A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

The End of BEMS
A Merger or a Heist?

U.S. & European Research Societies Set
To Join and Become BioEM

Monday, November 29, 2021

Last updated June 2, 2022

The Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European BioElectromagnetics Association (EBEA), the two leading research groups in Western countries, will soon join together and become BioEM. Like its predecessors, the new society will be a forum on the interactions of all types of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields and radiation with living organisms. BioEM will be based in Zurich, Switzerland.

The move is hardly unexpected. Just the opposite. A union has been in the planning stages since at least 2016. Many favored a BEMS-EBEA consolidation even earlier, but it ran into one roadblock or another, at least partly because directors did not want to lose control.

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IARC on RF: What’s Next?

Own Radiation Group Challenges Basis for “Possible” Cancer Risk
Trends for Aggressive Brain Tumors Unresolved

Friday, June 11, 2021

Last updated August 24, 2022

A new analysis from the radiation group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) calls into question the agency’s own classification of wireless radiation as a possible human carcinogen.

On May 27, IARC’s Isabelle Deltour presented the new analysis of the incidence of malignant brain tumors (glioma) in the Nordic countries —Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden— over the last several decades. She spoke at an online colloquium hosted by the German Federal Office of Radiation Protection, known as the BfS.

Deltour argued that the trends are mostly not “compatible” with those seen in the epidemiological studies —principally, Interphone and Lennart Hardell’s— that were the basis of IARC’s 2011 designation of RF radiation as a possible, or 2B, human carcinogen.

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Yuri Grigoriev, Russian Biophysicist
And Non-Thermalist, Dies at 95

Stressed the Importance of Modulations and Strict Standards
Founder of Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Last updated April 21, 2023

Yuri Grigoriev, a Russian biophysicist and a singular figure in the world of electromagnetic health and safety over the last 50 years, died in Moscow on April 6 at the age of 95.

“We have lost a ‘scientific grandfather’,” Oleg Grigoriev told Microwave News. “Yuri supported scientists and pushed them to do research. He was greatly respected by all his colleagues, myself included.”

In contrast to many of his counterparts in the West, Yuri Grigoriev promoted the idea that microwave biology is more complex than simple tissue heating. His views were based, in part, on his own research showing the importance of modulation characteristics.

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German Court Moves To Silence
Relentless Critic of RF DNA Studies

Alexander Lerchl’s Unfounded Claims of Fabricated Data from Vienna Lab
13-Year Campaign of Disinformation

Monday, February 8, 2021

Last updated March 10, 2021

A German court of appeals has ordered Alexander Lerchl to stop smearing the authors of two papers which show that mobile phone radiation can break DNA and possibly cause cancer. For more than a decade, Lerchl, a professor of biology at Jacobs University in Bremen, has charged, without evidence, that the experimental data from Hugo Rüdiger’s lab at the Medical University of Vienna (MUV) were fabricated.

In its long-awaited decision, dated December 11, 2020, and released at the end of January, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Bremen threatened Lerchl with a fine of up to €250,000 (~US$300,000), or six months in prison, if he continues to falsely disparage the Rüdiger papers. The penalties would apply each time Lerchl violates the court order. Lerchl must also pay €20,000 in court costs.

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Lerchl’s Unattainable Prize:
The IARC RF Panel

A Chance To Vote on RF–Cancer Link
But Disqualified for Having Ties to Industry

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Alexander Lerchl wanted a seat at the table and wanted it bad. It was 2010 and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was setting up a working group to assess the cancer risks of RF radiation. The meeting would be a landmark event with major long-term implications for the cell phone industry.

As it turned out, in May 2011, the working group voted, by a large margin, to classify RF, including cell phone radiation, as a possible human carcinogen. But that outcome was far from assured before its 30 members —from 14 countries— deliberated for eight days at IARC headquarters in Lyon, France.

Lerchl, a professor at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, was making a name for himself as a self-appointed debunker of claims of radiation health effects. Lerchl craved to be invited to Lyon, but IARC would not have him.

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Short Takes

NCI ‘Cancer Bioelectricity’ Conference

August 26, 2024

On September 12^th, the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) will host a conference on cancer bioelectricity via Zoom. Attendance is free, but registration is required.

Michael Levin, a professor of biology and biomedical engineering at Tufts University in Massachusetts, will be the keynote speaker.

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Another WHO RF Review Challenged

August 21, 2024

Last updated September 6, 2024

A third RF systematic review commissioned by the World Health Organization’s EMF Project is under fire. This one is on RF–induced oxidative stress.

Last month, two other WHO reviews —on pregnancy outcomes and on tinnitus— were both called into question as critics called for them to be retracted.

A team of 14 from six countries, led by Felix Meyer of the German Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), identified 11,599 studies on oxidative stress in the frequency range 800-2450 MHz. They then eliminated 11,543 of them as not meeting their criteria for inclusion.

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Italy’s 6 V/m RF Limit at Risk

March 14, 2024

The International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF) has written to Italian government officials to support the country’s strict 6 V/m RF exposure limit.

The letter, dated March 13, expresses “great concern” that the standard might be weakened. It is signed by Ronald Melnick, the chair of ICBE-EMF, and by Elizabeth Kelley, its managing director.

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“NTP Lite”: Update from Japan

March 12, 2024

The Japanese group running a partial repeat of the NTP RF cancer study has not observed genotoxic effects among male rats exposed to 900 MHz CDMA radiation at 4 W/Kg, according to a paper to be presented tomorrow at the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology in Salt Lake City, UT (SOT2024).

