A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

A Unified Theory of Weak Magnetic Field Action

McGill University Professor Proposes Radical New Outlook

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Last updated August 12, 2013

Paul Héroux has a problem. He believes he has identified a way to control the growth of cancer cells, but he can't get his ideas into print. "We think we have the Rosetta Stone that will allow us to unravel the intricacies of cancer physiology," says Héroux, a professor at McGill University in Montreal. Yet, one scientific journal after another has refused to publish what he has found.

Part of Héroux's problem is that his argument is based on an even more controversial proposition than a possible cure for cancer: That extremely weak magnetic fields can bring about major changes in DNA. That is a tough sell. Héroux ups the ante another notch by claiming to show that those changes are so easy to spot that you don't need hi-tech instruments to see them, just a standard issue microscope. All you have to do is count chromosomes, admittedly with close attention to detail.

And that's not all. Héroux says he has pinpointed where and how the magnetic field acts on the cell.

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EMF Exposures in the Womb Can Lead to Childhood Obesity

Kaiser’s De-Kun Li Second Prospective Study

Friday, July 27, 2012

De-Kun Li is the last man standing. Not long ago, many of the leading environmental epidemiologists in the U.S. were working on EMFs of one kind or another. They've all moved on —all except De-Kun Li, and he continues to break new ground in one study after another.

Li, a senior researcher at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA, has now shown that EMF exposures in the womb are linked to an increased risk of childhood obesity.

"Maternal exposure to high [magnetic fields] during pregnancy may be a new and previously unknown factor contributing to the world-wide epidemic of childhood obesity/overweight," Li writes in a paper posted today by Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed, open access journal owned by the group that publishes Nature.

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What’s Up at the FCC?

Cell Phone Radiation Limit Will Be Reviewed, But Why Is It News Now?

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Last updated August 15, 2012

Bloomberg News caught a lot of people by surprise last Friday morning with a story announcing that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would review its rules on radiation exposures from cell phones. As Bloomberg's Todd Shields pointed out, the move was long overdue: The FCC's current exposure standard was set in 1996.

Just as interesting is a question no one seems to be asking: Why was this in the news?

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Milton Zaret, an “Early Prophet” of Microwave Hazards, Dies at 91

U.S. Military Sought To Discredit His Theory of Microwave Cataracts

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Last updated June 12, 2012

Milton Zaret, an ophthalmologist who was one of the first to warn about long-term health hazards of microwave radiation, died on May 29. He was 91.

"Dr. Zaret was an extraordinary pioneer who showed that microwaves have a profound effect on the eye," said Paul Brodeur, who chronicled Zaret's career in The New Yorker more than 35 years ago and in his subsequent 1977 book, The Zapping of America. Brodeur called Zaret an "early prophet" of the biological hazards of microwaves.

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IARC Shuts Down Interphone

Sunday, March 18, 2012

IARC has closed the book on the Interphone project, its study of mobile phone tumor risks. A couple of days ago, the cancer agency quietly issued a final report, stating that its work "has now been formally completed." The report, though dated October 3, 2011, was released on March 16th.

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NCI ‘Cancer Bioelectricity’ Conference

August 26, 2024

On September 12^th, the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) will host a conference on cancer bioelectricity via Zoom. Attendance is free, but registration is required.

Michael Levin, a professor of biology and biomedical engineering at Tufts University in Massachusetts, will be the keynote speaker.

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Another WHO RF Review Challenged

August 21, 2024

Last updated December 13, 2024

A third RF systematic review commissioned by the World Health Organization’s EMF Project is under fire. This one is on RF–induced oxidative stress.

Last month, two other WHO reviews —on pregnancy outcomes and on tinnitus— were both called into question as critics called for them to be retracted.

A team of 14 from six countries, led by Felix Meyer of the German Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), identified 11,599 studies on oxidative stress in the frequency range 800-2450 MHz. They then eliminated 11,543 of them as not meeting their criteria for inclusion.

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Italy’s 6 V/m RF Limit at Risk

March 14, 2024

The International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF) has written to Italian government officials to support the country’s strict 6 V/m RF exposure limit.

