Radiation literature survey

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This cross-sectional study investigated the association between radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF EMF) exposure and sleep disturbances in Dutch and Spanish preadolescents (9- to 12-year-olds). Using a questionnaire, information was gathered on the participants mobile and cordless phone use, as well as tablet and laptop use to estimate near-field RF EMF brain dose. Far-field RF-EMF exposure from mobile phone base stations, broadcast towers, FM radio and wi-fi was also estimated using exposure modelling. Sleep quality was assessed by measuring total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset. The study found whole-brain RF EMF dose was not associated with sleep disturbances. However, the study found evening doses of RF EMF from phone calls were associated with shorter total sleep time. Although the authors acknowledged that this association may be due to behaviours and not RF EMF exposure.

Estimated all-day and evening whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic fields doses, and sleep in preadolescents

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The conclusions of this study are consistent with ARPANSA’s review of the scientific evidence that there are no substantiated effects of RF EMF on sleep quality (ARPANSA, 2014). The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) opinion on Potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) also concluded that there was no substantiated scientific evidence to support disruptions to parameters affecting sleep quality. This supports ARPANSA’s view that exposure to RF EMF at levels below the limits set in the ARPANSA RF Standard (RPS S-1) do not cause any adverse health effects. The standard is based on scientific research that shows the levels at which harmful effects occur and it sets limits, based on international guidelines, well below these harmful levels. The standard is designed to protect people of all ages and health status against all known adverse health effects from exposure to RF EMF.

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This international case-control study examined the association between wireless (mobile and cordless) phone use in childhood and adolescence and brain tumour risk. The study, called MOBI-Kids, recruited 899 people with brain tumours and 1,910 controls aged 10 to 24 from 14 different countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain). The study reported no statistically significant increase in the risk of brain tumours. The authors did observe a statistically significant decreased risk, however, this was attributed to bias from wrong information reported on mobile use rather than a protective effect. The authors concluded that the study provides no evidence for a causal association between wireless phone use and brain tumours in children and adolescents. However, the authors stated that due to potential bias they could not rule out the possibility of a small increased risk.

Wireless phone use in childhood and adolescence and neuroepithelial brain tumours: Results from the international MOBI-Kids study

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This is the largest case-control study ever to investigate the association between wireless phone use and brain tumours in children and adolescents. The authors’ findings are consistent with previous studies, including the CEFALO study, that also showed no association between the use of wireless phones and brain tumours in children and adolescents. The findings are also consistent with studies reporting no increase in the incidence of brain tumour despite the increased use of mobile phones (e.g. Karipidis et al 2019 and Villeneuve et al 2021).

Overall, this study provides further evidence that there are no substantiated adverse health effects from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy from wireless phones where the emissions are below the public exposure limits set in the ARPANSA Standard and the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection’s radiofrequency guidelines.

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This study conducted measurements of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic energy (EME) in different every day settings (e.g. parks, residences, shopping centres etc.) across 5 European countries (Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland and Netherlands). The measurements were conducted using a newly developed body-worn meter. The median RF-EME exposure across 267 locations using the new body-worn meter  was 0.13 mW/m² which was similar to the median measurements using other types of meters.

European study finds exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is well below the safety limits in international guidelines

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The measured RF-EMF levels across all environments in all countries were well below the public exposure limits set in the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection’s 2020 radiofrequency exposure guidelines, and the ARPANSA radiofrequency exposure standard (RPS S-1). Although these results were expected, it is still a reassuring result that exposure in environments similar to what we would expect in Australia was well below the ARPANSA safety standard. There is currently no substantiated scientific evidence that exposure to RF-EME at levels below the limits set in the ARPANSA Standard cause any adverse health effects.

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This Canadian study used data from the Canadian Cancer Registry to compare the recorded incidence rates of glioma and the prevalence of mobile phone use (measured by the annual number of mobile phone subscriptions) between 1992 and 2015. The glioma incidence trends were also compared to the risk estimates in three other studies reporting an association between mobile phone use and glioma;  a recent pooled analysis of Swedish case-control studies, the INTERPHONE study, and an analysis of the data collected from the Canadian component of the INTERPHONE study. The authors reported that when comparing the actual number of cases of glioma diagnosed in Canada in 2015 to the risk estimates, these studies overestimated the observed number of gliomas diagnosed by 50%, 86%, and 63%, respectively. Further, the authors also reported that despite the enormous growth in the ownership and use of mobile phones from the early 1980s up to 2015, the observed cases of glioma remained stable over the study period, indicating that there is unlikely to be a causal link between mobile phone use and glioma.

