A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

magnetic fields: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

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.

October 6, 2020

“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Occupational Exposure to ELF Magnetic Fields and Electric Shocks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Reviews on Environmental Health, posted September 18, 2020.

“This review of 27 epidemiological studies on the association of occupational exposure to ELF-MF as well as electric shocks and the risk of ALS suggests a risk increase of 20% for ELF-MF exposed workers but no increased risk for workers who experienced electric shocks on their job.” But, just a few days later, a New Zealand team reaches the opposite conclusion.

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 (90^th 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.

April 12, 2016

“Magnetic Correlates in EM Consciousness,” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, posted online April 6, 2016.

The latest paper from Abe Liboff in which he examines the hypothesis that “consciousness is a manifestation of the EM field,” based on evidence that “living tissue is ultrasensitive to ultrasmall (1-100 nT) [0.01-1 mG] ELF fields.”

March 18, 2016

It May Not Be Impossible After All

Weak RF fields may indeed be able to promote cancer, according to two leading members of the EMF/RF research community. Frank Barnes and Ben Greenebaum are offering theoretical arguments to explain how low-level RF radiation can alter the growth rates of cancer cells. They present their ideas in an article which has just...

September 22, 2014

“Occupational Exposure to Magnetic Fields and Electric Shocks and Risk of ALS: The Swiss National Cohort,” Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, posted online September 17, 2014.

This may help settle the long-standing uncertainty as to whether the well-documented risk of ALS among workers is related to electric shocks or exposure to power-frequency magnetic fields. As Anke Huss and coworkers conclude: “[O]ur study provided no evidence that ALS is associated with electrical shocks at work. We did find that ALS is associated with occupational exposure to medium or high levels of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields among workers with a higher likelihood of being long-term exposed to ELF-MF.” For some background, see the group’s earlier presentation, its paper on exposure assessment and our report from 1998 (p.4).

June 17, 2014

“The Revised EMF Directive and Worker Exposure in Environments with High Magnetic Flux Densities,” Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2014.

“Since the revised European Directive conditionally exempts MRI-related activities from the exposure limits, measures to reduce exposure may be necessary for welding, induction heating, and transcranial nerve stimulation.” From The Netherlands.

August 12, 2013

“Why are Living Things Sensitive to Weak Magnetic Fields?” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, by Abe Liboff, posted online August 5, 2013.

“[W]e speculate that the widely observed weak-field [~50 nT] biomagnetic responses typified … stem from early evolutionary recognition of the diurnal change in the [geomagnetic field] as a precise zeitgeber; indeed one that outperforms the sun itself, in that it happens independently of cloudy skies.”

June 28, 2011

Humans May Sense Magnetic Fields

Birds do it, butterflies do it, and now we learn that people may do it too. A group at the University of Massachusetts Medical School led by neurobiologist Steven Reppert reports that humans can sense the Earth's magnetic field. The finding prompts the team to suggest "a reassessment of human magnetosensivitiy may be in order." Check out the story...

September 26, 2007

Can Birds "See" the Earth's Magnetic Field?

Birds may actually be able to "see" a magnetic field. This is the fascinating and surprising conclusion of a group of German scientists who have been studying migratory birds. Not everyone is yet convinced that garden warblers can visualize the geomagnetic field (see today's news item on Nature.com), but the new German paper reminds us how little about we know about how living systems interact with electromagnetic signals.