Radiation literature survey

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This animal study investigated whether low level RF radiation from Wi-Fi causes any adverse health effects. Sixteen rats were divided into two groups (sham and exposed) and experimented for one year. The RF exposure was at a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz and whole-body average SAR of 0.141 milliwatts/kg (which is 0.18% of the limit in the Australian Standard). The DNA damage on the rat’s brain, liver, kidney, skin and testicular tissues were quantified. The authors found a statistically significant increase in DNA damage only in the testicular tissues of the exposed group. The authors therefore conclude that the testes are more sensitive to RF radiation than the other organs studied.

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This case-control study investigated the association between RF radiation from mobile phones and a type of brain cancer. A total of 285 glioma patients (cases) and 285 controls were recruited in the study. Information on mobile phone use was obtained via questionnaires. The authors reported no statistically significant increased risk with the cumulative hours of mobile phone use at the same side of the head as the tumour (odds ratio, OR = 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI = 0.32 – 1.84), when compared to the use at the other side of the head. The authors concluded that there was no association between gliomas and mobile phone use.

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This population-based case-control study tried to examine the association between occupational exposures to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) and breast cancer in men. A total of 115 cases and 570 controls participated in the study. The MF exposure was estimated via expert assessment, using the information on participants’ job histories, where the average MF exposure for individual jobs was classified into three categories (less than 0.3, 0.3 to less than 0.6, and 0.6 microtesla, μT or more). There was a non-significant increased risk of breast cancer in men who were exposed to 0.6 μT or more (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 0.82-3.95) when compared to the group exposed to less than 0.3 μT. The study found inconsistent association between occupational MF exposure and breast cancer in men.

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This is a computer simulation study of the RF radiation emanating from up to 15 wireless devices in the closed environment of a train carriage. In the study the specific absorption rate (SAR) for an individual is assessed from all wireless devices in the train carriage. The authors found that 15 other users connected to a GSM900 base station external to the train can induce SARs up to 24% of that induced by a user’s own device.

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This is a human provocation study where the effects of ELF-MF on human memory were investigated. A total of 65 males were involved in the study, divided into exposed and non-exposed groups. The exposure was at a frequency of 2 kilohertz and at a maximum MF level of 0.11 µT in the head area. The authors found that low level MF exposure can affect cognitive functions: lower times were recorded for perception, sustained attention and motor execution, while time employed in binary decision increased.

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This is a meta-analysis of studies that investigated the effects of low-level radiofrequency (RF) radiation with the wellbeing of adults. The RF sources being investigated were mobile phone base stations. A total of 17 studies were included in the analysis, where the RF exposure was either imposed in double-blinded or non-blinded experiments, or assessed via measurements (field studies). The results of double-blind studies found no indication for any effect of RF radiation on human wellbeing. On the other hand, the non-blinded and field studies found that there were effects. Overall, the authors concluded that nocebo effects may play a role in the negative effects of short-term, low-level RF exposure from mobile phone base stations.

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This is a review of the literature on the studies that investigated the risk of brain tumours and mobile phone use. A total of 22 scientific papers were included in the review. The majority of the studies did not find an increased risk with mobile phone use. However some studies (such as INTERPHONE study and CERENAT study) showed increased risk of gliomas (which is the second most common type of brain tumour) among the heavy mobile phone users. The authors concluded that the evidence is so far inconsistent on gliomas and inconclusive on other brain tumour types.

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This case-control study investigated the association between exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) and three types of childhood cancers (leukaemia, central nervous system tumour and malignant lymphoma). This study was an extension of an older study to include recent cases. A total of 1570 cases and 4341 controls were included in the present study (covering 1987-2003), for a grand total of 3277 cases and 9129 controls for the combined period of 1968-2003. The analyses on the three cancers combined revealed that for the group exposed to elevated level of MF (defined as 0.4 microtesla, µT or greater) the odds ratio (OR) was 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI = 0.32-2.42) in the present study and 1.63 (95% CI = 0.77-3.46) in the combined period. The authors concluded that the increased risk associated with elevated MF exposure found previously OR 5.72 (CI 1.40-23.36) could not be confirmed based on the present study.

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The study by Pederson et al includes only very small numbers of cases and controls who are exposed to elevated MF; there were only 11 cases and 19 controls that were exposed to elevated MF in the combined period of 35 years. The exposure to ELF MF in the study was assessed using the distance of the subject’s residence to electrical supply infrastructure. This method of exposure assessment may have misclassified the exposure status of the subjects in the study.

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This cross-sectional study investigated the association between RF radiation and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Two schools with a total of 159 students were included in the study. Both schools were about 200 metres from the mobile phone base stations (operating at a frequency of 925 MHz) and students were exposed for 6 hours daily, 5 days a week. The RF exposure was measured in one school to be 9.601 nW/cm² (around 0.002% of the public exposure limit), which was roughly 5 times higher than the level at the other school. Although the authors reported that the students at the school with higher RF exposure had a significantly higher incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, the parameter used to measure the disease was not very different between the two schools.

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This human provocation study looked into the effects of radiofrequency (RF) exposure on sleep quality. Thirty young male participants were subjected to three nights of each exposure condition: sham, GSM (900 megahertz, MHz), and WCDMA/UMTS (2 gigahertz, GHz). The exposure was for the whole night (8 hours), with the specific absorption rate (SAR) set to reach but not exceed 2 watts per kilogram (W/kg) which is the limit for general public exposure in the Australian RF Standard. In 90% of the subjects, one or more sleep parameters were significantly different during GSM or WCDMA/UMTS exposure when compared to the sham exposure. However there was no consistent pattern in sleep parameter changes among the subjects. The authors found that in about 30% of the subjects there was a prolonged period of one of the sleep stages (rapid eye movement sleep) during the RF exposure, although this result does not indicate a sleep disturbance.

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Studies investigating the effects of RF exposure on sleep quality have so far given inconsistent results. This study by Danker-Hopfe et al. also reviewed the main findings of many other studies done in this area, where the majority of the studies did not find any effects. Findings of some studies were conflicting with each other – two studies reported reduced sleep latency but one study reported prolonged sleep latency. A previous study by Danker-Hopfe et al. in 2010 did not find any effects on sleep quality (reported in June 2010’s literature report).