PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - P. J. Hore
TI  - Upper bound on the biological effects of 50/60 Hz magnetic fields mediated by radical pairs
AID  - 10.1101/502344
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 502344
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/20/502344.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/20/502344.full
AB  - Prolonged exposure to weak (~1 μT) extremely-low-frequency (ELF, 50/60 Hz) magnetic fields has been associated with an increased risk of childhood leukaemia. One of the few biophysical mechanisms that might account for this link involves short-lived chemical reaction intermediates known as radical pairs. In this report, we use spin dynamics simulations to derive an upper bound of 10 parts per million on the effect of a 1 μT ELF magnetic field on the yield of a radical pair reaction. By comparing this figure with the corresponding effects of changes in the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field, we conclude that if exposure to such weak 50/60 Hz magnetic fields has any effect on human biology, and results from a radical pair mechanism, then the risk should be no greater than travelling a few kilometres towards or away from the geomagnetic north or south pole.