By Suzanne Burdick | Source

Living near a cell tower was associated with elevated levels of white blood cells — comparable to those seen in smokers — according to a peer-reviewed study in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

The study also found that using a cellphone for 4 to 6 hours a day raised people’s white blood cell count, particularly among adults under 30.

“These results indicate human biological systems are under stress from both mobile phone use and local mobile phone tower exposures, leading to potential health effects,” the authors wrote.

White blood cells are key to the body’s immune response and naturally elevate during infection or inflammation, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

But ongoing exposure to wireless radiation from cell towers and cellphones may deplete the immune system by chronically elevating the white blood cell count, according to the study authors.

“People’s everyday exposures to mobile phones and towers may be affecting their health by creating or adding to inflammatory conditions and immune system depletion,” Julie McCredden, Ph.D., and Zothan Siama, Ph.D., the study’s corresponding authors, told The Defender.

Cellphones, cell towers and other wireless devices are all “potential sources of physical stress — not just social or emotional stress,” they said. “Unfortunately, most doctors are not aware of the potential immune and inflammatory effects of exposure to wireless frequencies, because they are not trained in environmental health.”

McCredden is a consultant with the Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association (ORSAA) in Brisbane, Australia. Siama is an assistant professor at Mizoram University in Aizawl, India. Their co-authors include other researchers from ORSAA and Mizoram University.

Cell tower exposure may contribute to a ‘range of chronic inflammatory conditions’

The study authors compared the blood samples of 50 adults in Aizawl living within 60 meters of a cell tower with the blood samples of 51 adults living more than 300 meters away from a cell tower.

They measured the level of radiofrequency (RF) radiation in the participants’ living rooms. They also ensured that the participants were not exposed to a significant amount of RF radiation at work, which could affect the study’s outcome.

They asked the participants about their cellphone use habits, how long they had lived in their house and lifestyle factors that might affect their biological stress. They also matched participants according to age and gender for a cleaner comparison between those living close to or far from a cell tower.

Using statistical analyses, the authors found that nearly a quarter (24%) of those living close to a cell tower had elevated monocytes, a type of white blood cell, comparable to what’s seen in people who smoke cigarettes.

Study participants who lived more than 300 meters from a cell tower didn’t show this increase.

Epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher called this the study’s “most striking” finding. He wrote in a Substack post about the study:

“Monocytes are not just generic white blood cells. They are central players in systemic inflammation and vascular injury. … They are strongly associated with cardiovascular risk.”

McCredden and Siama also flagged the increase in monocytes as concerning, given the role of monocytes in inflammation. Cell tower exposure may be “contributing to the range of chronic inflammatory conditions we are seeing in the modern world,” they said.

In 2025, the same authors published a study conducted in the same area of India. That study found people living close to cell towers reported more allergies, infections and cognitive issues than those living far away.

Heavy cellphone use also linked to immune system stress

When the researchers looked at how cellphone use affected white blood cells, they found that heavy cellphone use was linked to elevated lymphocytes — another type of white blood cell that plays an important role in the immune system.

Over 50% of people who used a cellphone 4 to 6 hours a day had lymphocyte levels above normal reference ranges. The majority of these individuals were under 30.

Lymphocytes are useful for fighting short-term infection, the authors said. “However, in the long term, this immune response can get depleted.”

In other words, their findings suggested that spending hours a day on a cellphone might wear down a person’s immune system.

“This is an important consideration given the assaults on the immune system that we have seen in the last few years globally,” they added.

The authors also measured amylase, an enzyme in the blood, and the hormone cortisol. Both are stress markers. Their findings were inconsistent — they could not draw a clear conclusion about if and how exposure to cell towers and cellphones affected these markers.

CHD threatens legal action if FCC doesn’t review wireless radiation safety limits

This study comes amid increasing evidence that wireless radiation exposure at currently allowable limits is linked to many health issues, including increased risk of diabetes, sleeping disorders and cancer.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which sets the U.S. limit for how much RF radiation cell towers and wireless devices can emit, hasn’t updated its limits since 1996.

Those limits were based on a handful of studies from the 1970s and 1980s with small sample sizes and that measured only the short-term impact of wireless radiation at levels high enough to heat human tissue.

In other words, the U.S. has no safety limits in place that account for long-term exposure at the levels emitted by most modern cellphones and cell towers.

India’s limits are generally 10 times stricter than U.S. limits, according to Physicians for Safe Technology. India allows 45 microwatts per centimeter squared for RF radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz. The U.S. allows 450 microwatts per centimeter squared for the same frequency.

In a motion filed in November 2025 with the FCC, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) urged the agency to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set wireless radiation exposure limits that protect public health.

CHD is prepared to take the FCC back to court if the agency doesn’t comply with a 2021 court order directing it to review 11,000 pages of evidence supporting claims that wireless radiation at levels currently allowed by the FCC harms people — especially kids — and the environment.

Miriam Eckenfels, director of CHD’s Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless Program, said the motion represents a “new phase of attack” against the FCC for its failure to comply with the 2021 court order.

“The document essentially tells the FCC to either protect people, or get out of the way and let other federal agencies, like HHS, set health and safety limits for wireless radiation exposure,” Eckenfels said.

As of press time, the FCC had not responded to the filing.