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Mobile phone badly affects the developing brain of the embryo
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Constant conversations on a mobile phone during pregnancy can affect the formation of the brain in the nurtured child.
Disputes about the potential dangers of mobile phones continue to this day with varying success. Scientists find evidence of the harmful effects of electromagnetic waves of cellular communication and immediately refute everything. According to new data (which had not yet been disproved), a mobile phone has a bad effect on the developing brain of the embryo. An article about this appeared in Scientific Reports.
Researchers from Yale University (USA) left mobile phones in cages with pregnant mice. Pregnancy in mice lasts 17 days, and almost all this time the phones received a call signal (you should think that the sound signal was still turned off). When the cubs were born, the researchers conducted a series of neurological and behavioral tests with them. It turned out that the mice that developed in the neighborhood with the mobile phone worked, memory worsened, but they were more active, more vigorous running around the cage and behaving with less caution compared to the control group. In addition, these cubs had a decreased activity of the cells of the prefrontal cortex.
The difference in behavior of mice reminded scientists of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That is, if a pregnant woman is chatting day after day on the "mobile", then her child can develop this same syndrome: he will get problems with concentration, will not listen to anyone and will generally cause trouble to others. It is the widespread use of mobile communication, according to scientists, that may be the reason that attention deficit disorder is diagnosed today more often.
Skeptics, however, point to several weaknesses in the arguments of the authors of the work. First, to unambiguously compare the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in mice and humans, more than one large study is required: after all, the behavior of humans and rodents is very different. Secondly, in the experiment of pregnant mice and the phone were separated at least 22.3 cm - much less than it can be in humans. In addition, the human fetus is protected by a layer of amniotic fluid, much more than in mice.
However, other scientists note that there is indeed a connection between the predilection of pregnant women to talk on a mobile phone and the subsequent behavioral features of their children. And although the mechanism of the influence of mobile communication on the cells of the embryo is unclear (and it is unlikely to be revealed in the near future), scientists advise future mothers to still keep mobile devices away from the future child.
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