SSM released Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority's (SSM) scientific council monitors the current research situation and provides the Authority with advice on the assessment of risks, authorization and optimization within the area. The council gives guidance when the Authority must give an opinion on policy matters when scientific testing is necessary. The council is required to submit a written report on the current research and knowledge situation each year.

The objective of the report is to cover the previous year’s research in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMF). The report gives the Authority an overview and provides an important basis for risk assessment.
The present annual report is number ten in the series and covers studiespublished from October 2013 up to and including September 2014.It covers different areas of EMF (static, low frequency intermediate and radio frequent fields) and different types of studies such as biological, human and epidemiological studies. This report includes an update on key issues such as extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia, effects from mobile phones, health risk from transmitters and self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity, as follows:

ELF magnetic fields - childhood leukaemia and other health endpoints:
Extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields have been associated with an increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in epidemiologic research. However, experimental and mechanistic research has been unable to confirm this association. Therefore, the question whether extremely low frequency magnetic fields have any influence on the development of childhood leukaemia is still unresolved.Recent studies suggest that an association between ELF-MF exposure and ALS and Alzheimer's diseases may exist, which warrants further investigation.

Effects from use of mobile phones:
In previous reports the Scientific Council of SSM has concluded that studies of brain tumours and other tumours of the head (vestibular schwannoma, salivary gland), together with national cancer incidence statistics from different countries, are not convincing in linking mobile phone use to the occurrence of glioma or other tumours of the head region among adults. Recent studies described in this report do not change this conclusion although these have covered longer exposure periods. Scientific uncertainty remains for regular mobile phone use for time periods longer than 15 years. It is also too early to draw firm conclusions regarding risk of brain tumours in children and adolescents, but the available literature to date does not indicate an increased risk.
The most consistently observed biological effect from mobile phone exposure is an effect of the power of sleep EEG in human volunteer provocation studies. The observed effects, however, are weak and do not seem to translate into behavioural or other health effects.
In a number of experimental provocation studies, persons who consider themselves electromagnetically hypersensitive as well as healthy volunteers have been exposed to either sham or real fields from a mobile phone, but neither symptoms nor other effects were more prevalent during real exposure than during sham exposure of the experimental groups. While the symptoms experienced by patients with EHS are real and some individuals suffer severely, studies so far have not provided evidence that exposure to electromagnetic fields is a causal factor. Several studies have indicated a nocebo effect, i.e. an adverse effect caused by an expectation that something is harmful.
In the last year several studies have reported an association between mobile phone use in adolescents and the occurrence of symptoms. What remains unclear, however, is whether this could be due to the exposure to RF-EMF, confounding (e.g. personality type) or the usage of mobile phones or other electronic devices as such.

Health risks from transmitters:
In line with previous studies, new studies on adult and childhood cancer with improved exposure assessment do not indicate any health risks for the general public related to exposure from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from far-field sources, such as base stations and radio and TV transmitters. There is no new evidence indicating a causal link to exposure from far-field sources such as mobile phone base stations or wireless local data networks in schools or at home.

 

The report is available at:

Publisher：Stralsakerhetsmyndigheten（Swedish Radiation Safety Authority）
Title：Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk - Tenth report from SSM's Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2015. Report number: 2015:19
URL：
（Press release）
http://www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se/Om-myndigheten/Aktuellt/Nyheter/Ny-forskningssammanstallning-om-risker-med-elektromagnetiska-falt/

(Original report)
http://www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se/Global/Publikationer/Rapport/Stralskydd/2015/SSM-Rapport-2015-19.pdf