A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

2004 Articles

Opposing Outlooks

October 18, 2004

Members of each of the teams that have reported links between mobile phones and acoustic neuromas have recently published reviews of the RF epidemiological literature.

Acoustic Neuroma Implicated

October 12, 2004

Mobile phones may present a cancer risk after all. Epidemiologists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have found that the phones can increase the incidence of acoustic neuromas, benign tumors of the auditory nerve. The nerve is exposed to radiation during the normal use of a cell phone.

Those who used mobile phones for at least ten years, had close to twice the risk of developing acoustic neuromas, according to a team led by Dr. Maria Feychting and Prof. Anders Ahlbom of the Karolinska’s Institute of Environmental Medicine. Ahlbom is the deputy director of institute.

September 22, 2004

A Swiss research team will attempt to replicate a Dutch study which showed that exposure to very weak (1 V/m) 3G mobile phone radiation had a negative effect on a subject’s feeling of well-being. The Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication, based in Zurich, has awarded a team led by Peter Achermann of the University of Zurich €485,000 (approx. $600,000) to repeat the study at both 1 V/m and 10 V/m. Niels Kuster of IT’IS, also in Zurich, and Martin Röösli of the University of Bern will be collaborating with Achermann. The replication effort is scheduled to be completed by next September.

September 22, 2004

The radiation protection agencies in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have issued a joint statement agreeing that “[T]here is no scientific evidence for any adverse health effects from mobile telecommunications systems, neither from base stations nor from headsets below the [ICNIRP exposure limits].” Even so, the agencies go on to endorse a policy of “prudent avoidance,” stating that, “The existing gaps and the prevailing scientific uncertainty justify a certain precautionary attitude regarding the use of handsets for mobile telephony. ”

September 21, 2004

The U.S. Navy has announced that, on September 30, it will close down its Project ELF transmitter, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The transmitter, which consists of a 56-mile antenna on Michigan’s upper penninsula and a 28-mile antenna in nothern Wisconsin, operates at 72-80 Hz with a peak power in excess of 2 million watts, is used to communicate with submerged submarines. Over the years, it has been the scene of countless protests and the subject of a number of lawsuits.

September 15, 2004

Children with Leukemia, a U.K. charity based in London, is inviting applications for its new £1 million (approx. $1.80 million) research fund. The emphasis is on causes and prevention. The deadline for “outline applications” is October 29, 2004, with full proposals due on February 18, 2005. Winners will be notified on 2 April 2005. An announcement appears in the September 9 issue of Nature.

August 20, 2004

Lennart Hardell has found no association between the use of cellular or cordless phones and the incidence of salivary gland tumors. “There was no effect with increasing tumor induction period or number of hours of use of the different phones.”

August 20, 2004

The California Public Utility Commission has decided to take a fresh look at its EMF policies, which were first adopted in 1993. At its August 19 meeting, the CPUC announced that it expects the review to be completed within 18 months.

In a related decision, the commission approved a new power line, the Jefferson-Martin line, to meet electricity demands on the San Francisco Peninsula.

August 18, 2004

California will soon decide what's next for EMFs.

As power line skirmishes continue to smolder across the country and around the world, California regulators may be the first to take stock of all the new health data that have been generated over the last decade.

July 30, 2004

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is negotiating a sole source contract with the IIT Research Institute (IITRI) in Chicago to run the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) RF–animal studies. The studies will cost in excess of $10 million. The NIEHS requested proposals last February, but no one responded.

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