2025 Short Takes

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.

“Our motivation is to help influence the international discussion on radiation risks,” Peter Hensinger, D:F’s vice chairman, wrote in an email from his office in Stuttgart. “The ElektrosmogReport is one of the few publications that evaluates the research independently of industry,” he noted, “and we do so in a country which is the home of ICNIRP.”

“We want to offer scientists and the public an unbiased view of what new research shows,” Hensinger told Microwave News.

The ElektrosmogReport has a distinguished history. It’s an offshoot of Strahlentelex (literally, Radiation Telex), an independent news service launched in 1987 after the Chernobyl accident.

Founded by Thomas Dersee, a science journalist, Strahlentelex began with detailed reports on radioactivity levels in foodstuffs and went on to cover many controversies over the health effects of ionizing radiation. Dersee continued to publish the newsletter for more than 30 years.

In 1995, Strahlentelex expanded to include coverage of non-ionizing radiation under the title, Strahlentelex mit ElektrosmogReport.

Dersee developed health problems leading to the closing of Strahlentelex in 2019. D:F took over the ElektrosmogReport. The same editorial team, led by Isabel Wilke, a biologist, stayed in place. She too has now retired.

Alain Thill, a life scientist, and Roman Heeren, a biologist, serve as the editors of the Report. Thill is the lead author of a 2023 systematic review on the biological effects of EMFs on insects.

The ElektrosmogReport has a similar format to the BERENIS newsletter, published by the Swiss Federal Office of the Environment’s Expert Group on EMFs. Each issue of the BERENIS newsletter, also published quarterly, reviews a select number of research papers. It too is available in German and English —as well as French. The list of members of the Swiss Expert Group is here.

Asked to compare the two newsletters, Hensinger said that the ElektrosmogReport offered a larger number of reviews, each in greater detail, than the BERENIS newsletter.

The English edition of the ElektrosmogReport may be downloaded here. The first issue (4/2024) is available now. The next (1/2025) will be posted next month.

The full German-language archive —all issues of the Report since 1995— is also available at no cost.

Diagnose:Funk Financed by Its Members

Diagnose:Funk is a non-profit founded in 2009. Today it has five full-time employees and 1,200 members. Its annual budget of approximately $300,000 comes solely from membership fees and donations.

D:F is authorized by the German Ministry of the Environment to file lawsuits in the interest of environmental protection.