A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

GBM Incidence Rates Relatively
Steady in U.S. and Canada

Unlike the Doubling Seen in England

Friday, December 13, 2019

The incidence of glioblastoma multiforme, GBM, the most aggressive type of brain tumor, though rising slowly over the last 20 years, has not jumped up in the U.S. and Canada, as it has in England and a number of other northern European countries, according to a new analysis of national brain tumor registry data.

Between 1995 and 2015, GBM rates went up 10% in the U.S. and 26% in Canada. In contrast, the increase in England over the same period was 110%.

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Open Season on 5G Critics

First NY Times, Now Scientific American

Friday, December 6, 2019

Last updated February 19, 2020

Simply saying that more health research is needed on 5G —the latest generation of cell phone technology— can be hazardous to your reputation.

Last May, the New York Times tried to take down David Carpenter, a public health physician and the country’s most prominent 5G critic. Veteran science writer William Broad painted Carpenter as a willing tool of a disinformation campaign promoted by RT America, a Russian TV network. Two months later, Broad was back for another hit on Carpenter. Much of what Broad wrote was fiction.

Now Scientific American has ambushed Joel Moskowitz, one of the few other academics willing to state the obvious: No one knows whether 5G is safe.

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Will WHO Kick
Its ICNIRP Habit?

Non-Thermal Effects Hang in the Balance
Repacholi’s Legacy of Industry Cronyism

Monday, November 4, 2019

Last updated December 20, 2020

After eight years of work, the World Health Organization (WHO) is reopening its review of the health effects of RF radiation for a summary report intended to serve as a benchmark for its more than 150 member countries. The report will be used as a guide to respond to widespread concerns over the new world of 5G.

The WHO issued a public call in October for detailed literature reviews on ten types of RF–health impacts from cancer to fertility to electrohypersensitivity. Some see the move as a sign that the health agency is interested in opinions beyond those of its long-time partner, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). They hope that the WHO is finally ready to recognize evidence of low-level effects, in particular the link between cell phones and cancer. Others are far from convinced.

The skeptics see the new reviews as little more than a ruse.

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NTP Turns to Mechanisms

DNA Breaks, Oxidative Stress and
Gene Expression Are on the Agenda

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Last updated October 22, 2019

The U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) will soon embark on a new phase of its long-running RF project. Last year, the NTP concluded that RF radiation causes cancer; now it will begin a systematic search for mechanisms to explain how and why the tumors developed. Work is expected to begin by the end of the year.

The research plan is wide-ranging. It will include studies on gene expression, oxidative stress and DNA damage and repair, as well as on the possible role played by heat. Other priorities on the NTP agenda are studies on behavior and stress.

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A Fact-Free Hit on a 5G Critic

Fabricating History on the New York Times Science Desk

Monday, July 22, 2019

Last updated April 13, 2020

Last Tuesday, July 16, the New York Times devoted most of the front page of its science section to William Broad’s latest attack on those who challenge the dogma that wireless radiation is absolutely safe.

“The 5G Health Hazard That Isn’t” is the catchy headline of the Web version of his article. It is followed by “How one scientist and his inaccurate chart led to unwarranted fears of wireless technology.”

Broad focuses on two letters* written about 20 years ago by Bill Curry, a consulting physicist, who openly disapproved of putting Wi-Fi in classrooms.

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Short Takes

Physicist Robert Adair Dead at 96

January 6, 2021

Last updated January 7, 2021

Robert K. Adair, the former chairman of the physics department at Yale University and a leading critic of any and all claims that weak EMFs can have biological effects, died on September 28. He was 96.

A particle physicist, Adair held one of Yale’s prestigious Sterling professorships. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Dutch Advisory Panel Calls for Caution on 5G

November 11, 2020

An advisory panel to the Health Council of the Netherlands is recommending a “cautious approach” to 5G radiation exposures.

The committee is also advising that the 26 GHz frequency band (millimeter waves) not be used “for as long as the potential health risks have not been investigated.”

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In Memoriam: Moris Shore

October 10, 2020

“A safe level of microwave exposure was arbitrarily established —no dissent from the arbitrary safe standard was tolerated— in a largely thermal (i.e., high-exposure level) microwave research program … [It] and the averaging provisions … may represent a directed verdict rather than a culmination of objective and unbiased scientific judgment.”

Does that sound familiar?

Actually ...

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5G Waveforms in Dispute

September 25, 2020

Very little has been written in the popular media about the waveforms used in 5G signals. Two outstanding questions are: How fast are the pulses? How powerful are they?

