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More information can be found on the following websites:
The European Commission, Directorate-General for Research: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/index_en.cfm
The ‘Electromagnetic ﬁelds’ website of the Directorate-General for Research:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/quality-of-life/ka4/ka4_electromagnetic_en.html
The EMF-NET website: http://www.jrc.cec.eu.int/emf-net/
The International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection: http://www.icnirp.de/
The Electromagnetic Fields page of the World Health Organisation (WHO): http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/
The COST281 homepage: Research on the potential health implications from mobile communication systems funded by COST
(European Co-operation in the ﬁeld of Scientiﬁc and Technical Research): http://www.cost281.org/over.php
GSMWorld homepage. An industrial association for mobile telephone operators: http://www.gsmworld.com/gsmeurope/index.shtml
The Mobile Manufacturers Forum: http://www.mmfai.org/public/

KI-70-05-528-EN-C

EU-funded research into the impact ofelectromagnetic fields and mobile telephones on health
There is much public concern about the issues surrounding the eﬀects ofelectromagnetic ﬁelds on health – in particular, the potential health eﬀects
of mobile telephones. This brochure describes what electromagnetic ﬁelds
are, where they are found, and what is being done to investigate theirpotential for aﬀecting our health. There are maximum exposure limits thatare regularly reviewed in the light of new scientiﬁc research, much of it
funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.

Health andelectromagnetic fields$ P N N V OJ UZ  SF T F B SD I

&6301&"/$0..*44*0/

European Commission
HEALTH AND ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
2005 – 8 pp. – 21.0 x 29.7 cm
ISBN 92-79-00187-6

The 20th century witnessed
an explosion of technologicalapplications that rely onelectricity and thus produce
electromagnetic ﬁelds. And
there will be even more ofthese innovative technologies
in the 21st century. We cannot
avoid this, nor would we wish
to, because technology makes
our lives healthier, wealthier andsafer – it is a major contributor to
the economic and social progressthat enhances our quality of life.

European Commission
DG Research, Directorate E, Unit 2
B-1049 Bruxelles
fax +32-2-296.4322

However, while electric ﬁelds have been a vital part of our daily life forover a century now, and have not shown clear evidence of ill eﬀects on
health, they are becoming more pervasive. This is seen in the massive
growth in the use of mobile telephones – there are 1.6 billion in use
today in the world – each one with its own electromagnetic ﬁeld. Thisis a subject of growing concern to Europe’s citizens who are unsure if
mobile telephones are safe for themselves and their children.
While there is no proven evidence that very weak electric and magnetic
ﬁelds can aﬀect our health, we have a duty to be sure of this, so thatthe public and regulators can make informed decisions about their use.
For this reason, the European Commission‘s Directorate-General for
Research funds research into the potential health eﬀects of long-term
exposure to electromagnetic ﬁelds. Because this research is looking for
weak eﬀects that could accumulate over a long time period, actions at
the European level are particularly eﬀective: coordinating new researchbased on shared knowledge and building co-operation between
widespread centres of expertise.
This publication describes the background to research on the healthimpacts of electromagnetic ﬁelds and gives some examples of research
projects funded by the Commission. It also places this research inthe context of EU policies and initiatives at international level. The
European Commission has funded research in this area since 1999 andhas proposed to continue it in future RTD Framework Programmes. Only
thorough and well-validated scientiﬁc research will allow policy-makers
and legislators to establish the safety standards that will protect our
citizens while allowing technology to continue to improve our qualityof life in the future.
Christian Patermann
Director of Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food Research

LEGAL NOTICE:
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might bemade of the following information.
The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of theEuropean Commission.
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
© European Communities, 2005
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium
Printed on white chlorine-free paper / Recycled paper

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What are electromagnetic fields?
visible light frequencies, to very high-frequency
medical X-rays with wavelengths measured intrillionths of a metre. This range is shown in theelectromagnetic spectrum in diagram 1.

Electric and magnetic ﬁelds are all around us – forexample, natural electric ﬁelds in thunderstorms
cause lightning to leap across the sky, and manmade electric ﬁelds are found in the ﬂuorescentlamps that light our streets. Magnetic ﬁelds arealso well known to us; the Earth’s magnetic ﬁeld
causes a compass needle to point North and helps
many birds and ﬁsh to navigate. These electric andmagnetic ﬁelds are linked because whenever anelectric current ﬂows in an electric ﬁeld, then amagnetic ﬁeld is generated. Together they form anelectromagnetic ﬁeld, or EMF. An example of thisis found in our homes, in hi-ﬁ systems, where anelectric ﬁeld, or voltage, drives a varying electric
current which produces a varying magnetic
ﬁeld that causes the speaker cone to vibrate andreproduce sounds.

The electromagnetic spectrum in diagram 1 showsa number of important divisions based on theproperties and applications
Key points:of the diﬀerent frequencies.
The simplest division is into
EMFs occur naturally and they are generated
ionising and non-ionisingand used by us for many purposes.
electromagnetic radiation.
Ionising radiation includes
Ionising EMFs can break chemical bonds andultraviolet rays, X-rays andthus cause radical changes in materials.
gamma rays. They arecalled ‘ionising’ because theNon-ionising EMFs do not break chemical
individual waves can breakbonds, but they can cause heating.
the chemical bonds between
atoms to produce ions. NonEMFs are characterised by their oscillation
ionising radiation cannot breakfrequencies, measured in hertz.
chemical bonds; however,it does interact with matter in other ways. In
particular, it can create a heating eﬀect in materials
if it carries enough energy.

Electromagnetic ﬁelds can be described as a seriesof waves that oscillate at a particular frequency
and have a certain distance between one wave
and the next – the wavelength. EMFs have a very
wide range of frequencies, extending from lowfrequency electricity supply lines with wavelengthsof some hundreds of metres, through the radio andDiagram 1: The electromagnetic spectrum&REQUENCY (Z (Z


POWER
LINE
STATIC
FIELD

 K(Z -(Z!RADIO -(Z&- RADIO46

 '(Z '(ZMICROWAVE
OVEN



HEAT
LAMP

.ON LONISING

6
)
3
)
"
,
%





TANNING
BOOTH



■ ELF
■ Radio (RF)■ Microwave (MW)■ Infrared (IR)■ Ultraviolet (UV)■ X-ray

MEDICAL
8 RAYSLONISING

1

2ambulance wireless communications, and thefrequencies used for mobile telephones between
800MHz and 1800MHz.

The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuous
range of frequencies that are measured in hertz(Hz), as explained in box 1. This continuous spectrum is divided according to the use that is madeof various parts – for example, the infrared rangethat is used for TV remote controls, the microwave
range used for cooking, and radio-frequency (RF)waves that carry radio and television signals. At
the extra-low frequencies (ELF) are the powerlines and pylons of the electricity grid that supplies electricity to homes and factories. These different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum aremarked in diagram 1 together with some of theirapplications.

Box 1Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz), whichis the number of times the electromagnetic
ﬁeld oscillates in one second, so an EMF witha frequency of one megahertz (MHz) oscillates
1 million times per second. Everyday examples
include: the electricity supply from a domestic
wall plug, which has a frequency of 50Hz,
oscillates at 50 times a second; and a 900MHz
mobile telephone uses radio waves that
oscillate 900 million times per second.
Electric ﬁelds are measured in volts per metre(V/m). The strength of electric ﬁelds decreases
with the distance from the source, and they can beblocked by walls, buildings and other materials.
Commonly occurring magnetic ﬁelds are measured in microtesla (μT). One μT is a millionthof a tesla, which measures the density of themagnetic ﬁeld. Magnetic ﬁeld strengths also decrease with distance from their source, but they
are not shielded much by walls and buildings.

