A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

2006 Articles

December 21, 2006

It's long been known that children with Down's syndrome have a much greater chance of developing acute leukemia —up to 20 times greater or even higher. Now, in the first study of its kind, a group of Mexican researchers have shown that Down's children exposed to magnetic fields of 6 mG (0.6 µT) or more had close to four times the risk of developing acute leukemia compared to other Down's children. (The analysis was based on spot measurements, rather than the more commonly used 24-hour readings.) Writing in the January 2007 issue of Epidemiology, Juan Mejia-Arangure and coworkers conclude that genetic susceptibility to leukemia may well modify the effects of EMFs.

Strenghtens brain tumor link?

December 20, 2006

A Swedish research team led by Lennart Hardell and Kjell Mild has found no association between the use of wireless phones and testicular cancer.

In a paper posted on the Internet today, and to be published next year in the International Journal of Andrology, they caution that they could not adequately evaluate possible long-term risks: Only 14 cases in their case-control study (888 men with testicular cancer and 870 controls) had used a phone for more than ten years.

December 11, 2006

Electrical sensitivity continues to be a controversial subject. But as the number of WiFi hot spots multiplies, the press is paying more attention to the possibility that it may be a real condition. A good example is Nicki Daniels’s piece, “WiFi Should We Be Worried?”, in today's London Times. Be sure to read it to the end so you don’t miss Poppy Rhodes’s case history, “I Felt Dizzy and Nauseous.”

December 8, 2006

Over the last few years, microwave researchers at the Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio have published a series of papers showing that 94 GHz millimeter waves have minimal effects on the eyes and the skin, and that current models are adequate for predicting pain and thermal thresholds. It has been no secret that this work was to support the military's development of a microwave weapon for crowd control — active denial technology. After all, how else would people be exposed to 94 GHz radiation?

December 7, 2006

Dariusz Leszczynski, of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority ( STUK) in Helsinki, has been appointed Guangbiao Professor at China's Zhejiang University Medical School. Over the next three years, Leszczynski will spend one month each year at the university's Bioelectromagnetics Lab, where he will collaborate with Zhengping Xu. Together, they will focus on the effects of cell phone radiation on human proteins. At the same time, Leszczynski will continue to serve as the head of STUK's radiation biology lab, where he has been a leader in applying proteomic and transcriptomic techniques to the study of RF biological effects.

December 6, 2006

IEI's John Boice, a member of the Danish-American research team that released the new cell phone epi study yesterday, told the Associated Press: "There's really no biological basis for you to be concerned about radio waves. Nonetheless, people are." We wonder why Boice discounts the many reports of RF-induced genetic damage. Surely they qualify as a justifiable reason to be concerned about long-term exposure to cell phone radiation.

December 5, 2006

The use of mobile phones is not linked to cancer, according to a new joint Danish-American study. "We found no increased risk of brain tumors, acoustic neuromas, salivary gland tumors, eye tumors, leukemias or overall cancer," report researchers from the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen and the International Epidemiology Institute (IEI) in Rockville, MD. This was the case for both short-term and long-term users. Their results appear in tomorrow's edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

December 4, 2006
Last updated November 25, 2015

IARC's Elisabeth Cardis, who is running the Interphone study, gave an overview of the 13-country effort together with the results to date at an EC seminar in Brussels on November 20. Her PowerPoint presentation is well worth a look.

Cardis places special emphasis on long-term (ten or more ten years) risks of brain tumors and acoustic neuroma. She also contrasts the findings of the various national studies that have already been published with those of Sweden's Lennart Hardell and U.S.’s Peter Inskip (though Inskip’s participants had many fewer years of exposure). The final Interphone results are expected next year.

 

December 1, 2006

Four radio and TV broadcast towers will be moved out of downtown Beijing, the Shangai Daily reported yesterday. The radiation from the towers presents an unacceptable risk, according to Du Shaozhong, the deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau. Beijing is infamous for its foul air —it has been called the air pollution capital of the world— so it's remarkable that RF/MW radiation is considered an environmental priority. In the next five years, Beijing will impose strict rules on the location of new facilities that emit electromagnetic radiation, Du said.

November 29, 2006

Japanese researchers do not see an increase in acoustic neuroma among users of mobile phones. In a paper appearing in the December issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a team led by Naohito Yamaguchi of the Tokyo Women's Medical University reports that the "risk of acoustic neuroma did not increase with the duration of mobile phone use, nor with the total call time."

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