After intensive discussion, the Swiss Council of States has spoken out against an increase of the limit values for mobile phone base stations. The National Council wanted the Council of States to revise the Ordinance on the Protection from Non-Ionizing Radiation because the current conditions were too restrictive from its point of view. However, the Council of States rejected the revision by 20 votes to 19 with 3 abstentions, thus maintaining the current limits. Read the original announcement on the homepage of the Swiss Parliament (in German).
The 2017 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 5 to 9 2017 in the West Lake Villa in Hangzhou, China. The official BioEM2017 website has now been released and provides information and dates on the meeting.
On December 2, 2016, an International Workshop on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection will take place in Tokyo, Japan. The main topics of the workshop are the revision of the ICNIRP high frequency guidelines and non-ionizing radiation protection related to 5G system. The workshop is opened for scientific experts of non-ionizing radiation. ICNIRP announces to post further information regarding the program soon. Read the original article on the ICNIRP homepage.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has been working on its new high-frequency guidelines, which will cover the 100 kHz – 300 GHz range and will replace the high frequency portion of the 1998 ICNIRP guidelines. A draft of the new guidelines was presented and discussed at ICNIRP’s 8th International NIR Workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, in May 2016. At that time, ICNIRP was planning to have a public consultation document ready by the end of 2016. However, as some of the issues that were raised regarding the HF guidelines are requiring considerable additional thought and development, this time frame is no longer feasible. ICNIRP will provide updates on the progress in due course. Read the original news on the ICNIRP homepage.
The 2016 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) BioEM2016 is going to open this Sunday. It will take place from June 5 to June 10, 2016 at the convention center “Het Pand” in Ghent, Belgium. The online registration will close tomorrow, June 3. Please note that there is no on-site registration. The femu (Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction) and the team of EMF-Portal are going to be on-site with several posters and presentations. We are looking forward to meet you there to answer your questions and hear your suggestions! We are going to present the following topics:
Presentation: Factors determining susceptibility of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices with bipolar leads to ELF-EMF (Session 6, Tuesday, 17.00)
Presentation: Study on the Interference of Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Devices (CIED) Exposed to Magnetic Fields up to 200 kHz (Session 6, Tuesday, 17.20)
Presentation: Is there evidence of biological effects from WLAN and comparable electromagnetic fields in everyday exposure situations? Systematic review of experimental studies (Session 12, Thursday, 14.00)
Poster: Detection thresholds for static electric fields from high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines in human subjects (PA-111, Poster-Session A, Monday, 14.30)
Poster: Review on the scientific basics of the international technical specification IEC TS 60479 on limiting electrical hazards for human beings and livestock (PA-217, Poster-Session A, Monday, 14.30)
Poster: Relaunch EMF-Portal 2016: Redesign, Consolidation and Modernization of the IT infrastructure making the EMF-Portal ready for the Future (PB-214, Poster Session B, Tuesday, 14.00)
Poster: Scientific literature database on the electrophysiological effects of electric current: A valuable
expansion of the EMF-Portal (PB-216, Poster Session B, Tuesday, 14.00)
Poster: Health and biological effects of static electric fields on humans and vertebrates: A systematic
Review (PB-220, Poster Session B, Tuesday, 14.00)
The 8th International NIR (non-ionizing radiation) workshop of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) took place from 9-11 May. The slides from the presentations are now available for free on the ICNIRP website. (Please note: the link leads to general information about the conference belonging to the tab “Info”. However, the slides are found following the tab “Program” to the right.)
The Swiss Research Foundation for Electricity and Mobile Communication (FSM; Zurich, Switzerland) invites interested persons to the 24th Science Brunch with the title “Cellular and Molecular Effects of EMF” on June 23, 2016. The event wants to provide insight into the cellular and molecular EMF research to date and give the opportunity to exchange views and opinions. The event series "Science Brunch" was developed to provide the interested public with a platform for the discussion of current issues related to mobile communications and it takes place twice a year. Visit the FSM homepage for further information and registration (information in German only).
