A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

ELF EMFs: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

December 23, 2023

“Biological Effects of Magnetic Storms and ELF Magnetic Fields,” Biology, December 8, 2023. A major review, with 362 references, from the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Open access.

May 12, 2023

“EMFs Disrupt the Pollination Service by Honeybees,” Science Advances, May 12, 2023. Strong conclusion: “Our study provides conclusive evidence of detrimental impacts of [power-frequency] EMF on honeybee’s pollination behavior, leading to negative effects on plant community.” From Chile; open access.

 

February 21, 2023

The University at Albany in New York State has closed its investigation of Professor David Carpenter, the director of its Institute for Health and the Environment, without taking any disciplinary action.

After being barred from going to his office most of last year, Carpenter may now once again “teach and conduct research on campus,” according to a statement released by the University on Tuesday evening.

August 24, 2022

“ELF Magnetic Fields Significantly Enhance the Cytotoxicity of Methotrexate and Can Reduce Migration of Cancer Cell Lines via Transiently Induced Plasma Membrane Damage,” Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, October 2022. “Our results suggest an important role for the use of ELF-MFs in the treatment of tumors that opens some new and exciting possibilities including using smaller therapeutic doses of chemotherapeutic agents and disrupting tumour metastasis.” In vitro experiment using 10 Hz EMFs at a very low intensity, 0.3 µT (3 mG). Open access.

July 10, 2022

“Interagency Committee on the Health Effects of Non-Ionising Fields: Report to Ministers,” New Zealand Ministry of Health, June 28, 2022. Report runs 107 pages: offers a full-throated endorsement of ICNIRP (on both RF and ELF EMFs) and recommends adoption of ICNIRP’s 2020 RF exposures guidelines. Strangely, committee members not named and they are not allowed to speak to the media.

May 9, 2022

“An Overview of the Biological Effects of ELF EMFs Combined with Ionizing Radiation,” Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, May 2, 2022. A review from Iran. “Contrary to the studies on normal healthy cells, almost all of the reviewed experiments on cancer cells have demonstrated cooperative effects between ELF-MF and IR exposures.”

April 15, 2022

“Neurological Effects of Static and ELF EMFs,” by Henry Lai, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, April 15, 2022. “Depending on the conditions of exposure, either harmful or beneficial effects could result.”

 

March 20, 2022

“Exposure to Magnetic Fields and Childhood Leukemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Case-Control and Cohort Studies,” Reviews on Environmental Health, March 15, 2022.

A systematic review of 38 studies, which comes 43 years after Nancy Wertheimer and Ed Leeper first made the link. For years, they were largely ignored and ridiculed.

“Our results suggest that ELF-MF higher than 0.4 μT can increase the risk of developing leukemia in children, probably acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prolonged exposure to electric appliances that generate magnetic fields higher than 0.4 μT like electric blankets is associated with a greater risk of childhood leukemia.” From Christian Brabant’s group at the University of Liège, Belgium.

February 5, 2022
September 27, 2021

A detailed examination —likely the most exhaustive ever attempted— of the environmental effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation has been published in Reviews on Environmental Health.

“Effects of Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Fields on Flora and Fauna” is in three parts, the last of which was posted today.

Taken together, the three papers run over 200 pages in the journal and include more 1,000 references.

May 15, 2021

“Exposure to ELF Magnetic Fields and Childhood Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” PLoS One, May 14, 2021. Significant associations were observed between exposure to ELF-MFs and childhood leukemia. Furthermore, a possible dose-response effect was also observed.”

November 18, 2020

“Effect of Intermittent ELF MF on Umbilical Cord Blood Lymphocytes,” Bioelectromagnetics, posted November 15, 2020. Among the findings: A stronger effect at lower field strengths. Also: “[O]ur results provide a new example of the biological relevance of the first Schumann resonance frequency (7.8 Hz).”

March 24, 2020

“Association Between Maternal Exposure to Magnetic Field NIR During Pregnancy and Risk of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Offspring in a Longitudinal Birth Cohort,” JAMA Network Open, March 24, 2020. See also: “Notice of Retraction and Replacement.”

“Consistent with the emerging literature, this study suggests that in utero exposure to high levels of MF non-onizing radiation was associated with an increased risk of ADHD, especially ADHD with immune-related comorbidity.” The most recent study by De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente. Note: “high” is defined as a 24-hour exposure of ≥1.5 mG (90th percentile). According to a 1998 survey, >40% of Americans are exposed to >1 mG. And the ICNIRP 2010 guidelines allow the general public to be exposed up to 2,000 mG.

September 4, 2019

Industry-funded studies have promoted false doubts about EMF cancer risks and led to the failure of the public health community to reduce exposures, argues David Carpenter in a paper published last week in Environmental Research.

Carpenter, the director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany in upstate New York, shows that, over the last 20 years, findings on the link...

August 4, 2019

“Parental Occupational Exposure to Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields and Risk of Leukaemia in the Offspring,” Occupational & Environmental Medicine, July 29, 2019.

“We did not find any associations.” Pooled analysis of 11 case-control studies by the Childhood Leukaemia International Consortium, including Joachim Schüz of IARC and Elisabeth Cardis. Open access.

June 21, 2019

Health Effects Linked to Low-Frequency EMFs, from ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, released June 21, 2019.

French government agency recommends precaution especially for children and pregnant women. Also: No high-voltage lines & substations near schools & hospitals. ... And more research. Full report here.

August 1, 2018

Members of the EMF/RF research community are not known as risk takers. Some have sold their souls, but most simply follow the prescribed dogma: They keep a low profile and eke out a grant or contract here and there.

In this environment, original ideas are rare and greeted cautiously. Joe Bowman, who died on July 14, was different. As one colleague told me on hearing the news last week, “Joe was honest and he had guts.”

May 25, 2018

“ELF EMFs Impair the Cognitive and Motor Abilities of Honey Bees,” Scientific Reports, posted May 21, 2018.

“Together our results show that acute exposure to ELF EMFs, at intensities ranging from those at ground level to those near transmission lines, can have profound effects on honey bees.” Open access.

December 18, 2017

Magnetic fields at levels commonly found in homes, offices and the urban environment have once again been found to increase the risk of pregnancy loss. The latest study —from Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA— shows that power-frequency fields can triple the risk of miscarriages.

“This study provides fresh evidence, directly from a human population, that magnetic field exposure in daily life could have adverse health impacts,” De-Kun Li, the lead author of the Kaiser study, told Microwave News. These findings “should bring attention to this potentially important environmental hazard to pregnant women,” Li urges.

There are now at least seven studies linking miscarriages to prenatal exposure to electromagnetic fields, according to Li.

October 23, 2017

“Activation of Signaling Cascades by Weak ELF EMFs,” Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, online October 16, 2017.

Effects seen for exposures to ELF magnetic fields as low as 0.15μT [1.5mG]. Note caveat: These results “cannot be regarded as proof of involvement in cancer, including childhood leukemia.” From the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Open access.

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