Number 67 | 12. December 2011
SCIENCE Provocation study: Iranian scientists find no evidence of electromagnetic hypersensitivity Researchers at the University of Shiraz (Iran) screened 700 students and found 20 of them being selfreporting electro-hypersensitives and also willing to participate in a provocation experiment. In the experiments, the students were exposed or sham exposed to the electromagnetic field emitted from a GSM mobile phone for 10 minutes and they were asked if they could sense the existence of the EMF. Only five of 20 students could discriminate the real exposure / sham exposure phases, which was rated by the scientists as a random result. In further experiments, the students were connected to intensive care unit monitors and the changes in their heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure during real or sham exposure were recorded. Also here, no statistically significant changes between the means of these parameters in real/sham exposure were observed. Based on these results, the authors see no association between mobile phone use and health hazards among the examined students and refer to "the possible role of psychological factors in electromagnetic hypersensitivity“. Bibliography: Mortazavi et al., Technol. Health Care 19(6), 435-443 (2011) Abstract
Request by the European Commission for a scientific opinion on potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields The request was submitted to the Commission‘s „Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks“ (SCENIHR) on 08 December 2011. Among other things, it says: „On 16-17 November 2011, the International Conference on EMF and Health, organized by the European Commission under the auspices of the SCENIHR, provided an overview of the most recent scientific developments in this area as a first preparation for a future scientific opinion. Consequently, the SCENIHR is being asked to examine this new scientific evidence and to address in particular the questions listed in the following Terms of Reference: The Committee is requested: 1. To update its opinions of 2009 in the light of newly available information. 2. To give particular attention to issues affected by important gaps in knowledge in the previous opinions, especially: o the potential adverse effects of EMF on the nervous system, including neurobehavioral disorders and on the risk of neoplastic diseases, o the understanding of biophysical mechanisms that could explain observed biological effects and epidemiological associations, and o the potential role of co-exposures with other environmental stressors in biological effects attributed to EMF. 3. To review the scientific evidence available to understand the potential adverse health effects of EMF in the THz range. 4. To develop a set of prioritized research recommendations taking updating previous efforts in this area (in particular by the SCENIHR and the WHO). These recommendations should include methodological guidance on the experimental design and minimum requirements to ensure data quality and usability for risk assessment.” The scientific opinion is to be completed by December 2012. http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/emerging/requests/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/emerging/docs/scenihr_q_029.pdf
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German Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Project description for a pilot study on the sequencing and bio-informatic analysis of childhood leukemia (ALL) cases Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common form of leukemia among children (80 %) and it is characterized by the occurrence of specific chromosomal translocations (chromosomes changes). In order to understand the causes of ALL among children, it is extremely important to understand the genetic changes that can lead to the breakout of the disease. The starting point is the hypothesis that specific translocations (which possibly occur during the prenatal phase), possibly of prenatal origin, can lead to the outbreak of the disease. In the announced pilot project, the genome (the whole of all DNA sequences), transcriptome (the whole of all DNA-to-RNA converted genes) and epigenome (whole of all cellular properties that are not determined by DNA sequencing) changes are investigated in all 10 ALL cases, for the purpose of recognizing further changes compared to the "first hit" (chromosomal translocations) and analyzing them systematically. This may yield conclusions regarding causes of diseases and / or specific changes. Further information on the background of the project and information on the project award is available on the websites of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, BfS (only available in German): www.bfs.de/de/bfs/ausschreibungen/forsch/3611S70014.html
BfS research project: Impact of new mobile telecommunications networks on the general public’s exposure The aim of the study commissioned by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is to gather information on exposures resulting from new wireless services and to complement exposure data already available. The focus is on the transmitters of the networks’ infrastructure. Exposures by terminal equipment will be examined exemplarily. New supply concepts utilizing e.g. femtocells and technical advancements such as MIMO will be dealt with. Exposure data will be compared to data on exposure from established mobile telecommunication services. The results are aimed to document how the ongoing expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure changes the actual exposure of the general public in Germany. http://www.emf-forschungsprogramm.de/akt_emf_forschung.html/dosi_HF_004.html
POLITICS AND LAW EU allows the use of body scanners The EU Commission has decided that, from 7th December 2011, passengers in airports within the European Union may officially be examined with body scanners. This decision was preceded by countless tests. The devices that are currently in the market work with Terahertz radiation and millimeter waves. The Commission approved the use of the scanners only under strict conditions concerning the storage and analysis of images. Passengers shall also have the right to refuse to be scanned by a body scanner, and be examined using conventional methods. The EU Commission has also decided to impose a complete ban on scanners which use X-rays within the European Union. The Commission has also stated that the devices now renamed "safety scanner" may not pose any risk to life or limb. Science has still not yielded any final result on this issue. The President of the German Radiation Protection Commission (SSK), Rolf Michel, has stated the following in connection with it: "With regard to the possible biological effects of Terahertz radiation, we are never as close as we would like to be." He claims that the existing research data on the subject are still not sufficient, and that there are cell experiments where researchers have worked with far higher radiation levels than those practically used in body scanners. Germany initially decided against the Federal-wide introduction of the devices due to countless breakdowns during the test runs in Hamburg. However, the Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has announced that he wants to use more advanced equipment as soon as possible. According to information received from the EU Commission, only Great Britain and the Netherlands are currently using body scanners in their airports, while Italy and France have expressed interest in the same. Source: http://www.dw-world.de/ (only available in German)
