The 9th International NIR (non-ionizing radiation) workshop organized by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) was originally scheduled to take place in Seoul, Korea, from May 6-8, 2020 (see EMF-Portal News from May 7, 2019). Now it has been postponed for an indefinite period of time due to the current Sars-CoV-2 virus epidemic.
Information about the new arrangements will be announced on the ICNIRP homepage and here on EMF-Portal.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a review of published literature between 2008 and 2018 of relevance to radiofrequency radiation and cancer. The results support the FDA’s determination that there is no consistent or credible scientific evidence of health problems caused by the exposure to radiofrequency energy emitted by cell phones.
The deadline for abstract submissions for the BioEM 2020 in in Oxford, UK, has been extended to February 9, 2020.
Visit the BioEM 2020 homepage for further information.
The 2021 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be at the Hawai’i Convention Center in Honolulu Hawai’i from June 13 to 18, 2021.
Read the official announcement on the BEMS homepage.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Radiation Programme has an ongoing project to assess potential health effects of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Within this framework, 10 topics for systematic reviews were identified last year, for which research teams could apply to the WHO (see EMF-Portal news from 9 October 2019). Now it has been announced that for three topics WHO is still looking for eligible teams. The deadline has been extended until 7 February 2020.
For more information visit the WHO homepage.
The 2020 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 21 to June 26, 2020 in Oxford, UK. The call for abstracts for platform presentations and poster sessions has started now. Find more information on the BioEM 2020 homepage.
As per its statutes, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) elects its commission members every four years. Following a call for nominations extended to the Commission members, IRPA (International Radiation Protection Association) and its societies, and national public radiation protection authorities (see news article from 23 May 2019), the election took place at the ICNIRP Annual General Meeting, 19-20 November 2019, in Munich, Germany. For the term of office 2020-2024, Rodney Croft (Australia) was elected as the new chair and Eric van Rongen (Netherlands) as the vice chair. The new members are Tania Cestari, Nigel Cridland, Anke Huss, and Ken Karipidis. Maria Feychting (Vice-Chair 2012-2020) and Adèle Green are departing the Main Commission. Zenon Sienkiewicz also leaves the Main Commission.
For more information and listing of all commission members, see the ICNIRP homepage.
In spring 2019, an advisory group had recommended that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) should reassess the cancer risks associated with non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation with high priority (see news article from April 04, 2019). The full report on priorities for the IARC Monographs during 2020-2024 is now available on the IARC website. On the topic of non-ionizing radiation, the recommendations are as follows (p. 148-149): High priority for a reassessment of radiofrequency EMF within 5 years and no recommendation for a reassessment of extremely low frequency magnetic fields.
The Journal Environmental Health has published a systematic review conducted by femu and NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) entitled: "Methodological limitations in experimental studies on symptom development in individuals with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) – a systematic review". The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate methodological limitations in experimental studies on symptom development in IEI-EMF individuals that might have fostered false positive or false negative results. In many of the 28 included studies, methodological limitations were identified that might have either fostered false or masked real effects of exposure. Overall, the evidence pointed towards no effect of exposure. If further experimental studies are conducted, they should preferably be performed at the individual level and they should minimize the risk of bias in study design.
The article can be found via the EMF-Portal, via PubMed and on the Environmental Health homepage.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Radiation Programme has an ongoing project to assess potential health effects of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. To prioritize research questions in this field, WHO conducted a broad international survey in 2018. Ten major topics were identified for which WHO will now commission systematic reviews. The closing date for the call of expression of interest is 4 November 2019.
For more information visit the WHO homepage.
The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) hosts the 6th International Workshop on the Causes of Childhood Leukemia from 20 to 22 November 2019 in Freising (Munich), Germany. The Workshop will discuss current research results and future research directions, focusing on potential mechanisms of childhood leukemia development. The workshop is addressed to scientists, pediatricians, epidemiologists, biologists and radiation scientists as well as to representatives of German, European and international institutions and stakeholders. The conference language is English.
Further information can be found on the official homepage of the workshop.
The Competence Initiative for the Protection of Humanity, the Environment and Democracy e.V hosts the international public symposium “Biological effects of wireless technology” from 4 to 6 October 2019 in the Electoral Palace, Mainz, Germany. The event addresses both experts and interested lay people and will offer lectures, workshops, documentary films and panel discussions on the possible health-related effects of wireless communication, especially 5G. The lectures and discussions will be simultaneously translated into German or English.
Further information on the event can be found on the Competence Initiative homepage.
The 2020 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 21 to June 26, 2020 in Oxford, UK. The official website will provide further information on the meeting soon.
