ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

By: Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research
Published in: ACRBR website

The Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research conducted a survey of radiofrequency (RF) radiation levels in 20 suburban homes in Melbourne, Australia. The survey assessed RF levels from individual devices (cordless phones, Wi-Fi, etc) in isolation, as well as their cumulative exposure. The results generally indicated very low levels with the highest level being less than 1% of the limits in the Australian RF Standard. For individual devices, the highest level was less than 10% of the limits in the Standard. Having all RF devices on simultaneously in a home (cumulative exposure) had little effect on the results. The authors conclude that the use of RF devices in an average suburban home results in very low RF exposure (compared to the Australian Standard), even when numerous RF devices are operating simultaneously.

Report available at: http://www.acrbr.org.au/Research/ACRBR_Devices_In_Homes_Final_Report.pdf

Radiofrequency radiation and its effects are described in an ARPANSA fact sheet at http://www.arpansa.gov.au/RadiationProtection/basics/rf.cfm. In 2002 ARPANSA published the standard: Radiation Protection Standard - Maximum Exposure Levels to Radiofrequency Fields - 3 kHz to 300 GHz. The ARPANSA RF Standard sets limits for human exposure to RF fields from all sources including wireless devices. The exposure limits in the Standard are based on current scientific knowledge and are designed to protect against all known adverse health effects.

For decades researchers have been investigating the effects of RF fields on humans, animals and the environment. It is now well established that exposure to sufficiently high levels of RF can heat biological tissue and potentially cause tissue damage. However the RF emitted by wireless devices is too low to produce significant heating or increased body temperature. At low levels of exposure to RF fields (i.e. field intensities lower than those that would produce measurable heating) the evidence for harmful biological effects is ambiguous and unproven. Although there have been studies reporting a range of biological effects at low levels, there has been no indication that such effects might constitute a human health hazard.

The issue of whether wireless technologies that emit RF are a health hazard has also been reviewed by the World Health Organization (WHO) (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs304/en/index.html). The WHO states that “Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects”.

---

By: Hours M et al
Published in: Occup Environ Med. 2009 Jul;66(7):480-6

In this case-control study, which was conducted within the INTERPHONE project, possible associations between risk of acoustic neuroma and exposure to loud noise in leisure and occupational settings were investigated. Acoustic neuroma was found to be associated with loud noise (odds ratio (OR) = 2.55; 95% CI 1.35 to 4.82), both in leisure settings, particularly when listening to loud music (OR = 3.88; 95% CI 1.48 to 10.17) and at work (OR = 2.26; 95% CI 1.08 to 4.72). The authors conclude that these results agree with other recent reports implicating loud noise in the risk of acoustic neuroma.

PUBMED LINK

---

By: Inyang I et al
Published in: BMC Med Res Methodol. 2009 Jun 12;9:36.

This study investigated the validity of self reported adolescent mobile telephone use. Recall of mobile phone use from year 7 secondary school students in Melbourne, Australia, was compared to data from Software Modified Phones (SMPs) that logged exposure details. The authors conclude that adolescent recall of mobile telephone use was only modestly accurate.

PUBMED LINK

The paper is available at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2702336&blobtype=pdf

---

By: Nam K
Published in: Bioelectromagnetics [Epub ahead of print]

In this provocation study, two volunteer groups of 18 self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitive (EHS) and 19 non-EHS persons were tested for both sham and real radiofrequency exposure from CDMA mobile phones for a period of half an hour. Physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiration rate, andheart rate variability (HRV) as well as various subjective symptoms and the perception of electromagnetic fields (EMF) were investigated. The authors conclude that RF exposure did not have any effects on physiological parameters or subjective symptoms in either group. The authors also report that there was no evidence that the EHS group better perceived EMF than the non-EHS group.

PUBMED LINK

---

By: Mizuno Y et al
Published in: Bioelectromagnetics [Epub ahead of print]

Study investigating the effects of the third generation mobile phone system on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in humans. Nine healthy male volunteers were exposed to radiofrequency radiation (RF) signals from the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) mobile phone system as well as sham control exposure. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans were obtained before, during, and after unilateral 30 min RF exposure in order to determine the rCBF. The authors conclude that no significant rCBF changes occurred during RF exposure compared with the sham suggesting that RF emitted by a third generation mobile phone does not affect rCBF in humans.

PUBMED LINK

---

By: The Bioelectromagnetics Society and the European BioElectromagnetics Association
Published in: BioEM website

BioEM2009 was a joint conference by the Bioelectromagnetics Society and the European BioElectromagnetics Association , held in Davos, Switzerland from June 14-19, 2009. Papers presented at the Conference addressed the health concerns, regulations and medical applications associated with EMF. Some papers of interest included:

• Mobile phones and cancer – current epidemiological evaluation (Auvinen A)
• SARs in SAM and Child Head models for Mobile Phone Exposure at 835 and 1900 MHz(Lee A et al)
• German Mobile Telecommunication Research Programme – Conclusions and Perspectives (Pophof B et al)

The abstracts and program of the conference are available at: http://bioem2009.org/

Top of Page