Cell phone use and the risk of glioma: are case-control study findings consistent with Canadian time trends in cancer incidence?

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The results of this study are consistent with a similar study conducted by ARPANSA (Karipidis et al) that reported stable incidence rates of glioma and other types of brain cancer in Australia over the period from 1982 to 2013 despite the increased prevalence of mobile phone use during this time. Both studies used mobile phone subscription data to estimate mobile phone use in the population and this may not be a true indicator of actual mobile phone use. Nevertheless, it is inherently clear that the use of mobile phones in society has increased rapidly during the timeframe accounted for in these studies. This, combined with the stability in brain cancer trends, indicates that case-control studies reporting associations with mobile phone use and brain cancer may be affected by biases in exposure assessment, especially where mobile phone use data is self-reported.

This study adds further evidence that there are no substantiated adverse health effects from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy from mobile phones and other wireless devices where the emissions are below the public exposure limits set in the ARPANSA Standard and the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection’s radiofrequency guidelines. 

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In this study, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy (RF EME) from Wi-fi was measured by meters carried on the body of 63 volunteers in Mexico over a 24-hour period. The measurements were taken as participants conducted their normal daily routines in a range of environments including homes, workplaces and other public access and urban environments. Volunteers were instructed to avoid using mobile phones, laptops or any other devices connected to Wi-fi during the measurements. When this was unavoidable, participants recorded these activities in a diary outlining the timing and duration of such events to assist in the data analysis. The exposures ranged from a minimum power density of 116.8 microwatts per square meter (µW/m2) to 499.7 µW/m2. Lower levels were measured at night and higher levels during the day. Further, higher measurements were normally associated with office environments. In addition, the authors conducted a follow up survey about health risk perception from exposure to Wi-fi on 35 of the volunteers before and after the measurements were made. The authors reported that the perception of risk generally decreased after participants were made aware of the exposure levels.

Link to Study                  

Wi-fi in Mexico – exposure and risk perception

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This study generated some useful data about personal exposure to RF EME from common wireless devices such as Wi-fi routers. The accuracy of some of the results may have been affected by relying on the participants to keep accurate records of their use of mobile phones and other devices while carrying the meters. However, the results were in line with other studies conducted with stricter measurement protocols such as the Wi-fi in schools measurement study conducted by ARPANSA. The measured levels in both studies were well below the public exposure limits set in the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection’s 2020 radiofrequency exposure guidelines and the ARPANSA radiofrequency exposure standard. In Australia, RF EME emissions from all wireless devices such as mobile phones, tablets and Wi-fi routers are required to comply with the public exposure limits set in the ARPANSA standard, where compliance is regulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. 

Oddly, the authors express their results using a non-standard unit which they have named “wave intensity” and, although they clearly state that this is synonymous with the accepted term “power density”, this may lead to unnecessary confusion when comparing results to other studies. Further, they do not offer a sound scientific explanation for choosing to use this alternate terminology. The survey that demonstrated that most of the volunteers were more assured of the safety of exposure from these devices after they were provided with measurement results is an interesting observation that may be used to study risk perception of RF EME. Although it does seem to detract from the main purpose of this particular study which was environmental measurement of RF EME and comparison to international guidelines.
 

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The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) conducted a study on the pregnancy outcomes of children of atomic bomb survivors from 1948 to 1954. This original study and subsequent other reports in 1956, 1981 and 1990 did not find significant associations of ionising radiation exposure with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as neonatal deaths, still births or congenital malformations. However, none of these previous studies included approximately 1200 induced terminations and had other outcome misclassification errors. This new analysis reconstructed and refined the data from the original ABCC study and used more advanced methods for assessing radiation doses received by the subjects and subsequent dose-response relationships. This reanalysis found that radiation is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. For fathers exposed to 0.5 – 1 Gy there was an increased risk for major malformations whilst for mothers exposed to 0.5 – 1 Gy there was an increased risk for perinatal death outcomes. However, most of the results were not statistically significant and the generalizability is uncertain due to the extreme circumstances encountered by atomic bomb survivors.

Link to study.

Congenital Malformations and Perinatal Deaths among the Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors: A Reappraisal

Comments by ARPANSA:

In Australia, the system for Radiation Protection draws on international best practice,  particularly, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The ICRP (ICRP, 2007) prudently recommends including the risk of heritable effects within the system of radiation protection and provides risk estimates for its application. This is further underpinned by the work of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR, 2001).

