Radiation literature survey

Authored By:

This animal study investigated whether exposure to radiofrequency (RF) EMF causes promotion of tumours. Pregnant mice were treated with a carcinogen and exposed to RF-EMF at four exposure conditions: sham, at specific absorption rate (SAR) of 0.04, 0.4 and 2 Watts per kilogram (W/kg) (ranging from 2-100% of the public exposure limits in the Australian Standard for RF exposure). The study found tumour-promoting effects at exposure levels below the limits although no clear dose-response effect was observed. The authors concluded that further studies are warranted to investigate the underlying mechanisms.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This human provocation study investigated whether the radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) cause any adverse health effects. A total of 30 participants were randomly exposed to a TETRA-like signal of 385 megahertz (MHz) at three different exposure conditions - Sham, at a Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of 1.5 Watts per kilogram (W/kg), and at SAR of 6 W/kg, for 2.5 hours each. The study found that the TETRA's short-term EMF exposure did not negatively impact the cognitive function, mood and well-being of the human participants.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

The EMF exposure from a TETRA handset can be higher than that of mobile phones, depending on the output power of the transmitter, the distance between the handset and the head and the time period of the device operating (duty cycle). A study by Gabriel et al (2000) that estimated the SAR produced in a phantom head due to TETRA using modelling found that the SAR at some parts of the head could exceed the basic restrictions for public exposure for some exposure situations. For example, with TETRA Class 3 radio (transmitter-s peak output power of 3 W) when transmitting at maximum power (cited by a report by Health Protection Agency in 2012 on Health Effects from RF EMF).

In this study by Sauter et al, there was one exposure condition where participants were exposed to TETRA signal as high as a SAR of 6 W/kg, which is three times the basic restriction for public exposure. The study did not find any significant difference in the cognitive performance, mood, and subjective complaints of the participants when exposed in three situations - sham, 75% of public exposure limit or three times the public exposure limit. Moreover the participants and the researchers were both blinded to the exposure which eliminates the nocebo effects.

Previous human studies on TETRA (Riddervold et al, Wallace et al, and Nieto-Hernandez et al) also did not find any significant difference between the exposed and non-exposed group.

Many previous provocation studies have not been able to establish a causal relation between EMF exposure below current exposure limits and adverse health effects. This includes the non-specific symptoms reported by individuals claiming to have electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). See ARPANSA's commentary on January 2010's literature report.

ARPANSA has recently issued a fact sheet about EHS (http://www.arpansa.gov.au/RadiationProtection/Factsheets/is_ehs.cfm)

Authored By:

This in vitro study investigated whether RF EMF emitted by mobile phones causes adverse health effects in human sperm. Semen samples were either not exposed or exposed to RF EMF from mobile phone for 1 hour, at a SAR of 1.46 W/kg (roughly around 75% of the ARPANSA RF Standard public exposure limit) and then assessed for sperm motility, velocity and some protein activities. The authors concluded that RF EMF exposure from mobile phones has some negative impacts on sperm cells.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

The impact of prenatal and childhood exposure to extremely low frequency EMF from high voltage power lines on the incidence of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) was investigated in this case-control study. The study included 22 cases of newly diagnosed ALL and 100 controls that lived in low socioeconomic environment in Iran. The authors concluded that there is an increased risk of childhood ALL (odds ratio, OR = 3.651, 95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 1.692-7.878) with pre- and postnatal exposure to EMF from high voltage power lines in a population with a low socioeconomic background.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This study was trying to examine the reliability of the incidence data from the Swedish Cancer Register. The incidence data from the Swedish National Inpatient Register (IPR) and Causes of Death Register (CDR) were studied and compared to the Cancer Register data for the time period 1998-2013. The authors comment that the Cancer Register may miss a number of cases, due to brain tumours of unknown type are either not reported to the Cancer Register or when reported they could potentially be classified as other brain cancer types, and also due to general decline of autopsies where diagnosis can be made at time of death. The authors concluded that the Swedish Cancer Register is not reliable to be used to dismiss results in epidemiological studies on the use of wireless phones and brain tumour risk.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This in vitro study investigated the effects of ELF-MF exposure on the regulation of clock genes in the cell line. This cell line was exposed to ELF-MF at the frequency of 50 Hz, at a level of 0.1 millitesla (mT) which is at the public exposure guideline in Australia. The authors reported that the ELF-MF exposure caused some effects, mainly altering the expression of the clock genes that may affect the circadian rhythm. This study supported the hypothesis that ELF-MF may be able to affect circadian physiological process..

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This animal study examined whether microwave radiation causes any cognitive impairment and effects on the heat shock protein level (usually released when cells are in stress). Rats were either not exposed or exposed to microwave radiation at three different frequencies (900, 1800 and 2450 megaherts, MHz), for 2 hours per day, for 180 days. The specific absorption rate (SAR) used for the exposure was thousands of times below the Australian exposure limit. The authors found that there was a slight decline in cognitive function and an increase in the heat shock protein level.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This animal study looked into the effects of radiofrequency (RF) radiation on the rat testicle. Rats were exposed to RF, at 900 MHz, for 1 hour a day, for 30 days at a level of around 6% of the Australian public exposure limit. The authors were of the opinion that exposure to low level RF can cause injury in testicular tissue.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This animal study investigated whether exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) affects the repair rate of DNA damage after ionising radiation (IR) exposure from X-ray. Pregnant mice were either exposed to ELF-MF only (at a level of 300 microtesla, µT which is three times the public exposure guideline in Australia), IR only (at a level of 100 milligray, mGy), and combination of both ELF-MF and IR. The authors concluded that ELF-MF exposure does not induce DNA damage nor does it affect the repair rate of DNA damage caused by IR exposure.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Authored By:

This ecological study looked into whether the incidence of brain cancer in New Zealand increased in the 16-year period up to 2010. During that period there were 4,212 cases of malignant brain tumours that were diagnosed in people aged10 years or older. Overall there was a decrease in brain cancer during the period, except in females aged 30-49. There was a statistically significant increase of 2.98% in glioma at ages over 70 in the male group, which the authors suggested to be due to improved diagnostic technologies.

Link to PubMed abstract

Published In:

Although ecological studies are limited in proving whether a certain risk factor causes disease they are useful to rapidly test a hypothesis using existing data sets.

In this study the popular hypothesis on whether mobile phone use is associated with brain cancer is tested in the New Zealand population.The study by Kim et al found an overall decrease in brain cancer incidence. This is not a surprise as many ecological studies done in other developed countries did not find increases in overall incidence of brain cancers, for example studies in Scandinavian countries (reported in December 2009), United States (reported in July 2010), and England (reported in January 2011).

It is however important to note that ecological studies such as the one done by Kim et al is highly unlikely to detect an effect if there is a long latency period with the brain cancer i.e. more than 10 to 15 years (if it were induced by mobile phone use).