Radio frequencies and microwaves are of particularinterest when we come to consider the possible
eﬀects of EMFs on human health.
Diagram 2 shows more detail of this part of theelectromagnetic spectrum between 100kHz
and 10GHz. As the spectrum shows, this range
contains many of the frequencies that are used
for communication purposes, such as television
signals, AM and FM radio broadcasts, police andDiagram 2: The wireless communications spectrum■ AM radio■ VHF-TV■ FM radio■ UHF-TV■ GSM&REQUENCY (Z2ADIO &REQUENCIES K(Z K(Z -(Z-ICROWAVE &REQUENCIES -(ZhCORDLESSv
PHONES -(Z'3- '(ZMICROWAVE OVEN

What are the sources of EMF?
Electromagnetic ﬁelds are all around us and ineveryday life we are all exposed to EMFs froma variety of sources. There are natural sources
such as the Earth’s magnetic ﬁeld and sunlightthat contains visible, infrared and ultraviolet
frequencies.
There are also many man-made sources of nonionising EMF generated wherever an electricalcurrent ﬂows. In our homes, EMFs arise frommicrowave ovens, hairdryers, the electric wiringin the house, and remote control devices, among
others. In the workplace, they are generated bycomputer screens, industrial electric furnaces,
electric motors, and anti-theft systems. And on thestreet, we are bathed in weak EMF from electrictrain and tram cables, power lines, radio-frequency
communication antenna for the emergency
services, and now, with the growth of wirelessnetworks, by EMFs from Wi-Fi and ‘Bluetooth’ type
technologies. An important feature is that although
there are many sources, they are very weak.
Mobile telephones are a particular source of EMF
that has grown rapidly as people appreciate themany beneﬁts they bring to their lives. Mobile
telephone technology generates EMF in two ways:
ﬁrst from the antennae that are placed around ourcities, towns and motorways; and secondly fromthe telephones themselves which transmit ourconversations to the antennae.
How these EMFs interact with biological organisms
depends on their energy and frequency. Humanbodies are transparent to some frequencies and not
to others. For example, sunlight only penetrates ‘skin
deep’ and is mostly absorbed, whereas magnetic
ﬁelds can largely pass through the human body.
Energy is also important, which is why we put on
sunscreen creams to protect ourselves in strong

sunlight. For similar reasons there are recommended
exposure limits for other EMF frequencies, forexample the ﬁelds emitted by computer screens inworkplaces. Table 1 shows some common domestic
sources of EMF and the electric and magnetic ﬁelds
they generate. It demonstrates that these everyday
sources generate EMFs well below the guidelinesof the International Commission on Non-Ionising
Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), which form the basis
for current European Union exposure limits.

Table 1. Typical field strengths
from household appliances compared
to ICNIRP recommended limits
Electric applianceElectrical ﬁeld
strength in volts/
metre at 30cm

Stereo receiver
Electric ironToaster
Electric oven

180
120
80
8

Electricalappliance

Magnetic ﬁeld
ICNIRP
strength inrecommended
microtesla at 30cm exposure limit inmicrotesla
1 to 50
100
4 to 8100
2 to 20100
0.08 to 9
100

Electric oven
Microwave oven
Vacuum cleaner
Electric shaver

ICNIRP
recommended
exposure limit involts/metre
5 000
5 000
5 000
5 000

3

4
EMF: The benefits and concerns
Some of the non-ionising ﬁelds we encounterin daily life result from the deliberate use of
EMF to achieve particular beneﬁts. They areused extensively in medicine for diagnosis andtreatment, for example in magnetic resonancescanners to study the brain and in irradiation
for bone repair and cancer treatment. A majorindirect source of non-ionising EMFs is theelectricity supply grid that we depend on to lightbuildings and streets, to power our kitchens andtelevisions, and to run the lifts, trains, computers
and industrial machinery that our society needs.
Power stations send electricity through overhead
and underground cables and substations to ourcities, factories and homes – a vital network of
ﬂowing electric current that generates EMFs allaround us.
The fastest growing source of exposure to EMFs iscommunications, in particular mobile telephony.
Although television and radio antennae havebeen with us for a long time, more recently, themassive growth in mobile telephony is a major
success story in which the European GSM standard
leads the world. The mobile telephony sector has
increased employment in the EU; it has improved
personal security, in particular for the young;emergency services are faster; business is more
eﬃcient; and it helps fulﬁl our individual need tocommunicate when and where we want to, by
speech, text message, email, and more recently
with images.
A cause for concern?
Exposure to non-ionising electromagnetic
ﬁelds is unavoidable in today’s society and thisexposure is growing mainly because of mobile
telephones which are held close to the head,

and also to the high density of mobile telephoneantennae in our towns and cities. Therefore, thequestion as to whether or not they can damage
our health is an important one. The eﬀects oflong-term exposure to low-intensity EMF are notat all well known – and it is exposure to this typeof ﬁelds that is growing.
The diﬃculties in evaluating the eﬀects oflong-term low-level exposure to potential
environmental hazards are not new; for example,
the low concentrations of chemical and biologicalagricultural residues that get into the food chain
have been active research areas for many years.
A major problem in this research is that theeﬀects can be cumulative; they build up in the
body over time. This means that research into thehazards they pose is long-term and painstaking– and it is further complicated when the longterm research is overtaken by new technologies.
Much of this research is into the ‘genotoxicity’ of
ELF and RF-EMF from electricity power lines andmobile telephones respectively. A genotoxin isan agent that can damage DNA and possibly leadto cancer. So far, no convincing links between
exposure to low-level EMFs and damage tohealth have been found.
Awareness of the possible risks of mobile
telephones has raised public concern, which
has been echoed by the European Parliament.
In addition, the spread of antennae through ourtowns is raising objections, not just for aesthetic
reasons but also because of fears about theirpotential harmful eﬀects. While industry has
done much to limit the exposure to EMF from
telephones and antennae, public fears aredelaying the deployment of next-generation
mobile telephone systems.

Europe’s response to concerns
about EMF
Electricity and EMFs bring countless benefits
to society. We cannot do without them, yet
we do not know the consequences of longterm exposure to EMFs, if indeed there are any.
Therefore, research is needed to understand therisks and set appropriate safety standards. Such
research forms part of the European Framework
Programmes for Research and Technology
Development. Eight major projects were
funded under the Fifth Framework Programme(FP5) between 1998 and 2002, and this funding
is continuing in FP6 (2002-2006). The majorityof these research projects focus on EMF frommobile telephones and are cancer-related, asmaller number investigate possible effects on
hearing, memory and behaviour.
Research in this field is mainly of three types: invitro research is based on laboratory experiments
using biological materials, for example, cell
cultures; in vivo research is performed onliving organisms, such as rats or humans. Theseexperimental approaches are complemented
by epidemiological research that uses surveys
and statistics to investigate the occurrenceof disease and its relation to environmental
factors, for example whether a particular cancer
is more common in people living close tocommunications antennae. A further factor that
adds to the time-consuming feature of theseresearch projects is that research results must
be replicated by others to confirm the reliabilityof the conclusions; a single result is not enough.
In addition, the research must be published andreviewed so that other researchers can verify orcriticise the results.

Some examples of these projects are:
The Reﬂex project studied how low-energy EMF
interacts directly with biological materials in thelaboratory (in vitro). The researchers showed that
exposing cells to ELF and RF electromagnetic
ﬁelds could cause DNA to break apart and thus
aﬀect how cells develop. The key to this projectlies in the standardised equipment that thepartners, from all over Europe, used to do theirexperiments. This meant that several partners
could independently conﬁrm the experimental
results. While these results do not prove that there
are hazards from EMFs, they do indicate promisinglines of investigation for further work.
The Cemfec project looked at how EMFs mightinteract with known cancer-causing chemicals thatcan be found in drinking water in minute amounts.
The aim was to assess if the EMF frequencies typicalof mobile telephones might have an indirect eﬀect byincreasing the genotoxicity of these environmental
carcinogens. In this case, the study found that RF-EMF
did not enhance the development of cancer.
The Ramp2001 project studies the eﬀect of
RF-EMF from mobile telephone handsets on the
nervous system, searching for any changes inmemory and behaviour. By correlating experimentswith theoretical modelling, the project tries to
identify the mechanisms through which thenervous system could interact with EMF.
The Guard project investigated the eﬀect onhearing of long-term exposure to RF-EMF, using
both animal and human studies.

56Interphone, a project led by the International
Agency for Research on Cancer, is collecting
extensive epidemiological data on mobile telephone
use and the occurrence of cancers in the head andneck, for example brain tumours. Nine EU Member
States are participating andSupport from industry
parallel studies are running inWith strong public resistance to the siting Australia, Canada, Japan andof mobile antennae masts, the mobile New Zealand. Concentrating
telecommunications industry is naturally on age groups and regions
very concerned. The roll-out of new mobile with a long accumulated usage
technologies has been delayed and the wider of mobile telephones, thetake-up of beneﬁcial new mobile services researchers are using carefullyis slower than expected. The industry is well controlled computer-assisted
aware of the problems of risk communication interviews to collect data.
and public perceptions and therefore
contributes funds to research into the healtheﬀects of RF-EMF that is guided by the
WHO international EMF project’s research
priorities. Industry funding contributions tonational and EU research projects is provided
in such a way as to ensure complete scientiﬁc
independence. Worldwide, industry funding
for EMF-health eﬀects is comparable topublic funding.

