RF: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

UPDATE 3
A new group of IARC advisors is meeting in Lyon this week to set priority agents for the agency to review in 2025-2029. More here.

January 19, 2024
UPDATE 2
IARC has announced that the agency will evaluate the cancer risks of “automotive gasoline and some oxygenated additives” from February 25 to March 4, 2025. The reassesssment of RF radiation will have to wait.

October 25, 2023
UPDATE 1
Other Monograph meetings have now been scheduled for March, June and November 2024. The next possible slot for RF radiation is in early 2025.

December 12, 2022

On November 23, 2002, Elisabete Weiderpass, the Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), revealed that a new assessment of the evidence linking radiofrequency (RF) radiation to cancer would likely take place in early 2024. A formal decision could come within a few months.

Calls for a new IARC evaluation have been mounting for some years following the release of two large animal studies showing elevated tumor counts after lifelong exposure to RF radiation.

“Changes in Honey Bee Nutrition After Exposure to RF EMF,” The European Zoological Journal, February, 9, 2024. “RF EMFs disturb honey bee nutrition. The changes in the analyzed indicators may have long-term effects.” Open access.

EC’s Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER), “Opinion on the Need of a Revision of the Annexes in the Council Recommendation 1999/519/EC and Directive 2013/35/EU, in View of the Latest Scientific Evidence Available with regard to RF (100kHz - 300GHz),” released June 14, 2023. SCHEER reaffirms use of ICNIRP limits. Effectively rejects NTP, Ramazzini and Lerchl animal studies. Sees no need to protect public & workers from possible long-term effects of RF.

“Do EMFs Used in Telecommunications Affect Wild Plant Species? A Control Impact Study Conducted in the Field,” Ecological Indicators, June 2023. Some specific species of wild plants exposed to low-level RF (~867 MHz at 1-2 μW/cm²) showed “permanent and irreversible” effects. Open access.

The precautionary principle should be applied to public exposures to RF radiation. So say four senior academic scientists —including the former director of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP)— in a strongly worded appeal, published today.

Writing in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research, Paul Ben Ishai, Linda Birnbaum, Devra Davis and Hugh Taylor point to a “plethora of both experimental and epidemiological evidence establishing a causal relationship between EMF and cancer and other adverse health effects.”

Two influential health agencies, both based in France, will host a one-day meeting on RF–health research, November 23 in Paris. The public is invited to attend in person or online. Registration is free.

The conference, organized by ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, and IARC, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, will focus on potential effects of RF radiation on the brain and on cancer risks. The theme is “Research in a Fast-Moving Environment.”

“Changes in the Excitability of Primary Hippocampal Neurons Following Exposure to 3.0 GHz RF EMFs,” Scientific Reports, March 3, 2022. The results show that RF-EMF exposure can alter neuronal activity after a 60-minute exposure to 3.0 GHz at a low dose (SAR <1 W/Kg). From the U.S. Air Force. Open access.

“RF Exposure of the Yellow Fever Mosquito (A. aegypti) from 2 to 240 GHz,” PLoS Computational Biology, October 28, 2021. “For a given incident RF power, the absorption increases with increasing frequency between 2 and 90 GHz with a maximum between 90 and 240 GHz.” Open access.

“Threshold of RF EMF Effect on Human Brain,” International Journal of Radiation Biology, posted August 23, 2021. Lowest SAR threshold for effect on EEG is more than a 1,000 times lower than level deemed safe by ICNIRP and the U.S. FCC. Also the changes in EEG are similar to those seen in depression.