The analysis of the cancer data is ongoing and will not be reported.

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Schwannoma Puzzle

September 14, 2023

Last updated September 16, 2023

Three medical doctors have published a case report of a 40-year-old Italian man who developed a tumor in his thigh, near where he “habitually” kept his smartphone in a trouser pocket.

The case was published at the end of August in Radiology Case Reports, a peer-reviewed, open access journal.

The tumor, a painless mass, gradually expanded in the man’s left thigh over a period of six months, they wrote.

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Korean NTP Lite: Progress Report

June 16, 2023

Last updated June 17, 2023

A Korean RF genotoxicology study —part of a joint project with Japan— has been delayed due to the unexpected death of four of the RF–exposed rats early in the accompanying two-year cancer experiment, according to Young Hwan Ahn of Ajou University medical school.

Ahn presented a progress report on the Korean arm of the project in Geneva last week at a meeting of the WHO EMF Project’s International Advisory Committee. Microwave News has obtained a copy of Ahn’s PowerPoint presentation.

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Hot new papers & articles

“Epigenetic Modification of Gene Expression in Cancer Cells by Terahertz Demethylation,” Scientific Reports, March 26, 2023. “THz radiation can affect biological activity in living cells, although it is non-ionizing radiation that does not damage DNA sequences...THz demethylation...may have potential applications in molecular therapy for cancer.” From Korea. Open access.
“Wireless Technologies, Non-Ionizing EMFs and Children: Identifying and Reducing Health Risks,” Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, March 23, 2023. “We conclude that consistent with advice in pediatric radiology, an approach that recommends that microwave radiation exposures be As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) seems sensible and prudent.” Open access. Last month, many of the same authors recommended precauction in a separate paper. This paper runs 49 pages and is open access.
“The Relationship Between RF EMF Radiation from Cell Phones and Brain Tumor: The Brain Tumor Incidence Trends in South Korea,” Environmental Research, March 10, 2023. Meningioma rates in South Korea went up by >35%/year from 1999 to 2018. Is that all attributable to better detection or might RF radiation from wireless phones play a part?
“Theta Band Brainwaves in Human Resting EEG Modulated by Mobile Phone RF,” International Journal of Radiation Biology, March 3, 2023. From INERIS (France). Concludes: “This work contributes to the growing literature that suggests the potential modulation of human spontaneous EEG by exposure to RF-EMF.”
“Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2023,” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, March 1, 2023. “Despite continued overall declines, CRC is rapidly shifting to diagnosis at a younger age, at a more advanced stage, and in the left colon/rectum.” From the American Cancer Society. Open access. Some context here.
“Statistical Amplification of the Effects of Weak Magnetic Fields in Cellular Translation,” Cells, posted February 24, 2023. by Vladimir Binhi of the General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. “This mechanism predicts a random nature of the nonspecific effects caused by weak and hypomagnetic fields and agrees with the diversity of biological responses to a weak magnetic field.” Open access.
“Essential Elements of Radical Pair Magnetosensitivity in Drosophila,” Nature, published online February 22, 2023. Provides “strong evidence” that non-cryptochrome dependent radical pairs “can elicit magnetic field responses in cells.” From the University of Manchester (U.K.). Open access.
“Incongruities in Recently Revised RF Exposure Guidelines and Standards,” Environmental Research, posted January 23, 2023. Jim Lin, a former member of ICNIRP member and editor of Bioelectromagnetics, expresses concerns over safety limits for mm waves set by the IEEE in 2019 and ICNIRP in 2020. “Current scientific database is inadequate at mm wavelengths to render a trustworthy appraisal or to reach a judgment with confidence.” More here.
“Acute RF EM Radiation Exposure Impairs Neurogenesis and Causes Neuronal DNA Damage in the Young Rat Brain,” Neurotoxicology, posted November 3, 2022. Five-week-old male rats exposed to 2.1 GHz with a head average SAR of 1.51 W/kg for 8 hours. Higher levels of lipid peroxidation, carbon-centered lipid radicals and single-strand DNA damage were seen in the rats’ brains.
“WiFi Related RF EMFs Promote Transposable Element Dysregulation and Genomic Instability in Drosophila melanogaster,” Cells, December 13, 2022. Experiments with fruit flies exposed to 2.4 GHz WiFi radiation at an SAR of only 0.06 W/Kg point to non-thermal genotoxic effects. Implications for genomic stability, neurodegeneration and tumorigenesis unresolved. From Italy. Open access.

A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

News & Comment

U.S. & European Research Societies Set To Join and Become BioEM

Own Radiation Group Challenges Basis for “Possible” Cancer RiskTrends for Aggressive Brain Tumors Unresolved

Stressed the Importance of Modulations and Strict StandardsFounder of Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection

Alexander Lerchl’s Unfounded Claims of Fabricated Data from Vienna Lab13-Year Campaign of Disinformation

A Chance To Vote on RF–Cancer LinkBut Disqualified for Having Ties to Industry

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Short Takes

Hot new papers & articles

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Microwave News Reading

Microwave News is...

U.S. & European Research Societies Set
To Join and Become BioEM

Own Radiation Group Challenges Basis for “Possible” Cancer Risk
Trends for Aggressive Brain Tumors Unresolved

Stressed the Importance of Modulations and Strict Standards
Founder of Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection

Alexander Lerchl’s Unfounded Claims of Fabricated Data from Vienna Lab
13-Year Campaign of Disinformation

A Chance To Vote on RF–Cancer Link
But Disqualified for Having Ties to Industry