The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) organizes the international workshop “International workshop: Environmental effects of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields: Flora and Fauna” from 5–7 November 2019 in Munich, Germany. The workshop will cover the effects of anthropogenic fields of all frequencies on plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, possible mechanisms of action in living systems and gaps in knowledge.
Registration and abstract submission are open now. For more information, visit the official homepage.
The Journal Burns has published a systematic review conducted by femu entitled: "Direct current electrical injuries: A systematic review of case reports and case series". This review aimed at systematically summarizing the medical consequences of direct current (DC) electrical injuries described in case reports and case series. The analysis showed that it was not possible to identify well defined medical consequences for various circumstances of DC electrical injuries due few available data and partly incomplete documentations. To achieve this goal, additional studies are required, each providing a comprehensive description of the medical consequences and the circumstances of the electrical injuries.
This work was supported by the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Energy, Textile, Electrical, and Media Products Sectors (BG ETEM).
The article can be found in the EMF-Portal, on PubMed and on ScienceDirect.
On October 17, 2019, the Institute of Non-ionizing Radiation (INIS) will host an international seminar on 5G and Health in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This seminar will provide an overview of EMF, 5G and health issues with a special focus on state of the art in health risk assessment, new ICNIRP guidelines and key procedures in relation to network rollout. The seminar language will be English.
Further details including the information on program, accommodation and registration are available on the official homepage.
In order to provide a quick overview of the study inventory on the currently widely discussed topic "5th generation mobile communications (5G)", the EMF-Portal now offers an appropriate study overview. Under the tab "Literature" and the heading "Mobile communications", you will find the new item "Studies on 5th generation mobile communications (5G)”. This section lists all studies on 5G.
The call for nominations for the membership in the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) from 2020 to 2024 is now open until 17 September 2019. All IRPA (International Radiation Protection Association) national societies, the IRPA Executive Council and all national public bodies in charge of non-ionizing radiation protection are invited to send their nominations.
Forms, information and contact data can be found on the ICNIRP homepage.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) will hold its 9th International NIR (non-ionizing radiation) workshop in conjunction with the IRPA15 Congress in Seoul, Korea, from 6-8 May 2020. The update of the ICNIRP Radio Frequency Guidelines expected for publication in 2019 will be the focus of the workshop. Visit the ICNIRP website for further information.
An Advisory Group has recommended that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) should reassess the cancer risks associated with non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation with high priority. According to the panel’s report, which was issued last week in The Lancet, the group suggests that the new evaluation should take place between 2022 and 2024. Besides radiofrequency fields, several other agents were recommended for revisit, e.g. automotive gasoline, acrylamide or sedentary behavior. A detailed report of the advisory committee will be published subsequently.
The Journal Environmental Research has published a systematic review performed by femu entitled: "Systematic review on the biological effects of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields in the intermediate frequency range (300 Hz to 1 MHz)". The aim of the review was to assess the potential biological and health effects of exposures to intermediate frequency fields. The analysis showed that the studies investigated yielded inconsistent results for most endpoints. In addition, many studies suffered from methodological limitations which lowered the credibility of the reported results. Overall, the quality of evidence for adverse effects remains inadequate for drawing a conclusion on investigated biological effects.
The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and commissioned by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Germany (grant number 3616S82437).
The article can be found in the EMF-Portal and on the Environmental Research homepage.
The 2019 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 23 to 29 2018 in Montpellier, France. The official BioEM 2019 website provides further information and dates on the meeting. The call for abstracts for platform presentations and poster sessions has started now.
The 9th Course of the International School of Bioelectromagnetics “Alessandro Chiabrera” will take place from from March 24 to March 30, 2019 in Erice, Italy. The title of the course is “Possible Biomedical Applications of Electromagnetic Fields to cancer: from Biology and in silico to clinical perspectives”.
Further information can be found on the EBEA homepage and in the official announcement (pdf file).
National Toxicology Program (NTP) has now released the final reports of their Cell Phone Radio Frequency Radiation Studies. These toxicology studies in rats and mice were conducted to help clarify potential health hazards, including cancer risk, from exposure to radio frequency radiation like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones. NTP concludes that there is clear evidence of tumors (malignant schwannomas) in the hearts of male rats and some evidence of further tumors in male rats. Japan and Korea have announced to verify the results in own animal studies.
You can find all relating documents and a fact sheet on the NTP homepage.
The Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine is seeking qualified applicants for research and teaching in the area of Healthy Living Spaces. The starting date is at the earliest possible date. The professorship will concentrate on research into the prevention and treatment of building-related health disorders in an interdisciplinary setting. The position with an attractive equipment is limited initially to a fixed 5-year term due to the funding period of the foundation (Villum foundation, Denmark).
You can find further information in the official advertisement.
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