The letter, dated March 13, expresses “great concern” that the standard might be weakened. It is signed by Ronald Melnick, the chair of ICBE-EMF, and by Elizabeth Kelley, its managing director.

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“NTP Lite”: Update from Japan

March 12, 2024

The Japanese group running a partial repeat of the NTP RF cancer study has not observed genotoxic effects among male rats exposed to 900 MHz CDMA radiation at 4 W/Kg, according to a paper to be presented tomorrow at the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology in Salt Lake City, UT (SOT2024).

The analysis of the cancer data is ongoing and will not be reported.

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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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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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“Comparison of RF EMF Exposure Levels in Different Everyday Microenvironments in an International Context,” Environment International, May 2018. “Exposure levels tended to increase with increasing urbanity. In most microenvironments downlink from mobile phone base stations is the most relevant contributor.” One exception: Australia where broadcast radiation was #1.
“Intensity-Time Dependence Dosing Criterion in the EMF Exposure Guidelines in Russia,” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, online March 1, 2018. From the Research Institute of Occupational Health in Moscow.
“Effect of Tumor-Treating Fields Plus Maintenance Temozolomide vs Maintenance Temozolomide Alone on Survival in Patients with Glioblastoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA, December 19, 2017. Supplementing chemotherapy with 200 kHz E-fields increased progression-free survival (by 2.7 months to 6.7 months) and overall survival (by 4.9 months to 20.9 months) in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Both are statistically significant improvements.
“Two-Year Oncogenicity Evaluations of Cell Phone RF Radiation in Sprague-Dawley Rats and B6C3F1 Mice,” Toxicology Letters, Supplement 1, October 20, 2017. “Considering (a) the conflicting results of RF epidemiology studies and (b) the lack of generally accepted biophysical or molecular mechanisms through which RF could induce or promote neoplasia, data from animal bioassays will play a central role in ‘weight-of-the-evidence’ assessments of the possible health effects of RF exposure.” Abstract only. By IITRI’s David McCormick, who ran the exposures for the NTP–cell phone cancer study.
“Activation of Signaling Cascades by Weak ELF EMFs,” Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, online October 16, 2017. Effects seen for exposures to ELF magnetic fields as low as 0.15μT [1.5mG]. Note caveat: These results “cannot be regarded as proof of involvement in cancer, including childhood leukemia.” From the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Open access.
“Mobile Phone Use and The Risk of Headache: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies,” Scientific Reports, October 3, 2017. Chinese group finds statistically significant link. Back in 2001, Pierre Aubineau had a mechanism to explain how cell phone RF could cause headaches. But an industry-friendly colleague silenced him.
“Evaluation of the Genotoxicity of Cell Phone RF Radiation in Male and Female Rats and Mice Following Subchronic Exposure.” NTP paper presented at Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society annual meeting, September 9-13, 2017. “[E]xposure to RFR has the potential to induce measurable DNA damage.” More here and here.
“Functional Brain MRI in Patients Complaining of Electrohypersensitivity After Long Term Exposure to EMFs,” Reviews on Environmental Health, posted July 5, 2017. “We believe that mold and mold toxin (mycotoxin) exposure can trigger EHS.” … “Many of our patients complaining of EHS have a history of head injury.”
“Molecular Basis of Ancestral Vertebrate Electroreception,” Nature, March 16, 2017. “These findings reveal a molecular basis of electroreception and demonstrate how discrete evolutionary changes in ion channel structure facilitate sensory adaptation.”
“WHO, RFR and Health —A Hard Nut To Crack (Review),” International Journal of Oncology, posted June 21, 2017. By Lennart Hardell. A review of WHO and ICNIRP’s roles in the ongoing evaluation of RF and health. Includes details of a March meeting with WHO’s Maria Neira, who denied there are any conflicts of interest at work. Open access.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

McGill University Professor Proposes Radical New Outlook

Kaiser’s De-Kun Li Second Prospective Study

Cell Phone Radiation Limit Will Be Reviewed, But Why Is It News Now?

U.S. Military Sought To Discredit His Theory of Microwave Cataracts

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Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

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