The Perform-A project isusing in vivo experiments
toinvestigate
whether
EMF at mobile telephonefrequencies, whether fromhandsets or antennae, candirectly cause cancer inanimals or promote the spreadof pre-existing tumours.
The Fraunhofer Institute forApplied Science in Germany is coordinating thesix partners who are also performing importantwork to verify the results of Australian researchers
who found increased cancer incidence in mice
exposed to EMF.
A further group of projects focused on evaluating
the potential hazards of EMFs used in theworkplace, such as in medical diagnosis andfrom the pulsed electromagnetic ﬁelds produced
by security systems employed in access control
systems and supermarket checkouts.

Member States also fund their own national
research programmes on EMFs and health. Manyof these programmes are coordinated through the
EU-funded COST281 framework that coordinates
the national research programmes on the health
implications of mobile telephony of the Member
States and other countries. At present, 25 countries
are cooperating within the COST281 framework.
This research eﬀort is complemented by a large
coordination action, EMF-NET, which brings
together European and national EMF projects andresearchers as a source of expertise and analysis
for policy-makers and the general public. The aimof EMF-NET is not to produce new research, but
the collection and interpretation of existing datafrom across the world. Given the diﬃcult and longterm nature of this research, it is vital that the bestuse is made of existing information and expertisefor the beneﬁt of all. EMF-NET also supplies a ‘fastresponse team’ to provide rapid advice to theEuropean Commission on new research results
and their relevance to public health and safetyissues. EMF-NET also contributes to information
activities for the general public. Research into
potential health hazards from EMFs has been
proposed by the Commission to continue in theSeventh Framework Programme for RTD that will
run from 2007 to 2013.

Research with broad relevanceThe co-operation and coordination of researchgroups from across Europe in investigating thepotential hazards of EMF supports a number ofEU policy areas, such as consumer and worker
protection and industrial standards.
The European Commission’s Directorate-Generalfor Health and Consumer Aﬀairs (DG SANCO)
proposed EMF exposure limits for the general public
in 1999 in a recommendation that was adopted by
the Member States. This recommendation is basedon the ICNIRP guidelines (see Table 1) that aresupported by WHO , and include a 50 times safety
factor for the general public. The recommendation
is targeted at ELF and RF ﬁelds in particular andcalls for the Member States to promote research
into the possible carcinogenic hazards of EMF
and for regular reviews of the exposure limits inthe light of new research results. In addition, therecommendation calls for the Member States
to keep the public informed on risks and themeasures being taken to address them.
The Joint Research Centre of the European
Commission supports DG SANCO’s activities
through management of the EIS-EMF project
coordinating EU and national stakeholders in theprovision of risk communication advice to publicauthorities.
Since EMFs arise from industrial equipment andconsumer products, including notably mobile
phones, EU product legislation ensures that, undernormal usage conditions, products marketed in
the EU meet the exposure limits of the Council
Recommendation. Further, the Low Voltage Directive
and the Radio Equipment and Telecommunication
Terminal Equipment Directive apply to equipmentthat produces EMFs; and there are a series of European
safety standards for the design and installation of
base-station antennae. This legislation is managed by
the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry.
Legislation for protection in the workplace isprovided in a 2004 EU Directive prepared by the
Directorate-General for Employment that sets
limits to protect workers from the short-term
eﬀects of EMF exposure, and requires employers
to regularly assess and record exposure levels as
part of their risk assessment obligations.
In 1996, the World Health Organisation (WHO),
recognising the rapid growth of public exposure
to EMFs and increasing public anxiety andspeculation, established the International EMF
Project to assess the potential hazards to healthfrom ELF and RF ﬁelds and to help initiate newresearch. WHO consolidates research results from
the Member States, from EU-funded research
projects and from other countries. As well as
providing a database of EMF research for groups
worldwide, the Organisation also reviews the data
and will produce recommended EMF exposure
limits in 2007.

7

8
Working for a safer environment
The issues arising from exposure to environmental
electromagnetic ﬁelds are of intense public
interest, in particular that of whether or not EMF
from mobile telephones can damage health. The
research needed to clarify these issues is under
way and more will be needed in the future.

to guide a strategic research agenda that setspriorities and avoids unnecessary duplication.
The mobile communications industry is also
contributing to research funding, driven by theneed to ensure safety and gain public acceptancefor new technologies and infrastructures.

Research into the health eﬀects of long-term,
low-level exposure to environmental agents isdiﬃcult. The work itself can take a signiﬁcantamount of time, which makes it costly. The
eﬀects being investigated are often diﬃcult to
detect in their early stages, and thus the resultsmust be shown to be reproducible, preferably byother laboratories, again adding to the time andcost. It is for this reason that a coordinated andco-operative research eﬀort is needed to avoid
unnecessary duplication and to ensure that eachresearch activity builds on earlier work. This is why
research into the health eﬀects of EMF beneﬁts
particularly from transnational co-operation.

European funding for research on EMF-induced
health eﬀects has been proposed by theCommission to continue in the Seventh
Framework Programme for RTD that will run
from 2007 to 2013. This research will be guided by
the knowledge gained in the earlier Framework
Programmes, as well as by results from national
and international research eﬀorts. In Europe, thegeneral public’s exposure to environmental EMFs
is currently deﬁned by the EMF exposure limits
advised by the International Commission on NonIonising Radiation Protection. The limits for mobile
telephones are shown in table 2.

Pooling energy and resources
In Europe, funding scientiﬁc research into thehealth eﬀects of EMF exposure involves a broad
spectrum of stakeholders. The European Union
plays a key role as the long-term, costly natureof this research makes it vital to encourage cooperation and coordination between Member
States’ research teams to avoid repetition, shareknowledge and match research competences.
The ability to show the reproducibility of diﬃcult
experiments between laboratories, and the accessto Europe-wide statistics, are real beneﬁts that
EU-funded co-operative research provides. The
Member State governments play an importantrole in funding national initiatives and ensuring
these eﬀorts are complementary to other national
research programmes. At international level,
the EMF programme of the WHO ensures that
research results are shared worldwide and used

Table 2. ICNIRP exposure limits for EMF frommobile telephones
Frequency Whole body
Localised SAR Localised SAR
range
average SAR (Head and Trunk)(Limbs)
W/kg
W/kg
W/kg
10 MHz0.08
24
to 10GHzThe Speciﬁc Absorption Rate (SAR) measures the amount of energy
in watts that a body absorbs per kilogram in an electromagnetic
ﬁeld. For the general public these SAR safety limits have a 50 times
safety factor for exposure to EMF from mobile telephones. GSM
manufacturers provide public information on the SAR for each of
the GSM models they produce

The European Commission is committed toreviewing these exposure limits regularly in thelight of new research results taking into accountthe opinions of its Scientiﬁc Committees. These
reviews will also rely heavily on the advice of the
EU-funded scientiﬁc groups that are guiding andimplementing much of the European research
eﬀort.

1

Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Advice Pulsed Fields project:
Do electromagnetic fields generated
by security devices have health effects?
While public concern about exposure to electromagnetic
ﬁelds has centered on power lines and mobile
telephones, other sources have not attracted the sameattention. The Advice Pulsed Fields project looked at a
family of sources that have been largely overlooked– security systems that operate by generating pulsed
electromagnetic ﬁelds.

ﬁelds (EMFs). They momentarily bathe you in an EMF
in order to interact with, and thereby detect, thethings they are searching you for – metal objects ormagnetic strips or RFID tags. Operating frequencies
span a spectrum from tens of hertz to several
gigahertz. And so, like other EMF sources, there is thepotential for adverse eﬀects on human health.

Go to the airport to catch a ﬂight and you know
you will be scanned at a security gate before you
board. Leave a department store or a library, and thechances are you will be scanned before you cross thethreshold. Travel on Taipei’s public transport system,
and you will be scanned, and if you have a valid travelcard, it will let you onto buses and underground trains
without even asking you to take your smart card outof your purse. Technical devices capable of searching
you for things you should or should not be carrying
are on the increase. They’re frisking you for payment
cards, stolen goods, weapons, equipment you haveno right to remove from your employer’s premises– and all without laying a ﬁnger on your person.

