Olle Johansson and the immune theory: The only thing that links us?

[Guest guest]

In recent days I again came across the story, mentioned here before, about Olle

Johansson, the Swedish professor (who has arguably been the leading researcher

on Electrosensitive people anywhere- of the very few out there!), who is being

evicted from his research laboratory soon. Now, I had seen his piece before in

the Bioiniative report relating to the immune system and EHS, but I never gave

his papers a proper going over. So I went and looked up a paper of his on

Electrosensitivity, similar to the Bioinitiative piece, referenced and linked at

the bottom [1], to give it a more thorough read.

For those that haven't seen it, in the paper he basically hypothesises that

" EMFs disturb immune function through stimulation of various allergic and

inflammatory responses " ; after testing electrosensitive people, he found a very

high number of certain cells involved in the immune response, predominantly mast

cells, and also dendritic cells. The mast cells can release inflammatory

substances such as histamine that can result in the sensation of itch and pain,

and other skin effects such as edema, and erythema. He also put forward that the

dendritic cells may give rise to " subjective sensations of ongoing inflammation

and sensitivity to light. "

Now, the thing is, these cells are found throughout the body, such as the

gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow. So, I just wondered if it may be a

possible explanation for symptoms EHS sufferers have had relating to gut pain

and joint pain.

I know others have put forward the immune system as a cause of EHS before, and I

have mentioned it in previous posts, and I don't want to bang on about it given

that others feel that the cause lies elsewhere, but It's just I came across some

interesting stuff relating to the immune system in recent days, having given it

some proper research for the first time.

Another reason that prompted me to look up immune related stuff is that one of

my main EHS symptoms is canker sores on the gums and tongue, those nasty

white/red spots and blisters that some of you may have had previously. I only

ever get these when having strong exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation such as

strong wireless areas, and it happened me again last week. I can feel the pain

in my gums beginning and building, and I know the canker sores usually develop

in the following 24 hours.

So I went researching if there was any relation between canker sores and the

immune system, and I encountered research papers looking at people who get

canker sores a lot (a disease termed " recurrent aphthous ulcerations " (RAU)).

And it seems that an overreactive immune system could be the main problem,

caused by an imbalance of cytokines, proteins that mediate and regulate the

immune response. The research talked of how a balance of pro- and anti-

inflammatory cytokines is crucial in determination of immune activation and

tolerance, and it bound that with the canker sore problem, there is a

predominance of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Thus the immune system overacts and

it leads to inflammation problems. So, like Johansson's piece, inflammation and

immune over-reaction seems to be the culprit of another of my EHS symptoms.

So then I looked up cytokines and Electromagnetic Fields, and I came across

research that shows certain Electromagnetic Fields can cause an increase in

pro-inflammatory cytokines [2][3].

I also went back looking at the chapter in the Bioninitiative report [4]

relating to the effects of EMF on stress proteins. This paper [5], from the same

author as the Bioinitiative piece, gives a summary, with the main finding being

that EM fields can stimulate the synthesis of stress proteins indicating that

cells view EM fields as potentially harmful, rather than benign.

Now, quite a few people on this forum in the past seemed to complain of some

form of hormonal problem, and often adrenal-related. Chronic stress, be it from

psychological/environmental/other factors, can cause major hormonal system

problems and this can have a major effect on the immune system. Having looked up

research, people putting forward models of how the immune system was affected by

chronic stress had to deal with the paradox that chronic stress has been

associated with inadequate immunity (e.g. infectious disease) and disease

outcomes associated with excessive immunity (e.g. allergic and autoimmune

disease). And to get over this paradox, I found that much recent research has

looked at how chronic stress elicits simultaneous enhancement and suppression of

the immune response by altering patterns of cytokine secretion. (Again,

cytokines has popped up). Again, there is an imbalance of pro- and anti-

inflammatory cytokines, with increased production of proinflammatory cytokines

being the main problem. [6][7]

So stress from emfs could enhance these proinflammatory cytokines also.

I have also come across papers relating to negative effects of ELFs on the

thymus, a major component of the immune system[8][9]. Johansson also assessed

some thymus and other ELF-related papers, including ones relating to oxygen free

radicals, which has been put forward by some on this forum as a possible cause

of EHS. In a paper by Simkó and Mattsson [10] that Johansson mentions, they look

at how increased free radical levels can potentially be caused by immune

response factors.

I have also come across stuff relating heavy metal exposure to impaired immunes

system effects, with possible links again to cytokine imbalances [11].

Increased EHS effects during the day after excessive alcohol intake has also

being mentioned on this forum before; I have had this experience also in the

past, before I more or less gave up alcohol. Alcohol is known to suppress the

immune system.

So, I guess you can see what I am getting at. The immune system seems to be a

possible cause of many symptoms. Other symptoms, such as pulsation/throbbing in

head, cognitive problems, eye problems, etc may be put down to an

impaired/weakened immune system allowing the effects caused by cell-signal

interference, hormonal glands impairment, lens distortion, etc to occur?? Olle

Johansson also put forward that influenza-type symptoms suffered by some EHS

people may be due to over-stimulation of the immune system also.

So I guess some of the effects that I've been talking about could be summarized

as:

EMFs --> increased mast cell and dendritic cell secretion --> inflammation

effects

Chronic Stress --> immune impairment through pro- /anti- inflammatory cytokine

imbalance-->inflammation

EMFs --> stress response chronically triggered --> Immune impairment -->

inflammation??

