PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Mobile phones and wireless networks: No evidence of health risk found

2012-09-17
(Press-News.org) There is no scientific evidence that low-level electromagnetic field exposure from mobile phones and other transmitting devices causes adverse health effects, according to a report presented by a Norwegian Expert Committee. In addition, the Committee provides advice to authorities about risk management and regulatory practice.

The Committee has assessed the health hazards from low-level electromagnetic fields generated by radio transmitters. These electromagnetic fields are found around mobile phones, wireless phones and networks, mobile phone base stations, broadcasting transmitters and other communications equipment. The Committee has evaluated the power of the fields, whether they pose a health risk, the current regulatory practice, and whether the threshold limit values for exposure are observed.

The report is entitled "Svake høyfrekvente elektromagnetiske felt – en vurdering av helserisiko og forvaltningspraksis. FHI-rapport 2012:3" (In English: Low-level radiofrequency electromagnetic fields – an assessment of health risks and evaluation of regulatory practice. NIPH report 2012:3). The report contains a Norwegian and English summary.

Studied electromagnetic fields below threshold limit values

The low-level electromagnetic fields generated when antennas in mobile phones and other wireless devices transmit radio signals are referred to as radiofrequency (RF) fields.

The health authorities have determined that the threshold limit values for electromagnetic fields around transmitters in mobile phones and other equipment should be the same as those recommended by the International Commission on Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The threshold limit values are based on fields above a certain power that can cause harmful heating of tissue. The ICNIRP has not observed other adverse health effects under this level.

The threshold limit values for these fields are 50 times below the level that causes heating of human tissue or stimulation of nerve cells. Due to increasing public concerns, the government requested the appointment of an Expert Committee to assess whether such low-level electromagnetic fields could cause health effects.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health was commissioned to appoint the Expert Committee by the Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Transport and Communication. The Committee was chaired by Professor Jan Alexander, Assistant Director-General at the Institute.

Research indicates no health risk

The Committee has assessed a number of possible health effects from low-level electromagnetic fields and has evaluated the research in each area.

The group found no evidence that the low-level fields around mobile phones and other transmitters increase the risk of cancer, impair male fertility, cause other reproductive damage or lead to other diseases and adverse health effects, such as changes to the endocrine and immune systems.

No cancer risk found

Most studies concerning cancer have focused on the risk of cancer in the head and neck. The Committee found no scientific evidence for an association between mobile phone use and fast-growing brain tumours. So far, the effect on slow-growing tumours has been studied in people who have used mobile phones for up to 20 years. These studies show no association.

Only limited data exist for the other types of cancer in the head and neck area, as well as for leukaemia and lymphoma, but so far there is no evidence of an increased risk from mobile phone use. Cancer registries have not observed an increase in these tumours in the population since mobile phones were introduced.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity

The Committee did not find that mobile phones and other equipment can cause health problems such as electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Does this mean that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is an imaginary problem?

"We have no grounds to say that the symptoms are imaginary. But a large number of studies suggest that these symptoms must have other causes than the physical effects of low-level electromagnetic fields around mobile phones, wireless transmitters and other wireless equipment. Research provides no evidence to support that interventions help, such as reducing the use of mobile phones or wireless networks. Our opinion is that patients with these health problems must be taken seriously by the health service and should be treated as other patients. There is a need for greater expertise in the health service for this group of patients," says Alexander.

Many people have found that holding a mobile phone to the head causes the area around the ear to become hot – is this due to electromagnetic radiation?

"The skin warms up slightly due to heat from the battery and not from the radio transmitter in the phone. The electromagnetic field will have very little or no heating effect. The body will remove the heat through normal blood flow, in the same way as the body otherwise regulates temperature."

Some mobile phone models transmitting at maximum power provide exposure that comes close to the threshold limit values. Even so, any heating due to electromagnetic fields would be negligible.

Advice: Show general caution

Since there are no uncertainties in the health risk assessment of low-level electromagnetic fields that warrant introduction of the precautionary principle, the Committee believes that general caution is sufficient. This means that exposure should not be higher than needed to achieve the intended purpose.

