A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Setting the Record Straight on NTP Cell Phone Cancer Study

Ron Melnick Corrects ‘Misinformation,’
Rebuffed by the New York Times

Friday, June 10, 2016

On May 31, the New York Times ran a piece in what it calls “The Upshot” on the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) cell phone animal study. The column is a regular feature in the Times that seeks to give readers context for stories in the news. This one was titled “Why It’s Not Time to Panic About Cell Phones and Cancer.” It was written by Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Carroll outlined reasons for his skepticism over the cancer results, calling the $25 million NTP study “imperfect.” This prompted a response from Ron Melnick, who led the study’s design team before he retired in 2009. In an eight-point rebuttal, Melnick corrected what he called “numerous and misleading statements.” The full text of his letter is reprinted below.

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News Media Nix NTP Cancer Study
“Don’t Believe the Hype”

Are More People Getting Brain Tumors?
GBMs, the Most Virulent Type, Are Rising

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Last updated June 2, 2016

Senior managers at the National Toxicology Program (NTP) released the preliminary results of their cell phone radiation study late last week. They were so concerned about the elevated rates of two types of cancer among exposed rats that they felt an immediate public alert was warranted. They considered it unwise to wait for the results to wend their way into a journal sometime next year. Not surprisingly, the NTP report generated worldwide media attention.

There were some startling reactions. Both the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Consumer Reports immediately shelved their long-held, wait-and-see positions. In a statement issued soon after the NTP’s press conference, Otis Brawley, ACS’ chief medical officer, called the NTP report “good science.” Consumer Reports said that the new study was “groundbreaking” and encouraged people to take simple precautions to limit their exposures.

However, much of the mainstream media saw it very differently. The Washington Post ran its story under the headline, “Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer? Don’t Believe the Hype.”

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Cell Phone Radiation Boosts Cancer Rates in Animals;
$25 Million NTP Study Finds Brain Tumors

U.S. Government Expected To Advise Public of Health Risk

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The cell phone cancer controversy will never be the same again.

The U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) is expected to issue a public announcement that cell phone radiation presents a cancer risk for humans. The move comes soon after its recently completed study showed statistically significant increases in cancer among rats that had been exposed to GSM or CDMA signals for two-years.

Discussions are currently underway among federal agencies on how to inform the public about the new findings. NTP senior managers believe that these results should be released as soon as possible because just about everyone is exposed to wireless radiation all the time and therefore everyone is potentially at risk.

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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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Short Takes

Italy’s 6 V/m RF Limit at Risk

May 3, 2021

Last updated May 5, 2021

Italy’s 6 V/m RF exposure standard, one of the strictest in the world, may soon fall victim to 5G.

The Italian limit, adopted more than 20 years ago, is widely perceived as standing in the way of the build-out of 5G infrastructure, which will require the installation of many more RF antennas. The proposed solution is to bring it in line with ICNIRP and follow its 61 V/m guideline.

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Rich Rewards for Bad Behavior

February 8, 2021

Alexander Lerchl’s bogus campaign against the REFLEX project and members of Hugo Rüdiger’s lab did nothing to harm his career. Just the opposite, Lerchl thrived as he gained stature and a succession of rich research grants from the German government.

Over the last 20 years, Germany’s Federal Office of Radiation Protection —the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, or BfS for short— has given Lerchl $5 million in contracts. Lerchl has been the best-funded RF lab researcher in Germany, Europe, and, most likely, the world.

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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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Hot new papers & articles

“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.
“Interactions Between Occupational Exposure to ELF Magnetic Fields and Chemicals for Brain Tumour Risk in the INTEROCC Study,” Occupational & Environmental Medicine, posted June 9, 2017. “There was no clear evidence for interactions between occupational ELF and chemical exposures in relation to glioma or meningioma risk observed.” For more on INTEROCC, go here.
“Occupational Exposure to ELF Magnetic Fields and Risk for Central Nervous System Disease: An Update of the Danish Cohort Study Among Utility Workers,” International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, online April 20, 2017. “We observed elevated risks of dementia, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy and lower risks of Parkinson disease in relation to exposure to ELF-MF in a large cohort of utility employees.”
“Case-Control Study on Occupational Exposure to ELF EMFs and Glioma Risk,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, posted online April 10, 2017. “An increased risk in late stage (promotion/progression) of astrocytoma grade IV for occupational ELF-EMF exposure was found.” From Sweden (including Lennart Hardell). For background, see our “EMF Cancer Promotion: An Old Idea Makes a Strong Comeback.”
“Occupational Exposure and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a Prospective Cohort,” Occupational Environmental Medicine, posted online March 29, 2017. “Only for ELF-MF in men we observed a significant increased risk of ALS mortality with increasing exposure levels.” … “These results strengthen the evidence suggesting a positive association between ELF-MF exposure and ALS.” Open access.
“Corporate Corruption of Science—Another Asbestos Example,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, February 2017. David Egilman takes aim at Michael Kelsh of Exponent, among others, for following the dictates of defense lawyers rather than occupatiomal health. Kelsh also worked on a study of Motorola workers that was used by the company in an attempt to refute a microwave-cancer rirsk.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Setting the Record Straight on NTP Cell Phone Cancer Study

Ron Melnick Corrects ‘Misinformation,’
Rebuffed by the New York Times

News Media Nix NTP Cancer Study
“Don’t Believe the Hype”

Are More People Getting Brain Tumors?
GBMs, the Most Virulent Type, Are Rising

Cell Phone Radiation Boosts Cancer Rates in Animals;
$25 Million NTP Study Finds Brain Tumors

U.S. Government Expected To Advise Public of Health Risk

Power-Frequency EMFs Promote Cancer in Massive Animal Study

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

NCRP Pressured CDC To Remove
Cell Phone Safety Advice

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

Pages

Short Takes

Italy’s 6 V/m RF Limit at Risk

Rich Rewards for Bad Behavior

Physicist Robert Adair Dead at 96

Dutch Advisory Panel Calls for Caution on 5G

In Memoriam: Moris Shore

5G Waveforms in Dispute

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A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

Ron Melnick Corrects ‘Misinformation,’Rebuffed by the New York Times

Are More People Getting Brain Tumors?GBMs, the Most Virulent Type, Are Rising

U.S. Government Expected To Advise Public of Health Risk

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

Pages

Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

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Microwave News Reading

Microwave News is...

Ron Melnick Corrects ‘Misinformation,’
Rebuffed by the New York Times

Are More People Getting Brain Tumors?
GBMs, the Most Virulent Type, Are Rising

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