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The EU Council of Ministers wants additional experts’ opinions on electromagnetic fields in the area of occupational safety in medicine The EU Council of Ministers for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Protection sees "more need for consultation with experts" in questions related to occupational safety and electromagnetic fields. During a meeting held on the 1st and 2nd of December 2011, the Council discussed a progress report from the EU Commission on the topic. The background is the "complaint of medical circles who work with magnetic resonance imaging" that their activities "would be impeded" by the exposure limit decreed by an EU Guideline dated 2004. The EU Council and Parliament decided to postpone the implementation of Guideline 2004/40/EC on Minimum Health and Safety Requirements concerning the protection of workers from the risks arising from exposure to physical impacts (electromagnetic fields) to 30th April 2012. New scientific findings should be considered. Full story available at www.eu-koordination.de Press release of the Council of Ministers (see page 8)
TECHNOLOGY Apple’s iPad 3 and iPhone 5 with LTE Technology According to a report from the Japanese economic newspaper “Nikkei Business”, in the future, the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 will be fitted with integrated LTE technology (the latest "Long Term Evolution" technology for mobile phones). The next iPad is expected to come out in Summer 2012; and the iPhone 5 is expected to come out a bit later, in autumn 2012. It is still unclear whether or not Apple is manufacturing a special LTE Version of the iPhone 5 exclusively for the Japanese market – with a radio frequency that is only used there – or whether or not the iPhone 5 supports LTE in general. Source: http://www.ltemobile.de/
MISCELLANEOUS EMF-Portal: New “Graphical Overviews” main area The world's most comprehensive database of scientific literature on EMF, the "EMF-Portal" powered by femu at the Technical University of Aachen (Germany), shows a new main navigation area which leads the user to a graphical presentation of the database content. In several topical units, the extract from the literature is presented in tables and can easily and clearly be searched and reviewed. http://www.emf-portal.de/
EU Science Conference presentations on EMF and health now available The presentations, which were shown in Brussels on the occasion of the international EU Conference on 16th and 17th November 2011, are available for download on the websites of the EU Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/health/electromagnetic_fields/events/ev_20111116_presentations_en.htm
Dariusz Leszczynski is the new columnist for the Communities Page of the “Washington Times” Since 04.12.2011, Dariusz Leszczynski (radiation protection authority STUK of Finland, and board member of the Bioelectromagnetics Society, BEMS) has been the new columnist of the "Communities" page in the American daily newspaper "Washington Times". This column, whose title is the same as that of Leszczynski’s Internet Blog "Between a Rock and a Hard Place", appears weekly and deals with the topic "mobile phones and health". The subject matter of the first column is "why we need more research in the area of mobile phones". http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/between-rock-and-hard-place/
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COST BM0704: New documents published Among other contributions, the following presentation given at COST BM 0704 workshop Vienna 27 October 2011 have been added to the action’s website:
Assessing the reporting bias regarding the laterality of cell phone use (P. Wiedemann) ATHEM - Athermal Biological Effects of High Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, Exposure relayed DNA breaks and Proteom-Findings (W. Mosgöller) Protecting the public against potential adverse EMF effects - The EU Approach (L. Bontoux) Technical aspects related to the harmonization of the provisions of EU work environment Directive with international safety guidelines (J. Karpowicz) CENELEC EMF Standards - EU guide to 2004/40/EC (P. Chadwick) Measurement and numerical dosimetry of induction heaters used for tempering (P. Gajsek) Uncertainties in exposure assessment of complex environments (S. Kampusch) Workers and patients safety in TETRA applications (S. Cecil) Exposure assessment in complex welding environments (G. Neubauer) Exposure to low frequency electromagnetic fields in conventional and hybrid automobiles (Y. Hamnerius) WEMS – a European Initiative for assessment of worker exposure to electromagnetic fields up to 10 MHz (M. Douglas) Revised workers´ EMF exposure guidelines by ICNIRP (M. Hietanen)
Further newly published documents:
Short term Scientific Mission Report on “Near field exposure assessment of high frequency RFID reader systems” (S. Fiocchi)
Short Term Scientific Mission Report on “Training on Dielectric Measurements on Biological Materials” (L. Abdilla) http://www.cost-bm0704.org/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=61
Calendar 18 June - 8 July 2011 IARC Summer School in Cancer Epidemiology 2012 The aim of the IARC Summer School is to stimulate research in cancer epidemiology by improving scientific knowledge and developing skills among researchers worldwide. Two modules of the course will be held from 18 June to 8 July 2011. The first module (Cancer Registration: Principles and Methods) lasts one week and the second module (Introduction to Cancer Epidemiology) two weeks. Deadline for applications is 16 January 2012. For further information please visit: http://www.iarc.fr/en/education-training/summer-school/index1.php
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