The Advice Pulsed Fields consortium
The aim of the Advice Pulsed Fields project was tosurvey pulsed-EMF security-system technologies andproduce advice for policy makers in the EU and its
Member States. The consortium consisted mainly of agroup of experts from the International Commission
on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). They
consulted widely with fellow experts, including several
involved in the International EMF project coordinatedby the World Health Organization (WHO), and in the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Advice Pulsed Fields research
The ﬁrst phase of their work was a wide-ranging
review of the technical characteristics of pulsedEMF security systems and consideration of likely
future developments. As part of the data-gathering
process, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Healthorganised a workshop in Helsinki, where the project’s
participants were able to confer with delegates sent
by manufacturing companies in the security sector.

At the supermarket checkout – an electronic-articlesurveillance (EAS) system

In the airport, the device responsible is a metal detector.
At the shop or library exit, it is a device for electronic
article surveillance (EAS). In Taipei’s transport system,
it is a device of a smarter kind presently experiencing
rapid sales growth in the surveillance marketplace– a radio-frequency identiﬁcation (RFID) system. They
vary in their operating principles but these devices
have one thing in common – pulsed electromagnetic

In the second and ﬁnal phase of the project, beginningat the Helsinki meeting, the team considered the
known mechanisms by which electromagnetic ﬁelds
and biological systems interact and the scientiﬁcliterature on the eﬀects of EMF exposure on cultured
cells, animals, the central nervous system and humans,
as well as on electrophysiological stimulation.
The team took special care to look into the potential
for interactions between EMFs generated by security
systems and medical devices. Although not common,damaging interactions of this kind have been

reported by patients and conﬁrmed by scientists inlaboratory studies. The devices giving most cause
for concern are the implanted and portable ones
used by ambulatory patients, including implanteddeﬁbrillators, heart pacemakers, neurostimulators anddrug infusion pumps. Unlike hospital patients, whoseenvironment is controlled, these patients are liable
to come into contact with the same variety of pulsed
EMFs generated by security systems as anyone else.

The Advice Pulsed Fields results
Since early in 2002, when the Advice Pulsed Fields
team completed their ﬁnal report1, ICNIRP has
adopted their ﬁndings and recommendations andpublished a summary as an ICNIRP statement2.
In general, ICNIRP exposure guidelines were notexceeded. On the characteristics of security systems
and devices, comprehensive information was
not always available. Because of its importancein assessing public and occupational exposures,increased eﬀorts at measuring exposure levels wererecommended. Another recommendation wasthat technical information should be provided topurchasers. Information about potential exposurelevels should also be routinely taken into accountin the design of new systems. Exposure assessment
was an area in which the team urged further research,
notably to get a better picture of the properties ofhuman tissues in electric ﬁelds.

A similar preoccupation with information provision
pervades the team’s recommendations relating
to the potential for electromagnetic interferencewith medical devices. For one thing, more researchis required to increase our understanding of theinteractions between EMFs and medical devices.
The team suggested setting up a European forum
in which manufacturers of security systems andmedical devices could harmonise their work. For
another, they recommended that information
about the EMFs generated by security devices bemade public to enable informed choices to be
made. The ultimate goal, they suggested, should becomplete compatibility between security systems
and medical devices.

Project title:
Development of advice to the EC on the risk to healthof the general public from the use of security and similar
devices employing pulsed electromagnetic ﬁelds (Advice
Pulsed Fields)

Project participants:

1. ICNIRP. Possible health risk to the general public from the useof security and similar devices. Report of a Concerted Action
within the project: ‘Environment and health, health impactof electromagnetic ﬁelds’ of the Fifth Framework Programmeof the European Commission. An executive summary isavailable free of charge at
http://www.icnirp.de/documents/ExSummary.pdf.
2. ICNIRP statement related to the use of security and similar
devices utilising electromagnetic ﬁelds, Health Physics,
Volume 87, Number 2, August 2004, available also at
http://www.icnirp.de/documents/EASD.pdf■ Jürgen Bernhardt, International Commission on
Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), Germany(Coordinator)■ Ulf Bergqvist, University Linköping, Sweden■ Frank de Gruijl, University of Leiden, The Netherlands■ René de Seze, INERIS, France■ Maila Hietanen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health,Finland■ Gianni Mariutti, National Institute of Health, Italy■ Ruediger Matthes, Federal Oﬃce for Radiation Protection,
Germany■ Alastair McKinlay, National Radiological Protection Board,
United Kingdom■ Colin Roy, World Health Organization, Switzerland■ Michael Repacholi, World Health Organization,
Switzerland■ Gyorgy Thuroczy, National institute Radiobiology andRadiohygiene, Hungary

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-1999-01214
Duration: 01-02-2000 to 31-01-2002

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2Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Cemfec project:
Can using a mobile telephone promote
the action of chemical carcinogens?
While much research is aimed at uncovering whether
electromagnetic ﬁelds transmitted from mobile
telephones might cause cancers directly, there are moreindirect mechanisms that could be at work. The Cemfec
project members worked together to investigate themore indirect ways that using a GSM could promote theaction of cancer-causing chemicals.
Mobile telephones transmit radio-frequency
electromagnetic ﬁelds (EMFs) to communicate withthe telephone network. Although these are lowpower devices, the user’s body absorbs some of theenergy in these EMFs, in particular in the region of
the head where the telephone is held. There areconcerns that long-term exposure to these ﬁelds
could pose health hazards and the risk of cancer
is one of the main issues. Most cancer causing
agents, called carcinogens, act by altering thegenetic code carried by DNA in cells. Since mobile
telephones transmit very weak EMFs, it is unlikelythat they could directly cause damage to DNA.
However, the general population is exposed to small
amounts of known chemical carcinogens, so called
environmental carcinogens whose presence in theenvironment, and particularly in the food chain, ismonitored and strictly controlled at levels that are
believed to be safe. The question arises whether the

Exposure chambers for rats. The antenna for producing
the electromagnetic ﬁeld is at the centre of each chamber
and individual cages for 24 rats are located radiallyaround it

EMF from a mobile telephone could act indirectly, asa cocarcinogen; interacting with small, safe amountsof chemical carcinogens in human bodies in a waythat promotes their toxicity and initiate cancer.

The Cemfec consortium
The Cemfec project brought together researchers
from across Europe to investigate whether EMF
transmissions from mobile telephones could act
as a cocarcinogen. The four-year project was led
by researchers from the University of Kuopio in
Finland and included other partners from researchorganisations in Finland, Germany, Belgium and
Italy, each of which is active in this research ﬁeld andbrought complementary knowledge and experienceto the consortium.
The project partners designed and conducted
experiments, both in vivo on animals1 (rats) and invitro using laboratory cell cultures. The cell culture
experiments were done to see if exposure to EMF
and chemical carcinogens could cause cancers
directly at the cell level, rather than acting on the
DNA the cells contain. The chemical carcinogen usedin the experiments was 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone, also known as MX for
short. MX is found in chlorinated drinking water allover the world and is an environmental carcinogenthat is known to cause several types of cancer inrats when present in large enough concentrations.
For the purposes of the Cemfec experiments theconcentration of MX was kept low enough to avoid adirect carcinogenic eﬀect as it was the interaction of
MX with EMF to promote cancers indirectly that the
researchers were seeking.

1. All experiments on rats were conducted in compliance with
the OECD principles of good laboratory practice.

The Cemfec experiments

The Cemfec results

The experiments involved exposing the rats to MX
in their drinking water and subjecting them for long
periods to EMF, for two hours per day at the sameradio-frequency (900MHz) and low power levels
used in mobile telephone handsets. The in vitro
cell cultures were also exposed to MX and RF-EMF.
To ensure that other external factors did not play arole in the results, the partners used control groupsof rats and cell cultures that were not exposed to
MX and RF, or were exposed to just one of these. To
conduct these long-term experiments in a controlledmanner the consortium constructed special exposure
chambers for the rats and cultures to ensure that the
EMF and MX exposures were homogeneous andwell characterised and that there was a low stressexperimental environment for the animals.

