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Evidence Based Science Web Sites
The major public health organizations of more than 30 of world's leading industrialized countries do regular expert reviews of the scientific literature on the issue of EMF & health. Virtually every one of these expert reviews has come to the same conclusion as the World Health Organization "that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields".
To the layman, the scientific literature on EMF & health is often confusing. Alarmists like to promote poorly conducted studies with "positive" results. These have invariably turned out to be false positives. That is why the assessment of expert groups is so important. They evaluate all studies and use a "weight of evidence" approach. The World Health Organization has published a set of guidelines for the assessment of the health risks of EMF: "All studies, with either positive or negative effects, need to be evaluated and judged on their own merit, and then all together in a weight-of-evidence approach. It is important to determine how much a set of evidence changes the probability that exposure causes an outcome. Generally, studies must be replicated or be in agreement with similar studies. The evidence for an effect is further strengthened if the results from different types of studies (epidemiology or laboratory) point to the same conclusion". Expert groups consult comprehensive databases of studies on EMF & health such as the one maintained by the IEEE to conduct their assessments.
The following is a list of expert reviews and web sites that are operated by credible mainstream scientists and public health officials. Their findings are based on evidence based science published in reputable peer reviewed journals. The list includes a brief description of the materials that are available at each site. All of these mainstream scientific organizations arrive at the same conclusion as the European SCENIHR: "It is concluded from three independent lines of evidence (epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies) that exposure to RF fields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans".
The major public health organizations of more than 30 of world's leading industrialized countries do regular expert reviews of the scientific literature on the issue of EMF & health. Virtually every one of these expert reviews has come to the same conclusion as the World Health Organization "that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields".
To the layman, the scientific literature on EMF & health is often confusing. Alarmists like to promote poorly conducted studies with "positive" results. These have invariably turned out to be false positives. That is why the assessment of expert groups is so important. They evaluate all studies and use a "weight of evidence" approach. The World Health Organization has published a set of guidelines for the assessment of the health risks of EMF: "All studies, with either positive or negative effects, need to be evaluated and judged on their own merit, and then all together in a weight-of-evidence approach. It is important to determine how much a set of evidence changes the probability that exposure causes an outcome. Generally, studies must be replicated or be in agreement with similar studies. The evidence for an effect is further strengthened if the results from different types of studies (epidemiology or laboratory) point to the same conclusion". Expert groups consult comprehensive databases of studies on EMF & health such as the one maintained by the IEEE to conduct their assessments.
The following is a list of expert reviews and web sites that are operated by credible mainstream scientists and public health officials. Their findings are based on evidence based science published in reputable peer reviewed journals. The list includes a brief description of the materials that are available at each site. All of these mainstream scientific organizations arrive at the same conclusion as the European SCENIHR: "It is concluded from three independent lines of evidence (epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies) that exposure to RF fields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans".
Previous Reports from Expert Groups
1. World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is the world's largest and most prestigious public health organization. It was established by the United Nations to monitor and report on international pubic health issues. The WHO has published an excellent overview of EMF and health entitled "About Electromagnetic Fields". The following is a link to fact sheets containing documents on Base stations and wireless networks, Electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and Exposure to extremely low frequency fields. http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/.
2. The American Cancer Society. This site has good articles on cellular phones and cellular phone towers and health: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/AtHome/cellular-phones
3. The US FDA this page contains a statement by the FDA to the effect that there are no known problems from the use of cell phones: http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/CellPhones/default.htm
4. US National Cancer Institute. The page summarizes the results of studies to date on cellular telephone risk and cancer risk. The results of the majority of studies are negative. A handful of "positive" studies suffer from "recall bias". http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones and this update.
5. US Centers for Disease Control. This fact sheet is a basic Q&A on cell phones and health. The CDC indicates that studies to date do not indicate a significant association between cell phones and health problems. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/factsheets/cellphone_facts.pdf
6. European Commission: Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) has written a comprehensive report entitled: Health Effects of Exposure to EMF. This report was issued in Jan. 09. They found no significant link between various forms of EMF and health. The main 83 page report is entitled Health Effects of EMF. The following quote is from P 8: ""It is concluded from three independent lines of evidence (epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies) that exposure to RF fields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans".
7. EMF-NET is a scientific consortium of 41 participants from various countries funded by the European Commission to investigate the issue of EMF and health. None of their investigations has found any significant link between EMF and health. The following is a link to their documents: http://web.jrc.ec.europa.eu/emf-net/efrtdocuments.cfm
8. The COMAR committee of the the IEEE has written an excellent Review Paper published in the Oct. 2009 issue of Health Physics on many of the studies cited by alarmists, and in particular the Bio-Initiative Report. From the COMAR paper:
"A major weakness of the BIR is a selective, rather than a comprehensive, review of the literature in various topical areas.
9. The Health Council of the Netherlands published an updated 124 page report (1st half Dutch, 2nd half English) dated Mar. 2009 on EMF and health. The following is a quote from the cover letter to the Minister: "... the Committee concludes that there is no scientific evidence that exposure to environmental levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields causes health problems."
10. U.K. Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) (2000), "Mobile Phones and Health," Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones," c/o National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Didcot," Oxon, UK. UK Independent Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP),
11. U.K. National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), Advisory Group on Non-Ionizing Radiation (AGNIR) (2004) "Review of the Scientific Evidence for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (0 - 300 GHz)," Documents of the NRPB, Vol. 15, No. 3, NRPB, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, U.K.
