‘EM fields initiate the stress response by interacting with electrons moving within DNA’

Electromagnetic (EM) fields have been used therapeutically for accelerated healing and pain control, but they have also been associated with adverse health effects. To understand these biological effects, we have been studying the interaction of low frequency EM fields with cells at both the cellular and molecular levels.
Our studies with cells have shown that 60Hz EM fields induce stress genes and stress response proteins in cells. The stress response is a protective mechanism induced by many potentially harmful environmental stimuli and characterized by the synthesis of specific proteins that assist the renaturation and transport of other proteins. Our studies suggest that EM fields initiate the stress response by interacting with electrons moving within DNA. We have identified a 900 base pair segment associated with the response to EM fields, that when removed eliminates the response, and when transfected into a reporter construct, causes the construct to become EM field responsive.
We have also investigated the mechanism of EM field interactions at the molecular level through effects on three reactions, electron transfer in cytochrome oxidase, ATP hydrolysis by the Na,K-ATPase, and the Belousov-Zhabotinski (BZ) reaction (the catalyzed oxidation of malonic acid). The BZ reaction is studied with ordinary reagents, so there is no problem of impurities as with biological preparations. All three reactions show:
• EM accelerates the reaction rate, i.e., electron transfer rate
• EM competes with the chemical force, so its effect varies inversely with the reaction rate
• Thresholds for interaction are low, comparable to levels found by epidemiology
• Effects vary with frequency, and there are different optima for the reactions studied: ATPase (60Hz), cytochrome oxidase (800Hz), BZ (250Hz)
These properties are consistent with the idea that EM fields affect many biological systems by interacting with electrons moving during redox reactions and also within DNA.
http://cryptogon.com/?p=26704