A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Power-Frequency EMFs Promote Cancer in Massive Animal Study

Italians Call for a “Reevaluation of the
Safety of Non-Ionizing Radiation”

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Last updated May 24, 2016

Once again, power-frequency magnetic fields have been found to act as a cancer promoter.

Eighteen months ago an international team led by Elisabeth Cardis in Spain showed cancer promotion in workers exposed to chemicals and extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs. Now an Italian team has found essentially the same promotional effect in animals exposed to ionizing radiation and ELF EMFs.

The new study, which was carried out at the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy, is part of the most ambitious EMF–animal project ever attempted.

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NCRP Pressured CDC To Remove
Cell Phone Safety Advice

You Say “Caution,” We Say “Precaution,”
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The NCRP was the driving force behind the removal of cautionary advice in a CDC fact sheet on cell phone use. Senior officials at the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements pressured the Centers for Disease Control into deleting the cautionary language in August 2014.

The NCRP is an influential policy-setting group, chartered by the U.S. Congress to serve the public health.

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Institute of Environmental Health Secrets:
NIEHS Mum on $25 Million RF Animal Project

Skirts Freedom of Information Act

Monday, November 30, 2015

Last updated December 1, 2015

NIEHS really doesn’t want to talk about it. Ten years into a $25+ million project to assess the cancer risk of wireless radiation in laboratory animals, the staff at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences remains tight-lipped and refuses to release project documents.

NIEHS has many reasons for keeping a low profile. The RF project, the most expensive in National Toxicology Program history, is years late and two-to-three times over budget. A more immediate concern is that it could force the institute into a position it would desperately prefer to avoid: Being at the center of the ever-contentious controversy over cell phone radiation and cancer.

Continues

Ignorance Drowns Out Precaution

NY Times Tech Columnist Has Hands Slapped

Friday, March 20, 2015

Last updated April 19, 2015

The New York Times went into damage control mode yesterday after Nick Bilton, a tech columnist and a rising star at the newspaper, suggested that precaution is the best approach to the use of cell phones and wearable electronics.

No sooner had Bilton’s column hit print than Margaret Sullivan, the Times’ Public Editor, chastised Bilton for his naive analysis. (It was posted on the Web a day earlier.) Sullivan targeted the lack of “sophisticated evaluation of serious research.”

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RF Cancer Promotion:
Animal Study Makes Waves

Germany’s Alex Lerchl Does a U-Turn

Friday, March 13, 2015

Last updated March 14, 2015

The RF–cancer story took a remarkable turn a few days ago. A new animal study challenged many of the assumptions which lie at the heart of claims that RF radiation —whether from cell phones, cell towers or Wi-Fi— are safe.

The new study, from Germany, a replication of an earlier experiment, also from Germany, found that weak cell phone signals can promote the growth of tumors in mice. It used radiation levels that do not cause heating and are well below current safety standards. Complicating matters even further, lower doses were often found to be more effective tumor promoters than higher levels; in effect, turning the conventional concept of a linear dose-response on its head.

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Short Takes

Schwannoma Puzzle

September 14, 2023

Last updated September 16, 2023

Three medical doctors have published a case report of a 40-year-old Italian man who developed a tumor in his thigh, near where he “habitually” kept his smartphone in a trouser pocket.

The case was published at the end of August in Radiology Case Reports, a peer-reviewed, open access journal.

The tumor, a painless mass, gradually expanded in the man’s left thigh over a period of six months, they wrote.

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Italy’s 6 V/m RF Limit Appears Safe

August 9, 2023

Italy’s 6 V/m RF exposure standard, one of the strictest in the world and until recently seen as falling victim to the build-out of 5G towers, will not be relaxed —at least not now.

The Italian government has signalled that the limit, adopted more than 20 years ago, will not be brought into line with ICNIRP’s 61 V/m guideline, as urged by the telecom industry.

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Korean NTP Lite: Progress Report

June 16, 2023

Last updated June 17, 2023

A Korean RF genotoxicology study —part of a joint project with Japan— has been delayed due to the unexpected death of four of the RF–exposed rats early in the accompanying two-year cancer experiment, according to Young Hwan Ahn of Ajou University medical school.

Ahn presented a progress report on the Korean arm of the project in Geneva last week at a meeting of the WHO EMF Project’s International Advisory Committee. Microwave News has obtained a copy of Ahn’s PowerPoint presentation.

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ICNIRP Still Runs RF at WHO

June 5, 2023

Last updated June 8, 2023

ICNIRP continues to dominate EMF policies at the WHO, according to documents made available to Microwave News.

The documents were recently distributed by Emilie van Deventer as she prepared to host a briefing this week for its International Advisory Committee (IAC) in Geneva.

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Pulsed RF: Plausible Cause of Havana Syndrome

March 30, 2023

A newly declassified, though heavily redacted, report from the intelligence community has put renewed emphasis on the possibility that the condition known as “Havana Syndrome” could be caused by pulsed RF energy.