The findings within this study are consistent with ICRP’s approach. This study reported that ionising radiation is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, despite most of the results not finding a statistically significant association. It is likely that the lack of statistically significant associations found in both parental categories for exposure over 1 Gy is due to the small sample size for those categories. In contrast, another recent study conducted on clean-up workers from the Chernobyl nuclear accident found no evidence of heritable effects. However, the majority of participants were exposed to less than 0.5 Gy, which is below the level that the Yamada et al. study found a statistically significant association. Despite the lack of statistically significant associations found in the Yamada et al. study, the consistent increase in risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes found across the exposure groups may be useful for risk assessment purposes. This study as well as experimental observations credibly reason that the risk of heritable diseases should be included in radiation risk assessments and considered when setting exposure limits.

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This study examined the relationship between men who carried a mobile phone in their pocket and fecundability in two prospective preconception cohort studies. The study included 751 men in Denmark and 2349 men in North America whose phone habits and conception outcomes were followed from 2012 to 2020. Mobile phone exposure was assessed by survey and included information about the number of hours the phone was on and carried in the pocket and the pocket location (e.g. back, front, shirt pocket, etc.). The authors also conducted a substudy on some of the subjects of both cohorts investigating selected indicators of semen quality. Overall, it was reported that there was little association between carrying a mobile phone in any pocket location and conception outcomes. These results were consistent in both cohorts and also when the results were pooled across both study groups. Further, there was little consistency on effects to semen quality parameters and mobile phone exposure.

Male cellular telephone exposure, fecundability, and semen quality: results from two preconception cohort studies

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This study explored a reported decline in male fertility, as reported in a previous analysis of 195 studies, between 1973 and 2011 (Levine et al., 2017). Some studies, including two meta-analyses (Adams et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2014), reported that radiofrequency electromagnetic energy (RF EME) from mobile phones may be associated with lower sperm motility, however, other recent studies did not report an association (Zhang et al., 2016; Lewis et al., 2017). Despite some limitations in this study by Hatch et al, including the assessment of exposure to RF EME by self-reported mobile phone habits which may have resulted in misclassification, the results are in line with other studies that did not report an association. Furthermore, the decline in male fertility trend started well before the introduction of mobile phones, suggesting a different causal factor.

This study has added to the growing body of scientific and health evidence for exposure to RF EME. There remains no substantiated scientific evidence that the use of mobile phones causes any health effects. This includes exposure to RF EME and fertility, which has been assessed in major reviews, including by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR 2015).

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This extensive article reviews much of the experimental and epidemiological evidence around the use of sunscreen to prevent skin cancer over the last two decades. The author discusses many aspects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and mechanisms of skin damage and sunscreen properties in detail including:

• mechanisms of UVR interaction with human skin and the pathways for which DNA damage occurs and skin cancers including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma develop,
• specific properties of different categories of sunscreen as defined by their active ingredients (e.g. physical barriers such as zinc oxide and chemical absorbers such as oxybenzone) and how they work to block solar UVR from damaging skin,
• the spectral range of UVR that sunscreens are effective and the length of time before re-application is necessary.

The author also discusses potential direct adverse health effects from use of the sunscreens by reviewing results on risks of penetration of active ingredients into the bloodstream. Further, comment is provided about environmental and aquatic ecosystem risk concerns from pollution caused when sunscreen ingredients wash off during outdoor recreational activities, resulting in decisions to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone by various jurisdictions in the US.

The author then moves on to discuss the level of evidence supporting skin cancer risks from solar UVR exposure and the net effect that sunscreen has had on reducing those risks. The author concludes that the protective effects of sunscreen use, although supported in many studies, are yet to be clearly demonstrated due to conflicting conclusions within the total body of scientific and health evidence. Further, more work is required to assess sustained efficacy to block UVR based on the photostability of the active ingredients in sunscreens and any potential direct health impacts on humans and the environment.

Sunscreens and their usefulness: have we made any progress in the last two decades?

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This article presents extensive information on solar UVR health effects, types of sunscreens and how they work in blocking UVR. Contextual review of scientific and health research related to the use of sunscreen in preventing skin cancer is also provided. Although the author asserts that there is no clear evidence that sunscreen use has had a definitive effect on reducing the incidence of skin cancer, particularly melanoma, a number of studies have reported a protective effect with sunscreen use. For example, in 2011 Green et al reported that a follow up from a randomised trial conducted on a cohort of residents in Queensland demonstrated a reduced melanoma rate in participants that applied sunscreen on a daily basis. Another Australian study published in 2018 by Watts et al reported that application of sunscreen in early childhood significantly reduced melanoma in adults.