The early registration deadline for the 2016 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) from June 5 to June 10, 2016 at the convention center “Het Pand” in Ghent, Belgium has been extended with one week. If you want to register at lower rates, you should register before the end of Friday, 29th of April. Meanwhile, the meeting program has been published. The femu (Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction) will be represented on site with several posters and platform presentations as well. All information on the meeting and the registration link can be found on the official BioEM2016 website.
The 8th course of the International School of Bioelectromagnetics “Alessandro Chiabrera”: “Electromagnetic Fields and the Nervous System" of EBEA (European Bioelectromagnetics Association) will take place from 11 to 16 April, 2016 in Erice, Italy (see also EMF-Portal news from 23 June 2015). The conference program can be found on the EBEA website. COST (European Association of Science and Technology) provides at least 13 grants of 650€ each to participants for travel support while the participation fee for the conference has been reduced to 800€ for COST grantees. The application deadline for the funding is 11 March. All information can be found here.
The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has commissioned a study, where relevant international regulations for limiting exposure for the general population in all areas of non-ionizing radiation are analyzed and compared. The publication consists of two volumes. The first volume includes regulations for electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields in the range 0 Hz - 300 GHz and the second volume comprises regulations on optical radiation. The report is available free via the BfS homepage (only in German).
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) grants public access to view and download current individual standards as part of the IEEE Get Program. The Get Program is supported by industry and government and allows, among others, the download of the “IEEE C95™ standards: Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields”. The access is free by sending your name and e-mail address and agreeing to the terms of use. Please note that contents may only be available free for a limited period.
The 2016 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 5 to June 10 at the culture and convention center “Het Pand” in Ghent, Belgium. Since our last news coverage (see article from 17 July 2015), further information has been published. All important dates and deadlines of the meeting as well as information for students for the application for student travel supports can now be found on the official BioEM2016 homepage.
As already reported in July by the EMF-Portal (see article 8th International NIR Workshop, 20.7.15), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) will hold its 8th International NIR (non-ionizing radiation) workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, from 9-11 May 2016. Now the program has been put online and the deadline for the submission of abstracts for the poster sessions has been announced (10.4.16). For further information on the program and the abstracts as well as on the registration, please visit the ICNIRP homepage.
As per its statutes, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) elects its commission members every four years. For the term of office 2016-2020, the election took place at the ICNIRP Annual General Meeting, 18-20 November 2015, San Antonio, USA. Following the call for nominations (see EMF-Portal News from 23 June 2015), 24 candidates stood for candidature. Eric van Rongen (Health Council of the Netherlands) was elected as the new chair and Maria Feychting (Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden) as the vice chair. For more information and listing of all commission members, see the ICNIRP homepage.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) will hold its 8th International NIR (non-ionizing radiation) workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, from 9-11 May 2016. The workshop will take place in conjunction with the IRPA14 Congress on the occasion of International Radiation Protection Association’s (IRPA) 50th anniversary. Amongst others, the update of the ICNIRP Radio Frequency Guidelines that are currently under revision and the related development of the WHO Environmental Health Criteria on Radiofrequency Fields will be a major topic of the workshop. Visit the ICNIRP website for further information on the workshop.
The 2016 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 5 to June 10 at the culture and convention center “Het Pand” in Ghent, Belgium. The official website has just been released and further information on the meeting will be provided there in the future. First impressions of the city and location can be already found on the BioEM2016 website.
The EMF-Portal provides interactive diagrams in order to allow users a quick overview about research data in a certain frequency range. The overviews of experimental and epidemiologic studies on the power frequency range (50/60 Hz) have now been released to expand this offer. At present, more than 1550 experimental studies on magnetic fields and electric fields and 440 epidemiologic studies of the 50/60 Hz frequency range have been categorized on two levels according to their endpoints and can be visualized in attractive pie charts. By clicking on a pie slice, all available studies on the corresponding endpoint can be displayed further either in a compact literature list or in a condensed table. The table can be sorted individually by clicking on the table header and contains additional information about the most important exposure parameters of a study and if there is already a detailed extraction available in the EMF-Portal. You can find all study overviews under the point “literature” in the EMF-Portal menu. The project was funded by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection.
