A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Paul Brodeur, Who Warned of Asbestos and EM Radiation Risks, Dies at 92

Author of “The Zapping of America” and “Currents of Death” Among Many Other Books

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Last updated August 20, 2023

Paul Brodeur, a seminal voice in publicizing asbestos and electromagnetic radiation health risks, died August 2 on Cape Cod, MA, at the age of 92. For close to 40 years, Brodeur was a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, where many of his exposés first appeared before he expanded them into books.

In December 1976, the New Yorker ran Brodeur’s two-part article on microwave radiation. It would become a sensation in the otherwise insular world of electromagnetic health that up to then had been dominated by military and industrial interests. The following year, Brodeur published The Zapping of America.

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How Money and Power
Dominate RF Research

The Lai-Singh DNA Breaks 30 Years On
A Conversation with Henry Lai

Monday, June 12, 2023

Last updated November 17, 2023

Unremarkable science can sometimes tell a remarkable story. Two papers that were published in the last few weeks —and passed mostly unnoticed— have important, though very different, backstories.

One offers a surprising glimpse of change in the usually static field of RF research, while the other shows how much has stayed the same over the last many years.

Yet, in the end, they offer the same well-worn message, always worth repeating: Those who sign the checks, run the show.

The two papers come 30 years after Henry Lai and N.P. Singh began an experiment at the University of Washington in Seattle that would set off alarm bells across the still-young cell phone industry —and the U.S. military. Lai and Singh would show that a single, two-hour exposure to low-level microwave radiation (today, we’d say RF) could lead to breaks in the helical strands of DNA in the brains of live rats.

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All Plaintiff Experts Barred in
Cell Phone Brain Tumor Lawsuits

Twenty-Two Years and Counting

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Last updated August 31, 2023

In a big win for the telecoms, and Motorola in particular, a judge has disallowed testimony from the entire slate of expert witnesses who were scheduled to support claims that cell phones can lead to brain tumors.

Judge Alfred Irving Jr. of the Washington DC Superior Court issued the ruling on April 25 in a set of 13 cases collectively known as Murray v Motorola.

The Murray litigation has been going on for a long, long time —think Jarndyce. The original claim was filed more than 20 years ago.

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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 April 27, 2025

UPDATE: With no public notice or any formal announcement, the World Health Organization (WHO) held the first meeting of its RF Working Group in Geneva March 14-16, 2023.

The group is preparing a review of health effects, as part of a process that has been ongoing for close to a decade.

Our latest chapter, “RF Review Shrouded in Secrecy,” is posted here.

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After eight years of work, the 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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Time To Invoke the Precautionary Principle for RF, Say Senior Scientists

Why Don’t the Tenets of Toxicology Apply?

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

The precautionary principle should be applied to public exposures to RF radiation. So say four senior academic scientists —including the former director of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP)— in a strongly worded appeal, published today.

Writing in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research, Paul Ben Ishai, Linda Birnbaum, Devra Davis and Hugh Taylor point to a “plethora of both experimental and epidemiological evidence establishing a causal relationship between EMF and cancer and other adverse health effects.”

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Short Takes

ElektrosmogReport Now in English Too

February 9, 2025

Last updated March 28, 2025

One of the longest-running newsletters on the health and environmental impact of electromagnetic fields and radiation —the ElektrosmogReport— is now available in English.

Diagnose:Funk, the publisher, is translating the German-language original and making it available at no charge. Both versions come out quarterly. D:F is a consumer and environmental protection group with offices in Germany and Switzerland.

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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 January 21, 2025

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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Hot new papers & articles

“WHO To Build Neglect of RF-EMF Exposure Hazards on Flawed EHC reviews? Case Study Demonstrates How “No Hazards” Conclusion Is Drawn from Data Showing Hazards,” Reviews on Environmental Health, July 10, 2024. In-depth analysis of one of WHO’s EMF Project’s RF systematic reviews —on pregnancy & birth outcomes. “The errors, flaws and omissions are grave enough to render [it] unscientific and unethical, and it should therefore be retracted.” Open access.
Epidemiological Exploration of the Impact of Bluetooth Headset Usage on Thyroid Nodules using Shapley Additive Explanations Method,” Scientific Reports, June 21, 2024. “Prolonged & frequent use of Bluetooth headphones may be associated with an increased risk of developing thyroid nodules, potentially linked to cumulative effects of NIR emitted by headphones on the thyroid gland.” From China and Malaysia. Open access.
“Why Electrohypersensitivity (EHS) is a Biologically Expected Reaction to Harmful Radiation,” Umwelt-Medizin-Gesellschaft, Vol.37, No.2, 2024. “EHS must be recognized as an illness.” New from Diagnose:Funk. Available in German and in English.
“Electromagnetic Force from Electric Vehicles: Potential EM Interference Source for Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator,” PACE, June 3, 2024. EMFs (20-60 Hz) in a Model 3 Tesla electric car could potentially interfere with the operation of implanted defibrillators.
“Prey Can Detect Predators via Electroreception in Air,” PNAS, May 20, 2024. “We show predatory wasps are charged, thus emit electric fields & caterpillars respond to such fields with defensive behaviors.” We provide “direct evidence for a driver of evolution by natural selection: ecologically relevant static electricity.”
“Impact of Specific EM Radiation on Wakefulness in Mice,” PNAS (Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences), April 1, 2024. “Alteration of sleep behavior by EMR depends upon not just carrier frequency but also frequency and mode of the modulation.” From China.
“Neurological Illness and National Security: Lessons to Be Learned,” JAMA, March 18, 2024. Sharply-worded editorial on two new NIH studies on Havana Syndrome by David Relman of Stanford University.
“‘Tumor Treating Fields’ Delivered via EM Induction Have Varied Effects Across Glioma Cell Lines and Electric Field Amplitudes,” American Journal of Cancer Research, February 28, 2024. “In summary, we have illustrated that the impact of Tumor Treating Fields can yield highly diverse effects on gene expression within distinct GBM stem cell lines.” Open access.
“Health and Environmental Effects to Wildlife from Radio Telemetry and Tracking Devices—State of the Science and Best Management Practices,” Frontiers in Veterinary Sciences, March 6, 2024. By Albert Manville, Blake Levitt and Henry Lai. Open access. “We need to seriously question if the continued use of radio tracking devices, gear, and technologies are worth their impacts on the species whose populations we supposedly are trying to protect and maintain.”
“Changes in Honey Bee Nutrition After Exposure to RF EMF,” The European Zoological Journal, February, 9, 2024. “RF EMFs disturb honey bee nutrition. The changes in the analyzed indicators may have long-term effects.” Open access.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Author of “The Zapping of America” and “Currents of Death” Among Many Other Books

The Lai-Singh DNA Breaks 30 Years OnA Conversation with Henry Lai

Twenty-Two Years and Counting

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

Why Don’t the Tenets of Toxicology Apply?

Pages

Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

Pages

Microwave News Reading

Microwave News is...

The Lai-Singh DNA Breaks 30 Years On
A Conversation with Henry Lai

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