Korea

December 12, 2022

IARC Will Soon Reassess RF Cancer Risk — Or Maybe Not

On November 23, Elisabete Weiderpass, the Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), revealed that a new assessment of the evidence linking radiofrequency (RF) radiation to cancer would likely take place in early 2024. A formal decision could come within a few months.

Calls for a new IARC evaluation have been mounting for some years following the release of two large animal studies showing elevated tumor counts after lifelong exposure to RF radiation. Many believe that the animal experiments leave the Agency little choice but to increase the cancer risk classification at least one notch to “probable” from the current “possible,” or perhaps to its highest classification, a known human carcinogen.

But, as Weiderpass made clear on making the announcement at a conference in Paris, the RF–cancer risk might instead be downgraded and the “possible” classification removed.

The stakes are high.

June 1, 2022

“Human Magnetic Sense Is Mediated by a Light and Magnetic Field Resonance‐Dependent Mechanism,” Scientific Reports, May 30, 2022. Establishes “the existence of a human magnetic sense to the geomagnetic field.” But, at least in this experiment, magnetic orientation was seen in men but not in women.

September 21, 2021

“Mobile Phone Use and Time Trend of Brain Cancer Incidence Rate in Korea,” Bioelectromagnetics, September 20, 2021. Lots to chew over here.

August 5, 2021

“Effects of Mobile Phone Usage on Sperm Quality — No Time-Dependent Relationship on Usage: A Systematic Review and Updated Meta-Analysis,” Environmental Research, November 2021. Long-term use of a cell phone “is a factor that must be considered as a cause of sperm quality reduction.”

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 23, 2020

Public Shut Out of GlobalRF Health Briefing

An international briefing on RF health research, known as GLORE 2020, was held online, November 9-12, featuring updates on the second phase of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) project and the Japanese-Korean partial repeat. The WHO presented a status report on ten ongoing systematic reviews of RF health effects.

Government and industry representatives from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the U.S. participated, as did an assortment of academics. The public was not invited.

Everything about GLORE 2020 is being kept secret.

November 2, 2020

“Cellular Phone Use and Risk of Tumors: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, posted November 2, 2020.

“This comprehensive meta-analysis of case-control studies found evidence that linked cellular phone use to increased tumor risk.” An update to a 2009 meta-analysis by the same group.

June 11, 2020

“Continuous Exposure to 1.7 GHz LTE EMFs Increases Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species to Decrease Human Cell Proliferation and Induce Senescence,” Scientific Reports, June 8, 2020.

“The anti-proliferative effect of 1.7 GHz LTE RF-EMF on various human cells in this study suggests that the [such] exposure would be more harmful to children.” From Korea, open access.

May 6, 2019

Advisors for Japan, Korea NTP Repeat

The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is circulating a report on the partial replication of the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s RF–animal study, planned by Korean and Japanese officials. It includes the proposed candidates for the project’s International Steering Committee.

They are:
• Alexander Lerchl, Jacobs University, Germany
• ...

February 16, 2019

“Blue Light-Dependent Human Magnetoreception in Geomagnetic Food Orientation,” PLoS1, online February 14, 2019.

“Blue-light dependent human magnetoreception occurs in the eyes in a manner that appears to involve the brain and glucose.” From Korea; open access.

October 23, 2018

Japan and Korea Planning Their Own Cell Phone Animal Studies

Japanese and Korean officials are working on a partial replication of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) animal study on cancer risks from cell phone radiation. The project is expected to be approved and get underway late next year.

Though collaborating on a common experimental design, each country will carry out its own exposures with animals from the same breeder. If the designs are similar enough, the two sets of data will be combined in a joint analysis.

“We have been discussing this issue in Japan,” said Masao Taki of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University, who was a member of ICNIRP from 1996 to 2008.

October 2, 2014

“EMFs Mediate Efficient Cell Reprogramming into a Pluripotent State,” ACS Nano, posted online September 23, 2014.

From a Korean-U.S. team: “Interestingly, our results show that [embryonic stem] cells and fibroblasts themselves are not significantly affected by EMF exposure; rather, cells undergoing dramatic epigenetic changes such as reprogramming seem to be uniquely susceptible to the effects of EMFs.” For additional background see this article from C&E News.

March 29, 2013

“Mobile Phone Use, Blood Lead Levels and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms in Children: A Longitudinal Study,” by a group in Korea, including Mina Ha, PLoS One, published March 21, 2013 (open access).

"The results showed an increased risk for ADHD symptoms in association with heavier voice call mobile phone use among children exposed to lead."

July 13, 2007

Koreans Again Link AM Radio to Childhood Leukemia

When the residents of the Oak Hill Park community in the Boston suburb of Newton fought the expansion of a local 5kW AM station, WNUR, they complained about radiofrequency interference (RFI)—to their telephones, stereos, VCRs, wheelchairs and baby monitors. They also objected to the possible effects on local wildlife, particularly to the blue-spotted salamander. And they worried about the visual blight posed by the towers.

What community activists hardly mentioned were the possible impacts on their health.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

Korea: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )