A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

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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No Cancer Risk from Power Lines,
Says the New York Times

Big Score for Industry Scientists

Monday, December 1, 2014

Last updated March 20, 2015

”Still worried about power lines and cancer? That’s so retro, says the New York Times. You’re just stuck in the 1980’s.

This is what the “newspaper of record” wants you to know about the risk of childhood leukemia from power lines: A “fairly broad consensus among researchers holds that no significant threat to public health has materialized.”

The full message is told in a new 7+ minute video, produced by the Times’ RetroReport, which boasts a staff of 13 journalists and 10 contributors, led by Kyra Darnton. The video even credits a fact checker. What was missing is the common sense to do some digging when reporting on a controversial issue.

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CDC Calls for Caution on Cell Phones, Then Gets Cold Feet

First Federal Agency To Acknowledge Risk Soon Backs Down

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Last updated January 1, 2016

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention —CDC— is the first U.S. health agency to call for precaution in the use of cell phones.

But not for long. As soon as word of the CDC’s new outlook spread, the precautionary advice was withdrawn. Our original story is below, followed by an August 20 addendum.

“Along with many organizations worldwide, we recommend caution in cell phone use,” the CDC stated on its Web site’s FAQ About Cell Phones and Your Health and followed up with a call for more research to answer the unresolved cancer question.

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EMF Cancer Promotion: An Old Idea Makes a Strong Comeback

Large Study Shows Recent, But Not Lifetime, Exposures Lead to Brain Tumors

Monday, June 30, 2014

Last updated June 9, 2017

Power-frequency magnetic fields can promote brain tumors, according to the largest epidemiological study of its kind ever undertaken. The study promises to breathe new life into the idea that extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs are more likely to be cancer promoters than causes of cancer. This hypothesis gained support a generation ago but has lost currency in recent years.

The new results, published online earlier this month by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, come from INTEROCC, an international project with seven participating countries designed to investigate occupational health risks from chemicals and EMFs. The project is directed by Elisabeth Cardis at CREAL in Barcelona with $1.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (though none of the tumor cases are from the U.S.).

The INTEROCC team found that those who were exposed to elevated EMF exposures at work during the five years prior to diagnosis had significantly higher rates of glioma compared to those who were least exposed during that time on the job. The greater the exposure, the greater the tumor risk.

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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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ICNIRP Issues Revised RF Guidelines

March 11, 2020

The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has issued updated guidelines for exposures to RF/microwave radiation.

“The guidelines have been developed after a thorough review of all relevant scientific literature, scientific workshops and an extensive public consultation process. They provide protection against all scientifically substantiated adverse health effects due to EMF exposure in the 100 kHz to 300 GHz range,” according to...

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NTP Scientists Endorse Precaution

January 17, 2020

NTP scientists have decided to follow the science.

In a recent revision to the information it offers the public on cell phone radiation, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) revealed that its scientists are now taking precautions by spending less time on cell phones and, when on a call, increasing the distance between their heads and the...

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French Govt Seeks To Limit Exposures from Cell Phones

October 28, 2019

French health officials want cell phone users to be better informed of potential risks and are urging them to take precautionary steps to limit their radiation exposures.

The move comes after an government health and safety agency (ANSES) issued an October 21 advisory warning the public not to carry phones in shirt or trouser pockets.

The French government wants the European Commission to require measurements indicating how much...

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EMF Studies: Industry Funding
Sways Findings

September 4, 2019

Industry-funded studies have promoted false doubts about EMF cancer risks and led to the failure of the public health community to reduce exposures, argues David Carpenter in a paper published last week in Environmental Research.

Carpenter, the director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany in upstate New York, shows that, over the last 20 years, findings on the link...

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FCC Proposes No Change to Its RF Standards

August 8, 2019

Last updated August 9, 2019

After six years of study, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided not to revise its current safety limits for RF radiation. The rules, which were first adopted in 1996 and are the only ones governing cell phone exposures in the U.S., will continue to be based only on thermal effects.

“After a thorough review of the record and consultation with [the...

