Authored By:
SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic FieldsThis is a review by the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSM) on scientific studies published from October 2013 to September 2014 investigating electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health. The key topics discussed were the association between extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) and childhood leukaemia and health risks from use of mobile phones and from environmental transmitters (such as mobile phone base stations). The report mentioned that recent studies suggesting an association between ELF-MF exposure and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease, warrant further investigation.
Published In:
SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic FieldsOverall, the report by SSM did not reveal any new findings to support a causal association between EMF exposure and adverse health effects.
For ELF fields the same conclusion from previous reports still holds – associations between ELF MF and childhood leukaemia have been observed but a causal relationship has not been established. For radiofrequency (RF) fields, new studies with improved exposure assessment did not indicate any health risks for the general public in relation to RF exposure from environmental transmitters, such as base stations and radio and TV transmitters.
The conclusions of the SSM report are consistent with other recent health risk assessments e.g. the Health Protection Agency in 2012 on Health Effects from RF EMF and the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) in 2013 and 2015 on potential health effects of EMF.