Based on the observations of the Cemfec researchers,
the experimental results showed that RF-EMF
exposure typical of mobile telephones did notenhance the cancer-causing activity of the MX
chemical carcinogen widely present in our drinking
water. This same conclusion is drawn both from theanimal, as well as the cell culture studies. The Cemfec
result supports many of the other animal-based
studies published so far, that show that exposure to
the weak RF-EMF typical of mobile telephones does
not have a carcinogenic eﬀect.

Project title:
Not all rats are exposed to the MX carcinogen and RF-EMF; others are usedas ‘control groups’ to eliminate external factors that might inﬂuence
the interpretation of the results.

Combined eﬀects of electromagnetic ﬁelds withenvironmental carcinogens (Cemfec)

Project partners:■ University of Kuopio, Department of Environmental
Sciences, Finland (Coordinator)■ STUK – Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finland■ Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental
Medicine, Germany■ The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO),
Belgium■ University of Genoa, ‘Interuniversity centre for interaction
between electromagnetic ﬁelds and biosystems, Italy

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-1999-01129
Duration: 01-02-2000 to 31-03-2004

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3Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Guard project:
Can digital mobile phones affect hearing?
Most users of mobile phones hold them close to theirear during calls, so these organs could be particularly
vulnerable to any biological eﬀects that might be causedby the electromagnetic ﬁelds radiated by phones. The
Guard project has pioneered investigations into thepotential eﬀects of digital mobile phones on hearing
through experiments conducted ﬁrst on live laboratory
mammals and subsequently on humans. The results will
prove useful in answering public concerns about cellular
phones and health.
Mobile phones are an integral part of our busy lives
in the 21st century, allowing us to keep in touchwith family and friends and to be ever ready to makethat critical emergency call that may save lives. They
have even been credited with transforming the faceof global news broadcasting by enabling ordinary
people to contribute photographs and accounts ofbreaking stories, as the Indian Ocean tsunami andthe London bombings of 2005 vividly demonstrated.
However, hand in hand with the public enthusiasm
for new-generation mobile phones comes publicconcern about the biological eﬀects that may becaused by the radio-frequency electromagnetic ﬁelds(RF-EMFs) they generate.
Research funding bodies have responded bysponsoring scientiﬁc research into the possible healtheﬀects of mobile phone use. Yet one area that has been
little studied until recently is the impact of RF-EMFs
on hearing. It may seem an obvious point of concern
given the proximity of hand-held devices to the ears,
but research to date has focused to a large extent on
brain cancers for obvious reasons. Proximity to the ear
is not the only cause for concern, either. For example,
scientists havelong known thatthe hairs of thecochlea – a coiled
tube in the inner
ear with animportant role in
the transmissionof mechanicalPositioning the exposure system duringexperiments

vibrations to the auditory nerve – are sensitive to many
external signals. There is also the potential for RF-EMFs
to reach the central nervous system through the ear.

The Guard consortium
Knowing the time was ripe for research into thisneglected question, nine research-performing
organisations joined together in the Guard
consortium. Through carefully designed, sensitive
experiments, their speciﬁc aim was to detect any
changes in hearing associated with low-intensity useof GSM mobile phones. The partners were especiallyinterested in studying the eﬀects on nerve cells
involved in the hearing process and did so throughstudies of the auditory eﬀerent feedback system,
which is involved in the transmission of nerve
impulses back from the brain to the ear.
Encompassing public health issues intertwined withmodern communications technologies, the project
was an unavoidably interdisciplinary enterprisecalling on the expertise of specialists in disciplines
including biology, biomedicine, engineering andphysics. The partners – research institutes, universities
and hospitals – came from seven European countries.
Their coordinator was the Istituto di Ingegneria
Biomedica ISIB of the Consiglio Nazionale delle
Ricerche in Italy.

The Guard experiments
In the ﬁrst part of the project, researchers exposed
rats to RF-EMFs at two GSM frequencies, 900 and 1800
MHz, for two hours per day over a period of four weeks
using loop antennas. They tested the animals’ hearing
before, during and after the exposure experiments via
objective auditory tests. A standard technique in the
study of hearing, these tests involve the measurementof otoacoustic emissions – low-intensity sounds
generated by the inner ear in response to an auditory
stimulus. The teams also investigated whether RFEMFs at mobile-phone frequencies interfere with theuptake of chemicals that could have a toxic eﬀect inthe ear, in this case the antibiotic gentamicin. Again,
the animals, this time guinea pigs, were subsequently
tested for otoacoustic emissions. The researchers also
tested the responses of their auditory brainstem –nerve pathways in the brain that play a role in hearing.
Experiments with human volunteers followed, withthe team concentrating on eﬀects on the hearing
system of normal hearing subjects and in the auditoryeﬀerent system. Just before and immediately after
the subjects made ten-minute mobile-phone calls,
researchers carried out behavioural hearing tests,
which require a verbal response from the individualand measurements of otoacoustic emissions. The
Nokia Research Center in Helsinki helped in thedesign of equipment
for these experiments.
The phone used for theten-minute calls was acommercially available
Nokia model connected
to a positioning systemallowing it to be held in
comfortable proximity
to the ear for theduration of the call. The
researchers meanwhile
were able to set exposure
parameters from a
PC connected to the
Exposure positioning system
phone. The researchers
on dummy human headalso investigated theeﬀects of more repeated usage with comparative
hearing tests carried out on two groups of mobilephone users – a low-use group, whose members usedmobile phones for less than ﬁve minutes per day,and a high-use group, whose members were on thephone for more than 30 minutes per day.

The Guard results
The consortium released information about theexperiments and their ﬁndings to the public, policymakers and the scientiﬁc community on the project
website1; as well as in newsletters, at national andinternational seminars and in workshops. After testinga total of 490 animals and 550 humans, the teams
reported that they had detected no adverse eﬀects
on the hearing of the animals or humans. They drew

1. See http://www.guard.polimi.it

attention, however, to a need for further investigationof potential eﬀects of GSM mobile phones on theauditory eﬀerent system and for future research on
the eﬀects on hearing of RF-EMFs generated by thirdgeneration mobile-phone systems, which have notyet been studied.

Project title:
Potential adverse eﬀects of GSM cellular phones on hearing(GUARD)

Project partners:■ Istituto di Ingegneria Biomedica ISIB, Consiglio
Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy (Coordinator)■ ENEA – Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia el’Ambiente, Italy■ Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale,France■ Laboratoire neurosciences et systèmes sensoriels,
Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Centre Nationalde la Recherche Scientiﬁque, France■ University of Southampton, Institute of Sound andVibration Research, United Kingdom■ District General Hospital of Thessaloniki – AHEPA,
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery,
Greece■ Kaunas University of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical
Research, Laboratory of Neurologic Surgery, Lithuania■ National Center of Public Health ‘Frederic Joliot-Curie’
National Research Institute for Radiobiology andRadiohygiene, Department of Non-Ionizing Radiation,
Hungary■ National Research Center for Audiology and Hearing
Rehabilitation, Department of Experimental and Clinical
Audiology, Russia

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-2001-00150
Duration: 01-01-2002 to 31-12-2004

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

4Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Interphone project:
Does exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic
fields from mobile phones increase the risk of cancer?
Epidemiologists study the occurrence of health eﬀects
in human populations. Without large samples, soundmethods and accurate exposure estimates, their results
can be ambiguous – a common problem for researchon the possible link between mobile phones andcancer because frequent users of long standing are not
yet numerous. As one of the largest epidemiologicalstudies in this ﬁeld so far, Interphone is expected tobreak new ground.
Estimates from market-research companies in 2005
place the number of mobile-phone users worldwide
at 1.8 billion, equal to the entire world population in
1920. To extend our limited knowledge of the possible
link between cancer and exposure to radio-frequency(RF) electromagnetic ﬁelds (EMFs) in this massive user
population, the multinational Interphone study waslaunched in 2000. The results are eagerly anticipatedbecause of the number of long-term users inInterphone’s study population. Observers are hoping
it will bring a decisive clarity denied to previous
epidemiological research on this question.