When comparing the power of the fields around different types of equipment, talking on a mobile phone tops the list, whilst wireless internet networks are at the bottom. Base stations and broadcasting transmitters also come low down in the list. An example of exercising general caution would be for the authorities to inform that hands-free kits will significantly reduce exposure from mobile phones.

Furthermore, the field strength around a mobile phone is lower when there is good coverage.

Little benefit from more research The Committee has evaluated the assessments previously published by international expert groups, as well as recent individual studies. The material is very extensive. A number of studies were performed on cells and tissues in the laboratory, as well as in animals and humans. In addition, population studies and cancer registry studies were conducted in several countries.

Little uncertainty

There is always an element of uncertainty in all risk assessments. In this case, the Committee considers the uncertainty to be small. Some uncertainty is associated with high exposure over time, such as extensive use of mobile phones over several decades. Until now, this has been impossible to study. Cancer registries should follow the development of cancer incidence in the future and research should not cease. Studies of animals that have been exposed throughout life provide no evidence that low level RF fields cause cancer. It is unlikely that long-term use of mobile phones will cause health risks that are unknown today.

Regarding equipment that provides the lowest exposure, such as base stations, wireless networks, broadcasting transmitters and proximity to other mobile phones, the experts believe that the risk assessment has negligible uncertainty. In other words, it is reasonably certain that such equipment is not associated with health risks.

The report is approximately 200 pages long and includes Norwegian and English summaries. It can be downloaded in PDF format at www.fhi.no.

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

At the right place at the right time -- new insights into muscle stem cells

2012-09-17
Muscles have a pool of stem cells which provides a source for muscle growth and for regeneration of injured muscles. The stem cells must reside in special niches of the muscle for efficient growth and repair. The developmental biologists Dr. Dominique Bröhl and Prof. Carmen Birchmeier of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have elucidated how these stem cells colonize these niches. At the same time, they show that the stem cells weaken when, due to a mutation, they locate outside of the muscle fibers instead of in their stem cell niches (Developmental ...

Added benefit of Cannabis sativa for spasticity due to multiple sclerosis is not proven

2012-09-17
An extract from the plant Cannabis sativa (trade name Sativex®) was approved in May 2011 for patients suffering from moderate to severe spastic paralysis and muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis (MS). In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether the new drug, which is used as a mouth spray, offers an added benefit over the optimized standard therapy. However, no such added benefit can be inferred from the dossier, ...

Rapid intensification of global struggle for land

2012-09-17
The earth's limited surface is expected to stretch to everything: food for soon to be nine billion people, feed for our beef cattle and fowl, fuel for our cars, forests for our paper, cotton for our clothes. What is more, the earth's forests are preferably to be left untouched to stabilise the climate. Human ecologist and economist Kenneth Hermele will shortly be defending a thesis at Lund University, Sweden, in which he demonstrates that the struggle for land is intensifying rapidly. Kenneth Hermele has conducted field studies in Brazil, where sugar cane has been cultivated ...

Children evaluate educational games

2012-09-17
Is it possible to create suitable and amusing educational computer games? Can you use qualities from other types of games? And what do the children really think of these kinds of games? Wolmet Barendregt from The University of Gothenburg, conducts research on children's game playing, how we can support learning with design and include the children in the design process. And Wolmet Barendregt certainly involves the children very much in her research. During the Science Festival's school program in April this year, over a hundred preschool children attended a creative game ...

Spacetime ripples from dying black holes could help reveal how they formed

2012-09-17
Researchers from Cardiff University have discovered a new property of black holes: their dying tones could reveal the cosmic crash that produced them. Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape and so isolated black holes are truly dark objects and don't emit any form of radiation. However, black holes that get deformed, because of other black holes or stars crashing into them, are known to emit a new sort of radiation, called gravitational waves, which Einstein predicted nearly a hundred years ago. Gravitational waves ...

Cardiff scientists bid to develop anthrax vaccine to counteract world bioterrorism threat

2012-09-17
A team of Cardiff University scientists is leading new research to develop a vaccine against anthrax to help counteract the threat of bioterrorism. Working with scientists from the Republic of Georgia, Turkey and the USA, Professor Les Baillie from Cardiff University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is leading a NATO project to tackle the potential misuse of anthrax. "Currently the majority of the world's population is susceptible to infection with Bacillus anthracis the bacterium which causes anthrax," according to Professor Baillie, who leads ...