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Hot new papers & articles

“NTP Toxicology and Carcinogenicity Studies of Cell Phone RF Radiation”; Michael Wyde’s PowerPoint presentation at the BioEM2016 meeting in Ghent, Belgium, June 8, 2016. Covers pathology, survival and genetic toxicology results.
“Mechanosensory Hairs in Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) Detect Weak Electric Fields,” PNAS, posted online May 31, 2016. Open access.
“Synergism Between Sinusoidal 50 Hz Magnetic Field and Formaldehyde in Triggering Carcinogenic Effects in Male [SD] Rats,” American Journal of Industrial Medcine, posted online May 24, 2016. “Life-span exposure to MF and formaldehyde induces statistically significant carcinogenic effects in male rats.” From the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna. See also our detailed report on the same project.
“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.”
“The Magnetic Orientation of the Antarctic Amphipod Gondogeneia antarctica Is Cancelled by Very Weak RF Field,” Journal of Experimental Biology, published online March 2016. “The results of our experiments suggest the remarkable sensitivity … of the Antarctic amphipod … Even 2 nT RF regardless of frequency was able to disrupt orientation.” (1-10 MHz)
“Financial Conflicts of Interest and Study Results in Environmental and Occupational Health Research,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, March 2016. “[F]inancial relationships are clearly associated with the direction of reported scientific findings.”
“Effects of Cell Phone Use on Semen Parameters: Results from the MARHCS Cohort Ctudy in Chongqing, China,” Environment International, May 2016. “Our results suggest that certain aspects of cell phone use may negatively affect sperm quality in men by decreasing the semen volume, sperm concentration, or sperm count, thus impairing male fertility.” Click here for more on the growing literature detailing effects on fertility.
“Influence of Author’s Affiliation and Funding Sources on the Results of Cohort Studies on Occupational Cancer,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, March 2016. “Our study demonstrated that the cohort studies on occupational exposures and cancer published by authors belonging to the private sector (industry or consultant), or funded by the private sector, concluded significantly less often that an excess of risk of cancer was found than those published by authors affiliated to universities or public institutions. Furthermore, private authors more frequently downplayed the risk in the Conclusion section of the abstract, as compared to the Results section, than public authors did.”
“Meet the ‘Rented White Coats’ Who Defend Toxic Chemicals,” Center for Public Integrity, February 8, 2016. Read about Peter Valberg of Gradient Corp, who has worked to protect corporate interests on EMFs & RF, as much as on chemicals, over the last 25 years. Here’s one quote from the article: “Gradient belongs to a breed of scientific consulting firms that defends the products of its corporate clients beyond credulity, even exhaustively studied substances whose dangers are not in doubt, such as asbestos, lead and arsenic.” Part of the Center’s “Science for Sale” project. Valberg is a colleague of Mike Repacholi’s.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Ignorance Drowns Out Precaution

NY Times Tech Columnist Has Hands Slapped

RF Cancer Promotion:
Animal Study Makes Waves

Germany’s Alex Lerchl Does a U-Turn

No Cancer Risk from Power Lines,
Says the New York Times

Big Score for Industry Scientists

CDC Calls for Caution on Cell Phones, Then Gets Cold Feet

First Federal Agency To Acknowledge Risk Soon Backs Down

EMF Cancer Promotion: An Old Idea Makes a Strong Comeback

Large Study Shows Recent, But Not Lifetime, Exposures Lead to Brain Tumors

Pages

Short Takes

ICNIRP’s Principal Patron: Germany

ICNIRP Issues Revised RF Guidelines

NTP Scientists Endorse Precaution

French Govt Seeks To Limit Exposures from Cell Phones

EMF Studies: Industry Funding
Sways Findings

FCC Proposes No Change to Its RF Standards

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A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

NY Times Tech Columnist Has Hands Slapped

Germany’s Alex Lerchl Does a U-Turn

Big Score for Industry Scientists

First Federal Agency To Acknowledge Risk Soon Backs Down

Large Study Shows Recent, But Not Lifetime, Exposures Lead to Brain Tumors

Pages

Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

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