The Interphone consortium
Coordinated by the World Health Organisation’sInternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC),
Interphone is a suite of three conjoint multinational
studies, each concerned with a diﬀerent class oftumour. Research teams gathered the data, working
in parallel in 13 countries using the same common
methods and research instruments. Validated
centrally by IARC, the data were then entered intoa master database at IARC’s headquarters in Lyon,
France, where analysis is now proceeding.
The EU funded the international coordination eﬀort
and the work of the national research teams in ninecountries – Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK and Israel. Additional
funds were donated by national and local bodies inparticipating countries, and by two trade associations– the Mobile Manufacturers’ Forum and the GSM
Association. Their contributions, channelled throughthe International Union against Cancer (UICC) asintermediary, was given and accepted on terms
that insulated the research from conﬂicts of interest.
Non-EU partners – Australia, Canada, Japan and New
Zealand – funded their own studies.

The Interphone investigations
All of the studies were case-control studies and assuch had two essential features1. The ﬁrst is a study
population – for Interphone this covered all subjects
aged 30–50 resident during the study period in oneof the regions selected, where mobile-phone use
was greatest and longest established. The ‘cases’ were
patients in the study population who had recently
had a conﬁrmed diagnosis of one of the three classesof cancer that Interphone is investigating. These
are tumours arising in those tissues that absorb thehighest proportion of the RF energy from hand-heldmobile phones – the parotid gland, a salivary glandsituated just in front of the ear; glial and meningeal
brain tissues; and the vestibular part of the eighth
cranial nerve near the ear, where tumours called
acoustic neuromas can occur. For comparison,
the researchers also enrolled for each case one ormore non-suﬀerers randomly drawn from the study
population and matching the case in age group,
gender and residential area. These were the ‘controls’.
The second essential feature is to determine howmuch each case and control has been exposed to EMFs
from mobile phones. Interphone’s approach was tocalculate this from information gleaned in computeraided interviews with the users themselves conductedby trained interviewers. They took account of theuser’s history of mobile-phone use, any occupational
exposure to EMF and other forms of radiation (suchas medical X-rays), and medical history. The formulaused received validation in ancillary research using
software-modiﬁed phones to collect data on the
distribution of emitted power in diﬀerent countries,
regions and depending on pattern of use.

1. Links to web pages giving further details about Interphone
is available under the heading ‘Residential and occupational
exposures to non-ionizing radiation’ at
http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/RCA4.php

The Interphone results
EU funding of the project ended in April 2005
and analyses of the international dataset are in
progress. Meanwhile, Interphone researchers havepublished analyses of two national data subsets anda combined analysis of data on acoustic neuromas inthe ﬁve northern European countries. Of the Danish
analyses on brain tumours and acoustic neuromas,
neither found increased tumour incidence due tomobile-phone use2. The number of cases who werelong-term users was, however, very small. On the other
hand, acoustic neuromas among regular users weresigniﬁcantly larger on average than among non-users.
The Swedish neuroma analysis did ﬁnd an increased
incidence linked to phone use – a 90% increase insubjects who started phone use ten or more years
before enrolment in the study, rising to 290% (basedon 12 cases) when restricting analysis to tumours
on the same side of the head as the user’s normal
phone use (where expected exposure is highest)3. Bycontrast, the Swedish brain-tumour results showed
no increase in risk4.

To date, few studies have included enough cases
among long-term users to conclude conﬁdently
whether or not there is a link between mobilephone use and brain cancer or acoustic neuroma.
The Nordic analysis is the largest study to date. Only
through further studies can ﬁrm conclusions emerge.
With single-country studies generally limited in theirstatistical power, Interphone’s ongoing analyses of its
enormous multinational dataset could be decisive.
IARC now estimates that it includes approximately
1 100 acoustic-neuroma cases, 2 600 glioma, 2 300
meningioma and their matched controls – enoughto detect conﬁdently a 50% risk increase linked tomobile-phone use beginning ﬁve years or more before
enrolment. So the eager anticipation of Interphone’s
results is not over yet.

The Nordic combined analyses5 also found no increased
risk of neuromas globally among regular mobilephone users although the possibility of an increased
risk among long-term users could not be ruled out.

Project title:
International case-control studies of cancer risk in relation
to mobile telephone use (Interphone)

Project partners:

2. Further details about these results are available at
http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/RCAg.html andhttp://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/RCAd1.html respectively
3. Further details about these results are available at
http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/InterphoneSwedish.html
4. Further details about these results are available at
http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/RCAh.html
5. Further information about these results can be found at
http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Units/RCAi.html■ International Agency for Research on Cancer, France■ Danish Cancer Society, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology,
Denmark■ Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Finland■ Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, France■ Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Institut fürMedizinische Statistik und Dokumentation, Germany■ The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy,
Chaim Sheba Medical Centre, Israel■ Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy■ Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Norway■ Karolinska Institutet, Sweden■ Institute of Cancer Research, Section of Epidemiology,
United Kingdom■ University of Leeds, Paediatric Epidemiology Group,
United Kingdom

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-1999-01563
Duration: 01-02-2000 to 30-04-2005

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5Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Perform-A project:
What can systematic animal studies tell us about thepossible link between mobile-phone radiation and cancer?
Since an early Australian animal study linked asigniﬁcant increase in the risk of contracting cancer tothe electromagnetic ﬁelds generated by mobile phones,
no subsequent study has conﬁrmed it. The PerformA consortium attempted to replicate the Australianstudy and carried out a further set of animal studies tounderstand the possible link in more detail.
In 1997, Australian researchers led by Michael
Repacholi published the results of a study thathas become a landmark for research on the healtheﬀects of electromagnetic ﬁelds (EMFs)1. For one
hour per day over an 18-month period, Repacholi
and his team exposed a strain of transgenic2 mice
known as pim1 to electromagnetic ﬁelds of the kind
generated by GSM mobile phones. What they found
was not reassuring. The exposure regime multiplied
the risk of lymphoma to 2.4 times the normal level.
Lymphomas are cancers aﬀecting the lymph nodes.
Hodgkin’s disease is one example.
Scientiﬁc interest in researching the possible link
between long-term EMF exposure and cancer inanimals soared and more than two dozen such studies
have already been carried out since 1997. Among
those that have published their results so far – andthat is the majority – none has found a signiﬁcantcorrelation between EMFs and cancer.

It is too early however to conclude that no such link
exists. This is a new ﬁeld of research that has not yet
had time to develop a strong collective identity. Facedwith common diﬃculties, diﬀerent research groups
have improvised their own individual solutions.
Experimental design, methodology, laboratory

apparatus, laboratory practice – some or all of thesefactors have varied from one study to the next.

The Perform-A consortium
In response to this dynamic state of aﬀairs, thePerform-A project, led by the Fraunhofer Institutefrom Germany, combines two ambitious aims. It
shares its scientiﬁc aim with many of its predecessors–to clarify whether radio-frequency EMFs cause or
help cause cancer in animals like rats and mice. The
other aim is more pragmatic but no less important– to set a new standard for research studies of thiskind and make a start at embedding consistent, goodpractice across the ﬁeld.
Although not a legal requirement, the consortium’s
life-science laboratories carried out the Perform-A
experiments according to Good Laboratory Practice(GLP). This is a detailed set of principles establishedby the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) for laboratory safety studies
on pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biologicalsubstances. Companies in OECD member states whowant to market any of these products are requiredby law to comply with GLP in the conduct of theirsafety studies. The principles are meant to guaranteethat the data they have to submit to the regulatory
authorities are a reliable basis for safety assessments.
Financial support for the Perform-A project came froma handful of sponsors. The European Commission
controlled all project ﬁnancing and contributed justover 25% of the project cost. Some of the remaindercame from two mobile-phone industry bodies, the
GSM Association and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum.
The Swiss and Austrian governments also donatedfunds. In an agreement made before the experiments
began, all sponsors accepted that their funding of theresearch did not entitle them to privileged access to
the results. Not until all manuscripts disclosing theresults were accepted by scientiﬁc journals would thesponsors see them.
1. Repacholi et al, Radiation Research 147(5), pp631-640, 1997
2. Transgenic mice have externally introduced genes and are used
to test the eﬀects of genes on health

The Perform-A experiments
There were four sets of experiments, each delegatedto its own specialist life-science laboratory, one eachin Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. Anotherpartner, the Swiss IT’IS foundation, designed an
exposure system for all four experimental sites thatis capable of delivering a homogeneous whole-bodydose of radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation to
all exposed animals. The company also constructed,
installed and operated identical copies of theapparatus at each laboratory.