The discussion given on the effectiveness of particular sunscreens along with potential health effects and environmental damage highlights the importance of clinical trials and other hazard assessments. However, the article demonstrated that there are many types of sunscreen on the market giving regulators and consumers options and alternatives for managing any negative health or environmental impacts. Further, discussions on the other sun protection strategies including wearing hats, protective clothing, sunglasses and seeking shade highlight that sunscreen should not be relied upon as a single strategy for skin cancer prevention. As many studies have reported a decrease in skin cancer risk through sunscreen use, ARPANSA and Cancer Council Australia still advise its application as part of the five sun protection measures, Slip Slop Slap Seek and Slide.

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This cross-sectional study investigated the possible association between radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from mobile base stations and self-reported non-specific and insomnia-like symptoms. A total of 354 participants were recruited from 5 cities in France that lived within 250 metres of a base station that had been operational for over 2 years. The participants had RF-EMF measurements completed at their homes following the completion of a questionnaire via the telephone which collected data on environmental concerns, anxiety and non-specific and insomnia-like symptoms. The study found no association between measured RF-EMF from base stations with self-reported non-specific and insomnia-like symptoms. However, a significant interaction was found for insomnia-like symptoms between RF-EMF exposure from base stations and environmental concerns. Overall, the authors concluded that this study shows no adverse effect from residential RF-EMF exposure from base stations on non-specific and insomnia-like symptoms.

Health disturbances and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from mobile-phone base stations in French urban areas

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This study further contributed to the growing body of evidence that RF-EMF exposure from mobile base stations does not cause adverse health effects. This is in line with ARPANSA’s view that there is currently no substantiated scientific evidence that exposure to RF-EMF from telecommunications infrastructure at levels below the limits set in the ARPANSA Standard (RPS 3) cause any adverse health effects. Some people have reported experiencing a range of non-specific symptoms that they attribute to exposure from EMF. This is sometimes referred to as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS). However, there is no established evidence the EMF at levels below the exposure guidelines causes EHS. More information on EHS can be found on our factsheet.

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Summary

This cohort study compared the incidence of skin cancer (melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma, SCC) in Norwegian offshore petroleum workers to a range of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure activities. The cohort, which included 27,917 men and women, was established in 1998 and followed till 2017 to ascertain the incidence of skin cancer. UVR exposure was estimated via a self-reported questionnaire that obtained information on sunbathing and indoor tanning habits, frequency of sunburns and on residential and occupational solar UVR exposure. The questionnaire also gathered data on sunscreen use. The authors reported that melanoma risk increased with higher sunbathing frequency after the age of 20, intensity of sunburn and, surprisingly, higher sunscreen use. SCC risk increased with indoor tanning frequency after the age of 20, sunburn intensity and, again, higher sunscreen use. Based on the results the authors concluded that this occupational group could benefit from targeted sun protection advice.

Link to study

Ultraviolet radiation and risk of cutaneous melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma in males and females in the Norwegian Offshore Petroleum Workers cohort

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Comments by ARPANSA

Most of the results of this study were not statistically significant which may have been due to the limited skin cancer case numbers overall and consequently in each exposure category. Regardless, the findings are generally supported by the results of other similar studies from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom (Schnatter et al. 1992, Gun et al. 2006, Stenehjem et al. 2014). The strengths of this study include high quality cancer data within the cohort and the inclusion of a comprehensive set of UVR exposure variables to conduct exposure specific analysis of skin cancer risk. However, despite questionnaires being completed before disease diagnoses, the authors could not rule out the potential for confounding through self-reported lifestyle habits. In addition, crude categories of UVR exposure may have led to differential misclassification (which could have under- or over-estimated the resulting risk estimates). The authors argue that the increased risk of skin cancer found among higher users of sunscreen could indicate a “desire to tan” or a higher exposure to solar UVR through more frequent outdoor activity. Further, this finding may also serve to reiterate that application of sunscreen is only part of the sun protection measures advised by ARPANSA and other health authorities, and cannot be relied on alone to prevent skin cancer.

Overall, the results of this study support the advice from both ARPANSA and Cancer Council Australia about limiting UV exposure and applying sun protection measures. Despite some of the limitations described by the authors, this study added to the body of evidence that UVR exposure is a causal factor in the development of SCC and melanoma.