12. UK Institution of Engineering and Technology, Biological Effects Policy Advisory
Group on Low-level Electromagnetic Fields (2006): Link
13. French Environmental Health and Safety Agency (AFSSET) Communiqué on cell phone towers
14. French Academie Nationale de Medecine. "Les risques des antennes de téléphonie mobile".
15. German Research Centre Jülich, Programme Group Humans, Environment,
Technology (MUT) (2005) This program brought together 25 leading experts from
Germany and Switzerland in a risk dialogue to assess the results of recent scientific
studies on mobile phones and base stations Mobile Phones and Health
16. Nordic Countries: The Radiation Authorities of the Nordic Countries recently issued a joint statement on the safety of mobile base stations and wireless networks: EXPOSURE OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
17. Ireland Expert Group on Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (2007) Health Effects of EMF
18. Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) (2001) Interim Report by Committee to Promote Research on the Possible Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (30 January 2001), MPHPT Communications News, Vol. 11, No. 23.
19. Australian Government, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, Committee on Electromagnetic Energy Public Health Issues (2003) Fact Sheet EME Series No 1 "Electromagnetic Energy and Its Effects", and "Mobile Phone and Health Effects", and Base station health effects.
20. Hong Kong, Office of the Telecommunications Authority (2007) "Know More about
Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation"
21. Health Canada (2006) It'sYour Health, Safety and Safe Use of Mobile Phones
22. New Zealand Ministry of Health, National Radiation Laboratory (2007) Safety of Cell Phones
1. World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is the world's largest and most prestigious public health organization. It was established by the United Nations to monitor and report on international pubic health issues. The WHO has published an excellent overview of EMF and health entitled "About Electromagnetic Fields". The following is a link to fact sheets containing documents on Base stations and wireless networks, Electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and Exposure to extremely low frequency fields. http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/.
2. The American Cancer Society. This site has good articles on cellular phones and cellular phone towers and health: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/AtHome/cellular-phones
3. The US FDA this page contains a statement by the FDA to the effect that there are no known problems from the use of cell phones: http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/CellPhones/default.htm
4. US National Cancer Institute. The page summarizes the results of studies to date on cellular telephone risk and cancer risk. The results of the majority of studies are negative. A handful of "positive" studies suffer from "recall bias". http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones and this update.
5. US Centers for Disease Control. This fact sheet is a basic Q&A on cell phones and health. The CDC indicates that studies to date do not indicate a significant association between cell phones and health problems. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/factsheets/cellphone_facts.pdf
6. European Commission: Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) has written a comprehensive report entitled: Health Effects of Exposure to EMF. This report was issued in Jan. 09. They found no significant link between various forms of EMF and health. The main 83 page report is entitled Health Effects of EMF. The following quote is from P 8: ""It is concluded from three independent lines of evidence (epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies) that exposure to RF fields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans".
7. EMF-NET is a scientific consortium of 41 participants from various countries funded by the European Commission to investigate the issue of EMF and health. None of their investigations has found any significant link between EMF and health. The following is a link to their documents: http://web.jrc.ec.europa.eu/emf-net/efrtdocuments.cfm
8. The COMAR committee of the the IEEE has written an excellent Review Paper published in the Oct. 2009 issue of Health Physics on many of the studies cited by alarmists, and in particular the Bio-Initiative Report. From the COMAR paper:
"A major weakness of the BIR is a selective, rather than a comprehensive, review of the literature in various topical areas.
9. The Health Council of the Netherlands published an updated 124 page report (1st half Dutch, 2nd half English) dated Mar. 2009 on EMF and health. The following is a quote from the cover letter to the Minister: "... the Committee concludes that there is no scientific evidence that exposure to environmental levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields causes health problems."
10. U.K. Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) (2000), "Mobile Phones and Health," Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones," c/o National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Didcot," Oxon, UK. UK Independent Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP),
11. U.K. National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), Advisory Group on Non-Ionizing Radiation (AGNIR) (2004) "Review of the Scientific Evidence for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (0 - 300 GHz)," Documents of the NRPB, Vol. 15, No. 3, NRPB, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, U.K.
12. UK Institution of Engineering and Technology, Biological Effects Policy Advisory
Group on Low-level Electromagnetic Fields (2006): Link
13. French Environmental Health and Safety Agency (AFSSET) Communiqué on cell phone towers
14. French Academie Nationale de Medecine. "Les risques des antennes de téléphonie mobile".
15. German Research Centre Jülich, Programme Group Humans, Environment,
Technology (MUT) (2005) This program brought together 25 leading experts from
Germany and Switzerland in a risk dialogue to assess the results of recent scientific
studies on mobile phones and base stations Mobile Phones and Health
16. Nordic Countries: The Radiation Authorities of the Nordic Countries recently issued a joint statement on the safety of mobile base stations and wireless networks: EXPOSURE OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
17. Ireland Expert Group on Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (2007) Health Effects of EMF
18. Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) (2001) Interim Report by Committee to Promote Research on the Possible Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (30 January 2001), MPHPT Communications News, Vol. 11, No. 23.
19. Australian Government, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, Committee on Electromagnetic Energy Public Health Issues (2003) Fact Sheet EME Series No 1 "Electromagnetic Energy and Its Effects", and "Mobile Phone and Health Effects", and Base station health effects.
20. Hong Kong, Office of the Telecommunications Authority (2007) "Know More about
Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation"
21. Health Canada (2006) It'sYour Health, Safety and Safe Use of Mobile Phones
22. New Zealand Ministry of Health, National Radiation Laboratory (2007) Safety of Cell Phones
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All trademarks are the property of their respective owners Copyright 2009 EMF & Health
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners Copyright 2009 EMF & Health