The research groups at the German and Swisslaboratories investigated the occurrence and growthof cancers in mice and rats respectively. At both sites,
the animals underwent exposure to EMFs at GSM
frequencies for two hours per day and ﬁve days per
week over the course of two years. The German andSwiss researchers chose diﬀerent strains of mice andrats to complement the Italian study.

The Perform-A results
The results will remain conﬁdential until the conclusionof the project at the end of September 2005, byvirtue of the conﬁdentiality agreement between the
Perform-A consortium and its sponsors. The dateis a timely one. The World Health Organisation’sInternational Agency for Research on Cancer hasplans to begin an evaluation of research on the link
between mobile-phone EMFs and cancer in October.

Animal room at Fraunhofer ITEM
with the exposure system for mice

Project title:
Each wheel exposes up to 65 mice,radially arranged around the antenna

In the Italian laboratory, researchers attempted to replicate
the experiment by Repacholi and his team on pim1 mice,but under more carefully controlled conditions so as toincrease the statistical power of the results. The Austriangroup looked at the eﬀect of EMF exposure on female rats
in which breast cancers had already been induced by aknown carcinogen. They were subjected to a daily fourhour exposure for six months. The aim was to advanceunderstanding of how EMF exposure might inﬂuence theincidence, growth, latency and the malignancy or nonmalignancy of the tumours.

In vivo research on possible health eﬀects of mobile
telephones and base stations (carcinogenicity studies
in rodents) (Perform-A)

Project partners:■ Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Föderung der angewandten
Forschung e V., Germany (Coordinator)■ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Laboratory for EMF
and Microwave, Switzerland■ Österreichisches Forschungszentrum Seibersdorf GmbH,
Department of Life Sciences, Austria■ RCC Ltd, Switzerland■ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Radiocommunications
Laboratory, Department of Physics, Greece■ Istituto di Ricerche Biomediche “A. Marxer” – RBM S.p.a, Italy

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-1999-01476
Duration: 01-03-2000 to 30-09-2005

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Ramp2001 project:
Can long-term use of mobile phones cause adverse
non-thermal effects in brain or nerve cells?

Advisory and regulatory bodies, both national andinternational, have set safety standards. They express
them in terms of the speciﬁc absorption rate (SAR)
index. That is the rate at which one kilogram of bodymass absorbs radio-frequency energy. Fixed at one
tenth of the SAR value that causes a 1°C temperaturerise in the body, the safety limits are binding on all
mobile-phone manufacturers.
Virtually all mobile phones have remained well within
the prevailing safety limits, even after reductionsin the limits were introduced, as has happened on
occasion. But a growing number of research studies
are beginning to undermine faith in them. The
research suggests that low-frequency RF ﬁelds may
have biological eﬀects unrelated to heating. Althoughmany in the scientiﬁc community and industry disputethe relevance of the research, some groups argue that
non-thermal eﬀects warrant further investigation.

Picture from INERIS

Mobile-phone calls are carried by radio waves. Whilea call is in progress, they transport signals in both
directions between the handset and the nearest basestation in the operator’s network. They also have aside eﬀect, though. The user’s body inevitably absorbs
some of the waves, where they cause heating in the
body tissue. It is not a large eﬀect. Manufacturers
design phones to operate with a low radio-frequency
output power to maximise battery life. However, a user
typically holds the phone right up against his or herhead during calls. Since the EMF is most intense near
the handset antenna, the power absorbed by the head
could be non-trivial were it not for safety regulations.
Too large a rise in the temperature of brain tissue would
be harmful if sustained for long enough.

Moreover, the long latency period of many illnesses
that could be linked to RF exposure means thatexperts cannot be certain that long-term use ofmobile phones does not harm the development andfunctioning of the nervous system.

Microphotograph of an astrocyte: astrocytes(cells of the nervous system) from rat brains are used
to test for eﬀects of RF-EMF

Picture from INERIS

There is no scientiﬁc consensus on the biologicaleﬀects of prolonged exposure to radio-frequency
electromagnetic ﬁelds (RF-EMFs). One question thatremains unanswered is whether exposure to RF-EMFs
within current safety limits can nevertheless cause
cellular or molecular changes in the brain or nervous
system that are not due to heating of the tissues. The
Ramp2001 team is seeking answers to this question.

A Rota-rod, used for testing the diﬀerences in rat
behaviour with or without exposure to RF irradiation

Picture from ICEmB

6

An electromagnetic cell used for exposure of nervous cells
to RF-EMF. Nervous system cells are cultivated in dishes
positioned at the bottom of the structure

The Ramp2001 consortium
The Ramp2001 project is a contribution to theconcerted eﬀort that is needed to answer today’s
uncertainties about non-thermal eﬀects. The partners
also foresee the project’s results feeding into futurerevisions of safety standards. Through experiments on
animals and artiﬁcial cell cultures, they are studying
the biological eﬀects of short- and long-term RF-EMF
exposure of brain and nerve cells (neurons), especiallyany non-thermal eﬀects.

The team combines diverse scientiﬁc and technicalexpertise, uniting expertise in biophysics, cellbiology, computer modelling, neurophysiology andpharmacology. The researchers are drawn from Italy,
France, Sweden and the United Kingdom and arecoordinated by the Italian Interuniversity Centre ICEmB,
a consortium composed of various research groups,
administratively sited at the University of Genoa.

The Ramp2001 experiments
To ensure comparability of results, all RF exposure
experiments were carried out with the same frequency
and modulation parameters – those used in secondand third-generation mobile telephony systems – andat four reference SAR values: one above, one close to,and two below current safety standards.
One team experimented on live rats, ﬁrst exposing
them to RF-EMF for varying durations and thenperforming behavioural and memory tests onthem. The rats’ brains were subsequently removed
for a range of biochemical tests and for imaging byelectron microscopy. For the latter, they chose a novel
imaging technique which measures brain energy
consumption, to identify regions in the brain mostsensitive to the GSM frequencies. Mapping the brain
like this also helped the team select appropriate
activities for the behavioural tests that would servein further experiments to recognise abnormal brain
function resulting from RF-EMF exposure.
Other Ramp2001 partners developed an innovative
exposure set-up for exposure tests on slices of brain
tissue removed from unexposed rats. The results
served as a yardstick against which the consortium
later compared results from the memory andbehaviour tests on live rats to give a fuller picture ofelectrophysiological changes in the brain. The regionsof the brain of most interest were those normallyclosest in humans to hand-held mobile phones.

One aim the Ramp2001 project pursued keenly wasan exploration of the eﬀects RF-EMF exposure might
have on cell proliferation and cell diﬀerentiation – theprocess by which immature, unspecialised cells giverise to cells with specialised characteristics. For this, theteams worked with cultured neuronal cells, including
tumour cells derived from embryonic nerve cells. To
complement these studies, two teams developed
theoretical models and computer simulations toimprove understanding of how RF-EMF interacts withnerve cells at a cellular level. They paid close attention
to early stages of these interactions, where the EMF
signal interacts with the cell membrane.

The Ramp2001 results
Originally a three-year initiative scheduled to end
in December 2004, the project’s life was extended
to the end of September 2005. Results are not yet
complete but preliminary ﬁndings do not show
any particular eﬀect of RF-EMF exposure on the
biological systems examined.

Project title:
Risk assessment for exposure of nervous system cells tomobile telephone EMF: from in vitro to in vivo studies(Acronym: Ramp2001)

Project partners:■ University of Genoa – Interuniversity Centre ICEmB,
Italy (Project coordinator)■ Institut National de l’Environment Industriel et desRisques, Verneuil en Halatte, France■ Chalmers University of Technology, Department
of Electromagnetics, Gothenburg, Sweden■ University of Bradford, School of Informatics,
United Kingdom

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-2001-00463
Duration: 01-01-2002 to 30-09-2005

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

7Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The Reflex project:
Do extremely low-frequency and radio-frequency
electromagnetic fields cause biological changes in cells?

