p-trend = .054), blood (p-trend = .077)
 
Numerous peer-reviewed studies have reported DNA damage caused by cell phone radiation exposure (e.g., Weller et al., 2025; Lai, 2021) in addition to the earlier NTP studies. Thus, it is surprising that the DTT report dismissed these adverse effects calling them of “uncertain biological significance.”
 
Overcoming technical challenges, the DTT developed a prototype capable of testing the effects of later generations of cell phone technology. The DTT report concluded:
 
“Despite a number of difficulties (i.e., engineering requirements, system modifications, measurement of body temperature during exposure), this small-scale RFR exposure system presents a prototype for investigative toxicological studies by researchers interested in conducting experimental RFR studies in rodent models. High-quality studies to understand the effects of RFR exposure on biological responses are needed given the widespread human exposure to RFR associated with cell phone use.”
 
However, on August 7, 2025, contrary to the results of the DTT report, the NIEHS posted on its website:
 
“Also, NIEHS researchers found that exposure to RFR did not induce DNA damage, after five days of continuous exposure, up to 9 watts/kg in rats and 15 watts/kg in mice.”

And contrary to the report’s conclusions, the NIEHS stated:

“The research using this small-scale RFR exposure system was technically challenging and more resource intensive than expected… no further work with this RFR exposure system will be conducted and NIEHS has no further plans to conduct additional RFR exposure studies at this time.”

Based on the NTP studies, the NIEHS published a peer-reviewed paper which concluded that exposure to radio frequency radiation (RFR) is associated with an increase in DNA damage (Smith-Roe et al., 2020). The NTP found significant increases in DNA damage in the frontal cortex of male mice (both modulations–GSM and CDMA), leukocytes of female mice (CDMA only), and hippocampus of male rats (CDMA only) from 14-19 weeks of exposure to cell phone radiation. Increases in DNA damage judged to be equivocal were observed in several other tissues of rats and mice.

To read the rest of the story and more on cell phone radiation health effects: NIEHS Cell Phone Radiation Studies
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