Maxwell's Silver Hammer 297
Moreover, the perturbation of normal cell-cycle time is enhanced if
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is induced in the atoms of the DNA
molecules. In simplified terms, nuclear magnetic resonance is present
when the magnetic fields around atomic nuclei are induced to vibrate in
unison. The phenomenon requires two external magnetic fields, one
steady and one pulsating. For every chemical element, the oscillating
field at a specific frequency will induce resonance within the steady-state
field at a certain strength.
In 1983 a research team under A. H. Jafary-Asl showed that the
earth's magnetic background could serve as the steady field, while the
harmonics of power line frequencies could produce a time-varying field
that would induce nuclear magnetic resonance in at least two common
atoms of living tissue—potassium and chlorine. Other elements might
also be susceptible to the effect. Bacteria and yeast cells exposed to these
NMR conditions doubled their rate of DNA synthesis and proliferation,
but daughter cells were half size. Liboff, analyzing contradictory studies,
found that the contradictions disappeared when he calculated resonance
conditions for the earth's field where each test was done. Previous work
must now be reinterpreted as one vast experiment in adding new fre-
quencies to the varying background.
Almost all experimenters to date have tested the response of organ-
isms to a single specific frequency and intensity. This approach was
needed in the beginning to provide a basic level of knowledge, but it's
far removed from everyday life, in which we're all exposed to many
frequencies simultaneously. A synergism between electromagnetic en-
ergy and radioactivity has already been suggested by the fact that cancer
rates among nuclear power plant workers are higher than was predicted
solely by the higher levels of ionizing radiation in their environment.
Nuclear power plants abound in multifrequency radio waves and other
electromagnetic radiation. In addition to inducing NMR in the building
blocks of living cells, multiple frequencies may likewise interact syn-
ergistically to yield biohazards greater than the sum of their individual
dangers.
Animal experiments on the risk of cancer and birth defects from elec-
tromagnetic energy arc scarce, even in the USSR. The little work that
has been done was mostly on microwaves. The only well-known Amer-
ican laboratory study of birth defect dangers used pulsed radio waves and
found numerous mutations in fruit fly offspring. In 1976 a Russian
group dosed rats with 50 and 500 microwatts for one to ten days. When
they then
studied somatic (nongenital) cellls from the animals,
they