New Study: Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Blood Cells to Clump Together
Updated
An interesting new study has revealed that exposure to electromagnetic frequencies, or EMFs, from cell phones, has a significant effect on human blood. Specifically, exposure to an active cell phone—its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data is turned on—can cause a phenomenon known as “rouleaux formation,” where red blood cells clump together, forming aggregates large enough to be visible using an ultrasound machine. The simple, non-invasive study should get the attention of anyone who routinely keeps a cell phone in close proximity to their body.
The study, commissioned by Environmental Health Trust (EHT), differs from previous studies, which relied on the controversial technique of live blood cell analysis in vitro, or samples placed on a microscope. The recent study was done in vivo using ultrasonography, a widely available and trustworthy diagnostic tool for evaluating blood vessels. Published in February 2025, the study was conducted by Dr. Robert R. Brown, Vice President of Scientific Research and Clinical Affairs at EHT, and should absolutely be consequential because clumped blood cells flow less easily and thus can impact oxygen delivery throughout the body.
While additional studies will surely follow, the commonsense analysis to obtain an honest look at how EMFs from cell phones can modify blood is extremely straightforward. Dr. Brown, who is also a diagnostic radiologist with extensive experience evaluating blood flow using diagnostic ultrasound, and his colleague Barbara Biebrich, a senior ultrasound technologist with decades of experience performing vascular ultrasounds, decided to test whether ultrasound would detect and display rouleaux blood clumps forming in real-time in a healthy volunteer exposed to a mobile phone.
Under Dr. Brown’s guidance, using established methods of ultrasound, Ms. Biebrich scanned the blood in the back of the knee of a healthy 62-year-old woman with no history of blood disorders. These are the same methods used regularly to detect evidence of blood clots that need to be treated before they most likely cause pulmonary embolism or stroke. Again, this is a very straightforward method of testing. When the test began, the patient’s blood looked normal and flowed smoothly, presenting the image on the ultrasound of a solid black stripe. After that, a working cellphone (not making a call, but connected to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) was placed near the woman’s knee for five minutes. Once the five minutes were up, the ultrasound revealed that after exposure to EMFs, the blood in the patient’s vein was no longer smoothly flowing. Instead, it included white spots that had clumped together into rouleaux formation.
To ensure this alarming discovery wasn’t a one-time occurrence, the researchers repeated their experiment two more times over the ensuing months. And they got the same results each time. Wow, why isn’t this blockbuster study headline news? A closer look at rouleaux formation reveals that when red blood cells stick together, they may not carry oxygen as efficiently as intended, which, for example, could negatively influence how the body turns food into energy, known as metabolism. This begs the question, do EMFs from cell phones (and, I would imagine, apple watches)—which are attached to the hands or pockets of most men, women, and many children throughout each and every day—contribute to obesity? It certainly seems plausible. A low metabolism burns fewer calories.
In addition to affecting metabolism, blood clumped together from EMFs has the potential to slow down blood flow, leading to blockages in small blood vessels, leading to strokes and heart problems. Likewise, the EHT research team noted that rouleaux formation has been associated with infectious and inflammatory processes, connective tissue diseases, and some forms of cancer. Moreover, individuals with diabetes for COVID-related blood vessel damage could indeed be at a higher risk of serious complications from blood clots if their blood enters into rouleaux formation.
EHT noted that further research is needed to “clarify the extent of this problem” they’ve uncovered. Still, for the study to confirm the same phenomenon in a healthy subject on no medication who has no history of allergy, blood disorder, or systemic disease is a significant first step. Again, the researchers used an Apple iPhone with its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, but the phone was otherwise inactive. But not really, because even when a phone is not being used to make a call or send a text, it continually updates apps, which require uploading and downloading from cellular networks, often using 5G.
Along with the results of this recent study showing that EMFs cause blood to clump together, research has existed for years indicating the harmful impact EMFs have on the human body, including a person’s antioxidant defense system, heart health, brain health (including brain and central nervous system cancers), quality of sleep, fatigue, reproduction, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity, to name a few. None of these adverse conditions from EMFs should be surprising. After all, electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) are invisible fields of energy (often called radiation), that are produced anywhere electricity is used—this means power lines, computers, TVs, radios, mobile phones, smart meters, Wi-Fi, microwaves, remote controls, and so.
With a negative impact on blood added to the list of EMF dangers, the study authors report that their study provides a visual confirmation that radiofrequency radiation has effects on the body that are unrelated to heat. We know inaudible infrasound from wind turbines is destructive to all living organisms, and we also know that acoustics—the branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound—has been used to manipulate heart cells and create new heart tissue. With that in mind, it is foolish to consider that the human body, which is continually bombarded with technology, is not negatively impacted by constant exposure to EMFs. And that includes our blood. Speaking on the impact of their research and the need for further study, Brown and his team noted:
“Although rouleaux formation is recognized as a transient phenomenon, we hypothesize that habitual cellphone usage, common in the population, would re-expose individuals over and over again to this abnormal hematologic state. Chronic, long-term exposure to radiofrequency radiation may, therefore, lead to recurrent, chronic RBC aggregation an increased blood viscosity, potentially causing significant morbidity in certain patient populations, particularly diabetics and those with hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular insufficiency, prethrombotic states, and peripheral vascular disease. Recognizing the potential for red blood cell aggregation from radiofrequency radiation to occur in the general population is crucial.”