In 2018, Esra Neufeld and Niels Kuster of the IT’IS Foundation in Zurich issued a warning in a...

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Does Cockpit RF Disorient Pilots?

September 15, 2020

Last updated September 16, 2020

Spatial disorientation among U.S. Air Force pilots has been linked to 72 severe accidents between 1993 and 2013, resulting in 101 deaths and the loss of 65 aircraft. Now DARPA, the defense department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, wants to know whether RF radiation in the cockpit of combat aircraft may be at least partly to blame.

Under the new initiative, with the acronym ICEMAN, DARPA is seeking a contractor to measure the...

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ICNIRP’s Principal Patron: Germany

June 25, 2020

The German government is the main sponsor of ICNIRP, the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), which is the bureaucratic parent of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), has contributed 70-80% of ICNIRP’s annual income in each of the last three years. This...

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“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.
“An Overview of Potential Novel Mechanisms of Action Underlying Tumor Treating Fields-induced Cancer Cell Death and Their Clinical Implications,” International Journal of Radiation Biology, posted October 21, 2020. “Recent findings implicate TTFields’ role in different important pathways such as DNA damage response and replication stress, ER stress, membrane permeability, autophagy, and immune response.”
“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.
“Pilot Study on the Therapeutic Potential of RF Magnetic Fields: Growth Inhibition of Implanted Tumors,” British Journal of Cancer, September 2020. “Although the limited number of animals used in the experiments restricts definite conclusions, the results of this pilot study indicate consistently that a 2 µT 10 MHz RF inhibits tumor growth in mouse models.” … “[T]there is no clear understanding on the mechanism behind the observed effect.”
“Effects of RFR on Gene Expression: A Study of Gene Expressions of Human Keratinocytes from Different Origins,” Bioelectromagnetics, October 2020. “Our data demonstrate that in the four keratinocyte [skin] cell types, three different expression patterns (downregulation, upregulation, and no effect) were observed, despite their exposure having been the same in all regards.” See also this string of six tweets.
“Association Between Outdoor Light-at-Night Exposure and Colorectal Cancer in Spain,” Epidemiology, September 2020. “Outdoor blue light spectrum exposure that is increasingly prevalent in recent years may be associated with colorectal cancer risk.” An earlier paper linked blue light to breast and prostate cancer.
“Magnetic Alignment Enhances Homing Efficiency of Hunting Dogs,” eLife, June 16, 2020. “The research suggests that the magnetic field may provide dogs (and mammals generally) with a ‘universal’ reference frame, which is essential for long-distance navigation.” From Hynek Burda's group in the Czech Republic. More here.
“Absorption of 5G Radiation in Brain Tissue as a Function of Frequency, Power and Time,” IEEE Access, June 12 2020, updated July 2, 2020. ”We examine the beam penetration, absorption and thermal diffusion at representative 4G and 5G frequencies and show that the RF heating increases rapidly with frequency due to decreasing RF source wavelength and increasing power density with the same incident power and exposure time.”
“ICNIRP: Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Capture and the Push for 5G,” by Klaus Buchner and Michèle Rivasi, June 2020. Both authors are members of the European Parliament. A call for disbanding ICNIRP and replacing it with a “new, public and fully independent advisory” panel.
“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.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

GBM Incidence Rates Relatively
Steady in U.S. and Canada

Unlike the Doubling Seen in England

Open Season on 5G Critics

First NY Times, Now Scientific American

Will WHO Kick
Its ICNIRP Habit?

Non-Thermal Effects Hang in the Balance
Repacholi’s Legacy of Industry Cronyism

NTP Turns to Mechanisms

DNA Breaks, Oxidative Stress and
Gene Expression Are on the Agenda

A Fact-Free Hit on a 5G Critic

Fabricating History on the New York Times Science Desk

Pages

Short Takes

Physicist Robert Adair Dead at 96

Dutch Advisory Panel Calls for Caution on 5G

In Memoriam: Moris Shore

5G Waveforms in Dispute

Does Cockpit RF Disorient Pilots?

ICNIRP’s Principal Patron: Germany

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A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Unlike the Doubling Seen in England

First NY Times, Now Scientific American

Non-Thermal Effects Hang in the BalanceRepacholi’s Legacy of Industry Cronyism

DNA Breaks, Oxidative Stress and Gene Expression Are on the Agenda

Fabricating History on the New York Times Science Desk

Pages

Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

Pages

Microwave News Reading

Microwave News is...

Non-Thermal Effects Hang in the Balance
Repacholi’s Legacy of Industry Cronyism

DNA Breaks, Oxidative Stress and
Gene Expression Are on the Agenda