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European Health Risk Assessment Network on Electromagnetic Fields Exposure. (2010). D3 – Report on the analysis of risks associated to exposure to EMF: in vitro and in vivo (animals) studies. EFHRAN, .
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Gunde Ziegelberger, A. D., Bernd Grosche, Sabine Hornhardt, Thomas Jung and Wolfgang Weiss. (2011). Childhood leukemia – Risk factors and the need for an interdisciplinary research agenda. Prog Biophys Mol Biol, 107(3), 312–314.
Abstract: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified high as well as low-frequency fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B). For high frequency fields the recent assessment is based mainly on weak positive associations described in some epidemiological studies between glioma and acoustic neuroma and the use of mobile and other wireless phones. Also for lowfrequency fields the evidence is based on epidemiological findings revealing a statistic association between childhood leukemia (CL) and low-level magnetic fields. The basic findings are already 10 years old. They have since been supported by further epidemiological studies. However, the knowledge on the main/crucial question of causality has not improved. This fact and in addition the small, but statistically significant increased incidence of CL in the surrounding of German nuclear power plants have motivated the German Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) to work toward a better understanding of the main causes of CL. A long-term strategic research agenda has been developed which builds on an interdisciplinary, international network and aims at clarifying the aetiology of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
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Martin Röösli, P. F., John Bolte, Georg Neubauer, Elisabeth Cardis, Maria Feychting, Peter Gajsek, Sabine Heinrich, Wout Joseph, Simon Mann, Luc Martens, Evelyn Mohler, Roger C Parslow, Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Katja Radon, Joachim Schüz, György Thuroczy, Jean-François Viel and Martine Vrijheid. (2010). Methodology Conduct of a personal radiofrequency electromagnetic field measurement study: proposed study protocol. Environ Health, 9(23).
Abstract: Background
The development of new wireless communication technologies that emit radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) is ongoing, but little is known about the RF-EMF exposure distribution in the general population. Previous attempts to measure personal exposure to RF-EMF have used different measurement protocols and analysis methods making comparisons between exposure situations across different study populations very difficult. As a result, observed differences in exposure levels between study populations may not reflect real exposure differences but may be in part, or wholly due to methodological differences.
Methods
The aim of this paper is to develop a study protocol for future personal RF-EMF exposure studies based on experience drawn from previous research. Using the current knowledge base, we propose procedures for the measurement of personal exposure to RF-EMF, data collection, data management and analysis, and methods for the selection and instruction of study participants.
Results
We have identified two basic types of personal RF-EMF measurement studies: population surveys and microenvironmental measurements. In the case of a population survey, the unit of observation is the individual and a randomly selected representative sample of the population is needed to obtain reliable results. For microenvironmental measurements, study participants are selected in order to represent typical behaviours in different microenvironments. These two study types require different methods and procedures.
Conclusion
Applying our proposed common core procedures in future personal measurement studies will allow direct comparisons of personal RF-EMF exposures in different populations and study areas.
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Martin Röösli, D. J., Leeka Kheifets and Gabor Mezei. (2011). Extremely low frequency magnetic field measurements in buildings with transformer stations in Switzerland. Sci Total Environ, 409(18), 3364–3369.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate an exposure assessment method that classifies apartments in three exposure categories of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) based on the location of the apartment relative to the transformer room. We completed measurements in 39 apartments in 18 buildings. In each room of the apartments ELF-MF was concurrently measured with 5 to 6 EMDEX II meters for 10 min. Measured arithmetic mean ELF-MF was 0.59 μT in 8 apartments that were fully adjacent to a transformer room, either directly above the transformer or touching the transformer room wall-to-wall. In apartments that only partly touched the transformer room at corners or edges, average ELF-MF level was 0.14 μT. Average exposure in the remaining apartments was 0.10 μT. Kappa coefficient for exposure classification was 0.64 (95%-CI: 0.45–0.82) if only fully adjacent apartments were considered as highly exposed (> 0.4 μT). We found a distinct ELF-MF exposure gradient in buildings with transformer. Exposure classification based on the location of the apartment relative to the transformer room appears feasible. Such an approach considerably reduces effort for exposure assessment and may be used to eliminate selection bias in future epidemiologic studies.
Keywords: Childhood leukemia; Extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF); Transformers; Exposure assessment; TRANSEXPO
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Joachim Schüz, J. - P. G., Bernd Störmer, Gerd Rippin, Karl Brinkmann and Jörg Michaelis. (2000). Extremely low frequency magnetic fields in residences in Germany. Distribution of measurements, comparison of two methods for assessing exposure, and predictors for the occurrence of magnetic fields above background level.39(4), 233–240.
Abstract: We examined the results of 1,835 magnetic field measurements in German residences conducted between November 1997 and September 1999. The measurements were part of an epidemiological study on the relationship between magnetic fields and childhood leukemia. We performed a fixed-location measurement of the magnetic field at 50 Hz and 16 2/3 Hz (frequency of the German railway system) over 24 h in the child’s bedroom in the residence of each study participant. In addition, we conducted a second 24 h-measurement in the living room at 50 Hz, and spot measurements while
walking through all rooms of the respective dwelling.
Median 50 Hz magnetic fields above 0.2 µT were found to be infrequent in Germany (only 1.4% of all residences). Fields produced by high-voltage power lines
(123–420 kV) were lower than expected: the median magnetic field was above 0.2 µT in only 8 (32.0%) of 25 residences located 50 m or closer to a high-voltage
power line indicating that power lines in Germany are usually run well below the maximum power load. We found that magnetic fields were correlated with the type
of residence and higher magnetic fields were measured in apartment buildings. There was also some evidence for a positive correlation between magnetic fields and
traffic density and an inverse association between magnetic fields and family net income. The 24 h-magnetic field measurements correlated well with the spot measurements (r>0.7). However, when dichotomized with a cut-off point of 0.2 µT, there was only a poor agreement between the two measurement methods. A loss of the
strength of the association after categorization was also observed when comparing the arithmetic mean and median of the same 24 h-measurement. In summary, these analyses give a valuable overview of magnetic field distributions in German residences.
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