“Electromagnetic energy, particularly pulsed signals in the radiofrequency range, plausibly explains the core characteristics [of Havana Syndrome, also called ‘anomalous health incidents’] although information gaps exist,” the intelligence panel concluded.

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David Carpenter Reinstated

February 21, 2023

Last updated February 22, 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.

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Hot new papers & articles

“Low-Intensity EMFs Induce Human Cryptochrome To Modulate Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS),” PLoS Biology, October 2, 2018. “Here, we show … that exposure of mammalian cells to weak pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) stimulates rapid accumulation of ROS, a potentially toxic metabolite with multiple roles in stress response and cellular ageing. Following exposure to PEMF, cell growth is slowed, and ROS-responsive genes are induced. These effects require the presence of cryptochrome, a putative magnetosensor that synthesizes ROS. We conclude that modulation of intracellular ROS via cryptochromes represents a general response to weak EMFs, which can account for either therapeutic or pathological effects depending on exposure.” Funded by USAF. Also this follow-up: “Cryptochrome: The Magnetosensor with a Sinister Side?” (Both open access)
“Mobile Phone Use and Incidence of Brain Tumour Histological Types, Grading or Anatomical Location: A Population-Based Ecological Study,” BMJ Open, posted December 9, 2018. “We found no evidence that mobile phone use increased any brain tumour histological types or subtypes.” See also the press release. Open access.
“Systematic Derivation of Safety Limits for Time-Varying 5G RF Exposure Based on Analytical Models and Thermal Dose,” Health Physics, December 2018. “Another conclusion of this study is that the current ICNIRP (1998) and IEEE (2005, 2010) guidelines urgently need to be revised, as the duty cycle of 1,000 currently tolerated can produce unacceptable temperature increases that may result in permanent tissue damage.” From IT’IS in Zurich.
“Evaluation of the NTP and Ramazzini Studies,” BERENIS Newsletter, November 2018. This expert group on EMF/NIR, which advises the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, states that these two animal cancer studies are “the most comprehensive” to date. Despite their methodological differences, they both showed “relatively consistent results in schwannomas and gliomas, as well as a dose-dependent trend to an increase in the carcinogenicity of these tumors.” Based on these findings, BERENIS favors a precautionary approach for RF/EMF exposures.
“Cell Phone Use and Risk of Thyroid Cancer: A Population-Based Case-Control Study in Connecticut,” Annals of Epidemiology, posted online October 29, 2018. “A suggestive increased risk associated with long-term and frequent uses were observed for thyroid microcarcinomas, but not larger tumors (>10mm).”
“Analyses of Temporal and Spatial Patterns of GBM and other Brain Cancers Subtypes in Relation to Mobile Phones Using Synthetic Counterfactuals,” Environmental Research, posted October 17, 2018. Frank de Vocht confirms that GBM is rising in the U.K. but argues that it’s “unlikely” that RF from cell phones is responsible.
“Critique of the ICNIRP Note of September 4, 2018, Regarding Recent Animal Carcinogenesis Studies,” Ron Melnick, September 12, 2018. Ron Melnick, formerly with NTP, spells out 15 “extensive and misleading” statements made by ICNIRP on the NTP and Ramazzini cell phone–animal studies. Also today, Ramazzini’s Fiorella Belpoggi posted her comments. See also Melnick’s commentary on the NTP study posted (Sept 20) by Environmental Research.
“Scientists and Doctors Zap Theory that Microwave Weapon Injured Cuba Diplomats,” Washington Post, September 6, 2018.” Challenges NYTimes report (below). “No microwave weapon that affects the brain is known to exist.”
“Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers,” New York Times, September 1, 2018. “Strikes with microwaves, some experts now argue, more plausibly explain reports of painful sounds, ills and traumas than do other possible culprits — sonic attacks, viral infections and contagious anxiety.” (Front page, print edition, September 2.)
“Clear Evidence of Cell Phone RF Radiation Cancer Risk,” IEEE Microwave Magazine, Sept/Oct 2018. Jim Lin,12-yr former member of ICNIRP (& editor-in-chief of Bioelectomagnetics), writes: “Perhaps the time has come to judiciously reassess, revise & update [the ICNIRP] guidelines” so that they protect against long-term RF exposures. As of now they only address acute effects.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Italians Call for a “Reevaluation of the Safety of Non-Ionizing Radiation”

You Say “Caution,” We Say “Precaution,” Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

Skirts Freedom of Information Act

NY Times Tech Columnist Has Hands Slapped

Germany’s Alex Lerchl Does a U-Turn

Pages

Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

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Microwave News Reading

Microwave News is...

Italians Call for a “Reevaluation of the
Safety of Non-Ionizing Radiation”

You Say “Caution,” We Say “Precaution,”
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off