News

ICNIRP radiofrequency guidelines consultation starting soon

Posted on Jul 11, 2018

ICNIRP has announced on its website that the new radiofrequency guidelines will be online for consultation within a few days. You can subscribe to the ICNIRP newsletter to get notified. Of course, EMF-Portal will also inform you as soon as the consultation process starts.

On our own behalf: Resumption of radiofrequency articles into the EMF-Portal

Posted on May 24, 2018

We are pleased to announce that, thanks to the financial support of our valuable users, we are able once again, to import articles from the radiofrequency range into the EMF-Portal. Fortunately, we could close the gap in our literature inventory and all newly published articles released up to April 30, 2018 have been included. In order that we are able to import further publications released in the future, please help us with your donation. Thank you very much!

Find out more about costs, funding and donations for the EMF-Portal.

NTP studies: High Exposure to Radiofrequency Radiation Linked to Tumor Activity in Male Rats

Posted on Feb 7, 2018

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 note on revision of RF guidelines

Posted on Dec 12, 2017

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.

Import suspension of radio frequency and mobile phone-related articles

Posted on Nov 28, 2017

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.

ICRP and ICNIRP Meeting on the International Systems of Radiation Protection

Posted on Nov 20, 2017

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.

New extended EMF-Portal search

Posted on Nov 8, 2017

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.

femu systematic review on effects of static electric fields - part II

Posted on Oct 5, 2017

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.

Evaluation EMF-Portal

Posted on Sep 19, 2017

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).

BfS workshop on neurogenerative diseases and magnetic field exposure

Posted on Aug 17, 2017

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.