The National Toxicology Programm (NTP), USA, has released two draft reports on studies on cell phone radiofrequency radiation in rats and mice. The main result is that high exposure to radiofrequency radiation resulted in tumors in tissues surrounding nerves in the hearts of male rats, but not female rats or any mice. The exposure levels used in the studies were equal to and higher than the highest level permitted for local tissue exposure in cell phone emissions today. Cell phones typically emit lower levels of radiation than the maximum level allowed. NTP will hold an external expert review of its complete findings from these rodent studies on March 26-28.
Here you can read the official statement and download the draft reports from the NTP homepage for free.
ICNIRP’s current guidelines for the high-frequency (100 kHz – 300 GHz) range have been under revision since 2014, and a public consultation version of the updated guidelines is expected within the first half of 2018. Given this timing, ICNIRP has been asked whether, in the interim period, the current guidelines can still be considered as protective. ICNIRP now replied that the anticipated exposure limit changes are very small and thus the current guidelines remain protective. However, if aspects should be discovered that are not sufficiently protective during the remainder of the revision process, ICNIRP will immediately publish interim amendments that would remain in force until the revised guidelines are published.
The original statement can be found on the ICNIRP website, where further updates on the high-frequency guidelines revision process will be published as well.
On our own behalf: Due to a lack of financial resources, we unfortunately have to suspend the import of any new radio frequency and mobile phone-related articles as of now (November 27, 2017). We apologize for this inconvenience and will keep you informed.
From November 8-10, 2017, the two international organizations responsible for developing the systems of radiation protection worldwide, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) exchanged information and views on the scientific basis, ethical basis, and basic principles of protection. The objectives of this meeting in Munich, Germany, were to increase mutual understanding of the approaches to protection, to reach a common understanding of the state of the systems of protection and to explore possibilities for continued collaboration. Both organizations have reached an agreement in principle to strengthen communication and collaboration between them and with other organizations with similar interests.
You can download the official statement on the meeting from the ICNIRP homepage.
On our own behalf: The EMF-Portal is now offering an extended search. The new search complements the well-known literature search and is particularly fast and easy to use. It presents results from the literature database as well as the glossary and the info texts. The search is intuitive and delivers relevant hits to individual search terms, combinations, complete sentences or questions.
The Journal Environmental Research has published a systematic review performed by femu with the title: “Systematic review of biological effects of exposure to static electric fields. Part II: Invertebrates and plants “. The article completes the investigations (part 1 investigated effects on humans and vertebrates) on effects of static electric fields in view of the increasing importance of high-voltage direct-current transmission lines (HVDC) and missing limit values. Based on 33 identified studies, the authors found no evidence for adverse effects of static electric fields at HVDC field levels, but strong indications that invertebrates are able to perceive them. However, corona-action appears to cause adverse biological effects at very high field levels. The study was funded within the framework of the BMBF ResearchCampus Flexible Electrical Networks (FEN).
The article can be found in the EMF-Portal and is available for free download from ScienceDirect.
On our own behalf: With the help of a grant from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the EMF-Portal was analyzed and evaluated by independent experts. In order to decide how the EMF-Portal will be made available in the future, both the website and the use of the EMF-Portal were analyzed regarding the content and its quality, the presentation of the results and the usability for information gathering. The usability of the EMF-Portal was also tested for various target groups and recommendations for the improvement of the EMF-Portal were derived. The evaluation of the content was carried out by Seibersdorf Labor GmbH and the evaluation of user management by YOUSE GmbH.
The final report can be downloaded from the BfS homepage (in German; only abstract in English).
The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has announced the International Workshop “Relationship between neurodegenerative diseases and magnetic field exposure – state of knowledge and research perspectives”. It will take place from 12 - 14 December 2017 in Munich, Germany as part of the BfS research initiative on radiation protection in power grid expansion (EMF-Portal reported). Several topics like epidemiological evidence of a possible relationship between low frequency magnetic fields and neurodegenerative diseases will be addressed on the workshop. The focus will be Alzheimer’s dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, medical aspects like diagnoses and therapy and on the investigation of action mechanisms with the help of animal and cell models. The aim of the workshop is to summarize the recent state of scientific knowledge and to identify research gaps. Submission of abstracts is possible until November 10. Visit the official homepage for further information and registration.
The 2018 joint meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA) will be held from June 25 to 29 2018 in Portorož, Slovenia. The official BioEM 2018 website provides first information and dates on the meeting.
To facilitate a broad discussion, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is now offering the possibility to participate in the recently launched research program radiation protection in power grid expansion (see EMF-Portal news from July 4). Until mid-September, interested persons can review the individual projects of the program and submit their comments online. These are evaluated in the BfS and considered during the further planning of the research program. The aim of the online consultation is to discuss all aspects of health and radiation protection from the beginning. Further information are available on the BfS homepage (in German).
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