The EBEA (European Bioelectromagnetics Association) has announced the 8th course of the International School of Bioelectromagnetics “Alessandro Chiabrera”: Electromagnetic Fields and the Nervous System: Biological Effects, Biophysical Mechanisms, Methods, and Medical Applications. The course will take place from 11 to 18 April, 2016 in Erice, Italy. More information can be found on the EBEA homepage and in the official announcement (pdf file).
The call for nominations for the membership in the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) from 2016 to 2020 is now open until 14 September 2015. All IRPA (International Radiation Protection Association) national societies are invited to send their nominations. Forms, information and contact data can be found on the ICNIRP homepage.
The workshop “Thresholds of thermal damage”, organized by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Istanbul, Turkey (EMF-Portal reported) took place from May 26 to May 28, 2015. The slides from most of the presentations are now available online on the ICNIRP homepage.
From June 18 to June 19, 2015, the 5th Paris Appeal Congress will take place at the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels, Belgium. The international conference with the title “Idiopathic environmental intolerance: What role for electromagnetic fields and chemicals?” will be organized by the ARTAC in cooperation with ECERI and ISDE. More information on the Paris Appeal and the conference can be found on the homepage of the Paris Appeal.
The WHO International EMF database has released a new database on the worldwide existence of EMF exposure legislation (situation in 2014). The data reveals that more than 80% of the participating countries have legislation on exposure to electromagnetic fields. An interactive graph with several filter options allows a differentiated overview of the existence of public and occupational exposure standards for different frequency ranges. For more information, please visit the database and the interactive graph on the WHO homepage.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) will organize the workshop “Thresholds of thermal damage” together with the World Health Organization (WHO) from May 26 to May 28, 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey. With a view of updating the guidance on limiting exposure to radio frequency fields, ICNIRP will review the current scientific knowledge on the thresholds of thermal damage. The workshop is open to the public. For further information, visit the ICNIRP home page.
At this year´s 55th Scientific Annual Meeting of the German Society for Occupational Medicine and Environmental Medicine (DGAUM) in Munich, the Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction (femu) was awarded the Innovation Award 2015. The president of the DGAUM, Prof. Hans Drexler, presented the DGAUM Innovation Award 2015 to Dr. Sarah Drießen, project leader of femu. For more information on the DGAUM Annual Meeting 2015, visit the web page of the DGAUM (in German).
On January 27, 2015, the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) of the European Commission released their final opinion on potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) (see Potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF)). Especially for non-specialists, an additional easy-to-read summary in plain language and a science fact sheet containing the most important information in short have now been released. For further information on the SCENIHR, see the SCENIHR web page.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is undertaking a health risk assessment of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields to be published as an update of the monograph on radiofrequency fields from 1993 in the Environmental Health Criteria Series (see Electromagnetic fields (WHO EHC Monograph No. 137)). Public consultation is closed and the draft chapters of this document are now open for technical consultation by radio frequency experts. The WHO is seeking comments on the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in these chapters. For further information, visit the WHO web page.
At the beginning of 2015, Dr. Sarah Drießen of the Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction of University Hospital RWTH Aachen (provider of EMF-Portal) was appointed to the committee on “Non Ionizing Radiation” of The German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK). This board evaluates health effects of non-ionizing radiation and contributes to the counsel of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as an expert committee of the SSK. You can find more information on the SSK, its committees and members on SSK web page (in German).
The annual joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European Bioelectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will take place at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, USA from June 14 to June 19, 2015. As an international conference in the area of bioelectromagnetics, BioEM 2015 it is expected to stimulate further research in this field through the exchange of ideas and lively debate on state-of-the-art knowledge, as well as filling the existing knowledge gaps. For further information, visit the BioEM 2015 web page.
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