ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

By: Hug K, Grize L, Seidler A, Kaatsch P, Schuz J
Published in: Am J Epidemiol 2009: in press

German population-based case-control study investigating whether children had an increased risk of developing cancer if their parents were exposed at work, before the child’s conception, to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF). The subjects included 2,049 cases aged 0-14 years (846 children with acute leukaemia, 159 children with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 444 children with central nervous system tumours, and 600 children with other solid tumours) and 2,382 controls (children without disease). There was no increased cancer risk in children whose fathers were occupationally exposed to magnetic fields above 1 µT. Maternal occupational exposure was also not shown to be related to increased cancer risks although this was based on much smaller numbers. The authors conclude that in this large case-control study, the risk of childhood cancer was not linked to preconceptional parental ELF-MF exposure.

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Apart from being influenced by direct environmental exposures, children might still be affected by parental exposures which may have occurred many years in the past. There have been a few studies conducted prior to 2000 investigating parental occupational exposure to ELF MF in the preconception period or during pregnancy. These were reviewed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in evaluating the carcinogenic risk of ELF fields to humans (http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol80/index.php). IARC concluded that these studies were “methodologically weak and the results were not consistent”.

One of the main weaknesses of the previous studies was that the inconsistent results were based on small numbers of cases. The current study included a large number of cases related to paternal exposure and this was not associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer. However, with regard to maternal exposures, the numbers were too small to derive firm conclusions and further research is required to address this issue. The authors also correctly point out that, although it was not confirmed by this study, there is still some evidence that childhood leukaemia may be associated with paternal preconceptional exposure, before the child’s conception, to ELF MF so further research is warranted in this area as well.

IARC classified ELF MF as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on a possible association between prolonged exposure to higher than normal residential magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia. The IARC classification was based upon all of the available data prior to and including 2001. The World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed the literature in 2007 and focused mainly on studies published after the IARC review (http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/elf_ehc/en/index.html). The WHO review concluded that “new human, animal and in vitro studies, published since the 2002 IARC monograph, do not change the overall classification of ELF magnetic fields as a possible human carcinogen.”

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By: Balassa T et al
Published in: Acta Physiol Hung 2009; 96 (4): 437 – 448

This is a laboratory study investigating the effect of short-term 50 Hz magnetic field exposure on the behaviour of rats. Rats were exposed to a 500 µT magnetic field at 50Hz for 20 minutes followed by an examination of anxiety in social contexts and in changing situations, as well as the locomotor activity pattern by several different tests. The authors conclude that these field parameters (which equal the international reference level for workers) may cause some kind of discomfort, may influence behaviour, increase passivity and situational anxiety, but have no verified effect on the social and territorial behaviour.

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By: Ghezel-Ahmadi D et al
Published in: Sci Total Environ 2009: in press

Cross-sectional study investigating the hypothesis of a link between electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) and heavy metal exposure. The concentrations of lead, mercury and cadmium in the blood were measured in 132 EHS patients and 101 controls. The authors conclude that the results do not support the general advice of heavy metal detoxification in EHS.

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By: Desai N et al
Published in:Published in: Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2009 Oct 22;7:114

Review of pathophysiological effects of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) from mobile phones. The effects of RFR on plasma membrane structures and voltage-gated calcium channels are discussed. The review also addresses 1) the controversial effects of RFR on mammalian cells and sperm DNA as well as its effect on apoptosis, 2) epidemiological, in vivo and in vitro studies on the effect of RFR on the male reproductive system, and 3) exposure assessment and dosimetry by computational biomodeling.

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By: Xu et al
Published in:Brain Res. 2009 Oct 30. [Epub ahead of print]

In vitro study where primary cortical neurons (cultured directly from subjects) were exposed to pulsed radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields at a frequency of 1800 MHz modulated by 217 Hz at an average specific absorption rate (SAR) of 2 W/kg. The results suggest that 1800 MHz RF radiation could cause damage to mitochondrial DNA in primary cultured neurons.

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