Proof of added benefit of apixaban in hip replacement

2012-09-17
The clot-inhibiting drug apixaban (trade name: Eliquis®) was approved in May 2011 for the prevention of thrombosis (blood clots) after operations to replace a hip or knee joint. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined the added benefit of apixaban. IQWiG found proof of minor added benefit for adult patients who had undergone hip replacement: symptomatic clots in the deep veins of the leg occurred less frequently with ...

Behavior issues are a bigger headache for children with migraines

2012-09-17
Los Angeles, (17 September 2012). Kids who get migraine headaches are much more likely than other children to also have behavioral difficulties, including social and attention issues, and anxiety and depression. The more frequent the headaches, the greater the effect, according to research out now in the journal Cephalagia, published by SAGE. Marco Arruda, director of the Glia Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, together with Marcelo Bigal of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York studied 1,856 Brazilian children aged 5 to 11. The authors say that this is the ...

Considerably more patients may benefit from effective antidiabetic drug

2012-09-17
The antidiabetic drug metformin is not prescribed for patients with reduced kidney function because the risk of adverse effects has been regarded as unacceptably high. A study at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has found that the risks have been substantially overrated. As a result, many more patients with diabetes may be able to enjoy the benefits of the medication. Type 2 diabetes, a very common condition, is increasingly prevalent around the world. Keeping diabetes under control and preventing complications requires not only lifestyle changes, ...

Eating well during pregnancy reduces baby's obesity risk regardless of mom's size

2012-09-17
Bethesda, MD — If you are overweight and pregnant, your baby isn't destined to a life of obesity after all, according to a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal. In the report, a team of U.S. scientists show that modifying fat intake during pregnancy to a moderate level is enough to benefit the child regardless of the mother's size. Specifically, they found that a protein called "SIRT1" rewrites a developing fetus' histone code, which affects his or her "epigenetic likelihood" of being overweight or obese throughout his or her lifetime. "We are finding ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Evaluating performance and agreement of coronary heart disease polygenic risk scores

Heart failure in zero gravity— external constraint and cardiac hemodynamics

Amid record year for dengue infections, new study finds climate change responsible for 19% of today’s rising dengue burden

New study finds air pollution increases inflammation primarily in patients with heart disease

AI finds undiagnosed liver disease in early stages

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announce new research fellowship in malaria genomics in honor of professor Dominic Kwiatkowski

Excessive screen time linked to early puberty and accelerated bone growth

First nationwide study discovers link between delayed puberty in boys and increased hospital visits

Traditional Mayan practices have long promoted unique levels of family harmony. But what effect is globalization having?

New microfluidic device reveals how the shape of a tumour can predict a cancer’s aggressiveness

Speech Accessibility Project partners with The Matthew Foundation, Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress

Mass General Brigham researchers find too much sitting hurts the heart

New study shows how salmonella tricks gut defenses to cause infection

Study challenges assumptions about how tuberculosis bacteria grow

NASA Goddard Lidar team receives Center Innovation Award for Advancements

Can AI improve plant-based meats?

How microbes create the most toxic form of mercury

‘Walk this Way’: FSU researchers’ model explains how ants create trails to multiple food sources

A new CNIC study describes a mechanism whereby cells respond to mechanical signals from their surroundings

Study uncovers earliest evidence of humans using fire to shape the landscape of Tasmania

Researchers uncover Achilles heel of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists uncover earliest evidence of fire use to manage Tasmanian landscape

Interpreting population mean treatment effects in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire

Targeting carbohydrate metabolism in colorectal cancer: Synergy of therapies

Stress makes mice’s memories less specific

Research finds no significant negative impact of repealing a Depression-era law allowing companies to pay workers with disabilities below minimum wage

Resilience index needed to keep us within planet’s ‘safe operating space’

How stress is fundamentally changing our memories

Time in nature benefits children with mental health difficulties: study

In vitro model enables study of age-specific responses to COVID mRNA vaccines

[Press-News.org] Mobile phones and wireless networks: No evidence of health risk found