EMFs --> thymus impairment --> immune impairment

ELFs --> Immune-induced free radical formation --> DNA damage

Heavy metal problems --> immune system impairment --> Electrosensitivity

Those who put forward that a health problem, such as heavy metal poisoning, is

the cause of their electrosensitivity may ultimately be right, but it would seem

that it occurs through the mechanism of the immune system.

So what I'm getting at is: should electrosensitive people, whether they believe

in it fully or not, put forward the " immune system impairment " theory by

Johansson as the main cause of electrosensitivity? Instead of being a group with

any number of disparate symptoms and causes put forward, our cause may gain

credence and have a glimmer of making a change if we get behind a single focus

or whatever. There is enough research out there backing it, and I have only

spent a few hours looking in the last few days.

I think it was that said that the only way there will be change is if

enough physicians can be convinced, as politicians and others will strive to

stick to the status quo. If we can convince physicians that man-made electric

fields can impair the immune system and bring it down, that even though people

with underlying health problems are more susceptible, it can happen to healthy

people (as highlighted in the book mentioned here before " The Invisible Disease "

by the Swedish journalist Gunni Nordstrom, where dozens of engineers working

together for a telecommunications company became electrosensitive within months

of each other after a mast installation; I presume many of these were perfectly

healthy). That young kids and elderly people with weaker immune systems are more

susceptible. And that even if their immune system never fully becomes impaired

in their lifetime to become electrosensitive, it could still be impaired bit by

bit, enough to endanger people to the effects that have been put forward in many

research papers such as brain tumors, blood-brain barrier problems, etc. (you

could even mention ' immune system threshold to show that their immune

system or stress load threshold is being edged towards bit by bit over time).

Getting ordinary blood tests in a doctor's office or whatever to test immune

parameters isn't much good (although some may show up having problems). It seems

it is more to do with immune overreaction/inflammation/even autoimmune problem.

Tests performed like Olle Johansson's on mast cell and histamine effects is what

is needed, or other inflammation tests. There may be some element of autoimmune

effect or immune weakness that may be harder to test for.

It may still ultimately prove worthless, but getting behind the one cause may

have some effect. It's a shame that the likes of Olle Johansson is being shoved

to the side. There aren't many others backing our cause.

{Interestingly, for the effects mentioned by Johansson that are caused by

chemical release such as Histamine, there does seem to be anti-histamine drugs

being administered for other immune problems such as some forms of allergy and

autoimmune disease. I don't know if these could play some role in alleviating

some of the symptoms for those who are seriously debilitated by the

burning/smarting-type pains. They seem to have serious side-effects also. I

haven't really assessed them yet.]

[1] Johansson, Olle 2009. Disturbance of the immune system by electromagnetic

fields—A potentially underlying cause for cellular damage and tissue repair

reduction which could lead to disease and impairment. Pathophysiology 16 (2009)

157–177

[2] Cossarizza, , Stefano Angioni, Felice Petraglia, R. Genazaani,

a Monti, Miriam Capri, Ferdinando Bersani, Ruggero Cadossi and Claudio

Franceschi. 1993. Expolure to Low Frequency Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields

Increases Interleukin-1 and Interleukin-6 Production by Human Peripheral Blood

Mononuclear Cells. Experimental Cell Research: 204, 385-387 (1993)

[3] C. Aldinucci, G.P. Pessina, 1998. Electromagnetic fields enhance the release

of both interferon g and interleukin-6 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells

after phytohaemagglutinin stimulation. Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics 44

1998 243–249

[4] C.F. Blackman, M. Blank, M.Kundi, C. Sage, D.O. Carpenter, Z.Davanipour, D.

Gee, L. Hardell, O. Johansson, H. Lai, K.H. Mild, A. Sage, E.L. Sobel, Z. Xu, G.

Chen, The Bioinitiative Report—A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public

Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic Fields (ELF and RF),

http://www.bioinitiative.org, 2007.

[5] REBA GOODMAN AND MARTIN BLANK, 2002. Insights Into Electromagnetic

Interaction Mechanisms. JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY 192:16–22 (2002)

[6] Theodore F. Robles, Glaser, and Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, 2005. Out

of Balance: A New Look at Chronic Stress, Depression, and Immunity, CURRENT

DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Volume 14—Number 2

[7] E. , and Suzanne C. Segerstrom. Psychological Stress and the

Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry. Psychological

Bulletin 2004, Vol. 130, No. 4, 601–630

[8] V. M. BOGOLYUBOV, S. M. ZUBKOVA, I. D. FRENKEL, Z. A. SOKOLOVA, AND I. B.

LAPRUN, 1988. The Functional State of Thymus Cells following Microwave Exposure

of Endocrine Glands. RADIATION RESEARCH 115, 44-53 (1988)

[9] Sun X, Zhang WH, Niu YJ, Zeng M, Hou YC, Wang XR, . Effects of microwave

radiation on thymocytes in mice at different power densities. Department of

Occupational Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China

[10] M. Simkó, M.O. Mattsson, 2004. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic

fields as effectors of cellular responses in vitro: possible immune cell

activation, J. Cell. Biochem. 93 (2004) 83–92.

[11] Bruce D. Forrest. Environmental Contaminants and the Immune System,

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