SCIENCE, UNCERTAINTY AND POLICY FOR POWER AND MOBILE FREQUENCY EMF

Abstract

Given the ubiquitous nature of extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMF), there is concern regarding their potential to adversely affect health. Numerous health effects have been studied in relation to EMF exposure: cancer, reproductive disorders, as well as neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Cancer, especially childhood cancer, has received the most attention. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified EMF as a “possible human carcinogen„, or a Group 2B carcinogen; this classification was mostly based on consistent epidemiological evidence of an association between exposure to these fields and childhood leukemia and laboratory studies in animals and cells, which were not supportive of exposure to EMF causing cancer. Overall, with over two decades of epidemiologic investigation on the relation of EMF to the risk of various diseases we have learned a great deal, however there remain a number of uncertainties. Among all the outcomes evaluated in epidemiological studies of EMF, childhood leukemia in relation to postnatal exposures above 0.3-0.4 μT is the one for which there is most evidence of an association. Investigations of major diseases, such as breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, although initially biologically driven, did not confirm biological hypotheses or early positive studies. There is good evidence that these diseases are not associated with EMF exposure. The epidemiologic study of RF is still in its infancy and little is known about RF exposure and many outcomes.