While watching Joe Rogan interview Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., RFK Jr said that electromagnetic, or radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) radiation can affect the brain, but didn’t have published data on him at the time when Joe Rogan pushed back on him about that.
After checking it out, I discovered that RFK Jr. was telling the truth. The evidence actually stretches back to the 1970s, before government and industry censorship was thwarting research in the field.
Old Fact
This makes the effect on the brain an “old fact” — something known to be true for several decades.
First, have a look at the “ick-nerp” (ICNIRP) reference levels for different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation:
[click to enlarge]
Below 10 MHz, the electric field strength is used in order to set the reference level (scale on the left side) and up to 100 Volts per meter (V/m) is allowed. Below 1 MHz, even 1,000 V/m is allowed.
Above a frequency of 1,000 MHz (1 GHz), the power density is used (scale on the right side), and 10 Watts per square-meter (W/m^2) is allowed. The study mentioned below uses the units of milliWatts per square-centimeter (mW/cm^2), and the reference level in those units would be equivalent to 1.0 mW/cm^2.
A study published in 1979 revealed that you can alter the transport of calcium into and out of cells in a chicken’s brain, using pulsed electromagnetic fields (EMF).
Brain-altering effects at a tenth of the reference level
The effect was statistically significant by the time that the power density reached 0.1 mW/cm^2, but even 0.05 mW/cm^2 was showing more than a standard error of change in calcium transport into and out of brain cells.
You can see this in Figure 3 of the reference cited below.
That brain-specific effect occurred at an EMF that was 10 times lower than the ICNIRP reference level, and 20 times lower if you use the Precautionary Principle applied to any findings of more than a standard error of difference.
Most interesting was there is not a one-to-one correlation between dose and effect, but instead there appears to be a rhythmic effect which has a peak at low doses, a trough at higher doses, another peak at even higher doses, and another trough at even higher doses.
In other words, you can “tune” the EMF to resonate with human cells, getting amplified effects at low doses that were previously thought to only occur at high doses.
Reference
[statistically-significant effect on brain cell calcium from power density of 0.1 mW/cm^2; Figure 3] — Adey WR. Neurophysiologic effects of radiofrequency and microwave radiation. Bull N Y Acad Med. 1979 Dec;55(11):1079-93. PMID: 295243; PMCID: PMC1807758. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1807758/
PDF version: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1807758/pdf/bullnyacadmed00125-0115.pdf