The range of frequencies classiﬁed as extremely low
frequency (ELF) is not large, stretching from zero only as far
as 300 Hz. Their signiﬁcance, though, is hard to minimise.
Electricity supply grids over the entire world operate
within this range and give rise to ELF electromagnetic
ﬁelds (ELF-EMFs). So, sources of ELF-EMFs are widespread
inside and outside the home and workplace – power lines,
electrical wiring and all manner of electrical appliances.
EMFs classiﬁed as radio frequency (RF-EMF) cover a muchbroader range, extending from low to extremely highfrequencies, 30 kHz to 300 GHz. They too are all aroundus, for instance in the transmission signals for radio andtelevision broadcasts, mobile telecommunications
networks, as well as in wireless networking of computersand other digital devices.
■ AM radio■ VHF-TV■ FM radio■ UHF-TV■ GSM&REQUENCY (Z%,& K(Z2ADIO &REQUENCIES 2& K(Z -(Z-ICROWAVE &REQUENCIES -(Z -(Z '(Z

Many experimental and epidemiological studies haveinvestigated the biological eﬀects of these ﬁelds onhumans. A large number have found no detrimental
inﬂuence, but controversy still clings to the issue. On
the one hand, some experiments have pointed to thepotential for ELF-EMFs to alter genes. On the other
hand, it remains unclear whether this in turn can cause
diseases such as cancers and neurological illnesses.
Also in question are the biological mechanisms bywhich EMFs may trigger pathological conditions at thecellular level. Possibilities include: uncontrolled increasein cell numbers; the suppression of, or increase in, cell
death; and changes in the mechanisms and structures
involved in the coding of genetic information.

The Reflex consortium
It is this latter problem that the Reﬂex team addressed.
Through rigorously controlled and replicatedexperiments the partners looked for detrimental
cellular changes in EMF-exposed cells that in thelong term may create conditions suitable for thedevelopment of diseases such as cancer. Coordinatedby VERUM – The Foundation for Behaviour andEnvironment in Germany, the team assembled tocarry out the 52-month research project consistedof 12 research groups drawn from seven European
countries. Replication of the experiments and theirresults formed a vital part of the project as muchearlier research is doubted because the results had
not been independently replicated and veriﬁed.

The Reflex experiments
To enable experiments to be accurately replicatedand to ensure comparability of their results, it wasvital for the experimental set-ups at diﬀerent sites tobe as similar as possible and their operation strictly
controlled. The team supplemented pre-existing
exposure systems with a novel apparatus, custom
built for the Reﬂex project, for generating ELF-EMFs
and RF-EMFs. They installed four copies of each unit
in multiple laboratories. Each copy comprised an
incubator with two chambers for the cells. A computer
decided randomly which one was to be irradiated by
EMFs and which one was not.
Courtesy of Tauber et al., Berlin, Germany

The question of whether extremely low frequency
electromagnetic ﬁelds inﬂuence human health has
stubbornly resisted resolution for some time now, andthe same can be said of radio-frequency electromagnetic
ﬁelds. The Reﬂex consortium sought to clarify the issue
through an in vitro study at the level of individual cells.
This involved exposing a wide range of human andanimal cell lines to electromagnetic ﬁelds at intensities
within current safety limits and analysing the outcomes.

DNA strand breaks in HL-60 cells after exposure to γirradiation and to high-frequency electromagnetic ﬁelds.
The longer and brighter the tail, the higher the DNA-strand
break frequency.

In the ELF-EMF exposure systems, selected humancell lines were irradiated. Among these werelymphocytes, the white blood cells that help the
body ﬁght infection; ﬁbroblasts, the cells that makethe connective tissue that forms the supporting
framework of organs in the body; muscle cells; andanimal cell lines like granulosa cells from rats. Similar
experiments were performed in the RF-EMF exposuresystems on cell lines that included HL-60, a human cellline used as a model of early bone-marrow precursor
cells; granulosa cells from rats; human lymphocytes;
ﬁbroblasts and brain cells.
After exposure, the Reﬂex researchers analysed thecells for cellular changes indicative of genotoxicity– for example, aberrations in chromosomes or
the presence of DNA damage, or of micronuclei,
fragments of chromosomes left outside the nucleus
during cell division. They also monitored changes
in expression of genes and proteins in the exposed
cells – expression is the process where the genetic
information encoded in a gene is converted into thestructure and function of a cell.

The Reflex results
A mixed but intriguing pattern emerged from theiranalyses. Intermittent exposure to ELF-EMF at 50Hz,
a common electrical mains frequency, had genotoxic
eﬀects on human ﬁbroblasts, human melanocytes
and some animal cells. Lymphocytes and other celllines, meanwhile, remained unaﬀected. In ﬁbroblasts,
they discovered a direct correspondence between
the intensity and duration of ELF-EMF exposure andthe number of DNA breakages or micronuclei, bothmarkers of genotoxicity. Obtained by two of theReﬂex laboratories, these results were validated by
two laboratories outside the project.

Courtesy of IT’IS Foundation,
Zurich, Switzerland

Courtesy of IT’IS Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland

Courtesy of Tauber et al.,Berlin, Germany

A dividing HL-60 cellwith several micronulei
detected with themicronucleus test underthe microscope. The
occurrence of one or more
micronuclei is evidenceof a genotoxic eﬀect
sustained by the cell

Two chambers within an
incubator in which one set ofcells are exposed to extremely
low-frequency electromagnetic
ﬁelds and the other set, thecontrol group, is not

Two high-frequency-EMF exposure chambers within
an incubator

In cells exposed to RF-EMF the researchers also
identiﬁed genotoxic eﬀects – marked by, among otherthings, DNA breakages, chromosomal aberrations andthe formation of micronuclei – in human ﬁbroblasts,
HL-60 cells and granulosa cells in rats, but not inlymphocytes. Once more, the degree of damage
depended on the duration of exposure and on thetype of signal used.
The Reﬂex team also obtained evidence that insome cell cultures both ELF-EMFs and RF-EMFs may
aﬀect the expression of genes and proteins involvedin such activities as cell division, proliferation anddiﬀerentiation.
These ﬁndings are a valuable addition to ourunderstanding of the eﬀects ELF-EMFs and RF-EMFs
can cause in human and animal cells cultured in thelaboratory. However, before any conclusions canbe drawn regarding the risks to human health, theresults will have to be complemented by wholeanimal studies.

Project title:
Risk evaluation of potential environmental hazards fromlow energy electromagnetic ﬁeld exposure using sensitivein vitro methods (Reﬂex)

Project partners:■ VERUM – Foundation for Behaviour and Environment,
Germany (Coordinator)■ Free University of Berlin, Clinical Chemistry, Germany■ University of Vienna, Occupational Health, Austria■ Institute for Plant Genetics, Germany■ Ramon y Cajal Hospital, INSALUD, Spain■ STUK – Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finland■ University of Hannover, Institute of Biophysics, Germany■ University of Bologna, Department of Physics, Italy■ Ecole National Supérieure de Chimie et de Physique,
PIOM, France■ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland■ University of Milan, Department of Medical
Pharmacology, Italy■ Resource Centre/Primary Database (RZPD), Germany

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-1999-01574
Duration: 01-02-2000 to 31-05-2004

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

8Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The THz-Bridge project:
Is terahertz radiation safe for biomedical
and biological applications?
Medical applications of terahertz radiation are currently
the focus of a good deal of research. Anticipating an
imminent growth in its use in laboratories and hospitals,
the THz-Bridge team came together to address questionsof safety that must be answered before standards canbe established for THz radiation exposure.
Terahertz radiation spans the electromagnetic
spectrum’s so-called T-gap. As the ﬁgure below
shows, the T-gap stretches from about 100 gigahertz
to 20 terahertz; it is a region that has attracted far
less attention than its neighbours – higher-frequency
infrared and the lower-frequency microwaves. But
this is now changing.
■ ELF■ Radio (RF)■ Microwave(MW)■ Infrared (IR)■ Ultraviolet(UV)■ X-ray

Greece, the UK, Italy and Israel and a British company
specialising in applications of terahertz radiation.
Together they combined expertise and skills froma range of complementary disciplines including
spectroscopy and biomedical imaging – all of themrequired for the team’s diverse programme of biologicalexperiments with a variety of THz-radiation sources.

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Improvements in semiconductor and laser
technology have contributed to recent advancesin the production of more powerful sources anddetectors of THz radiation. This has opened up thisonce sedate expanse of the spectrum for exploration
by a wider community of academic and industrial
scientists and engineers. Already, researchers aredeveloping applications in ﬁelds as diverse as
astronomy, environmental science, quality assurance,
medical imaging and safety. One team of researchers,
recognising that current knowledge about thebiological eﬀects of THz radiation is limited, took theproactive step of launching the THz-Bridge project toassess the potential impacts of this technology on thehealth of users and patients.

The THz-Bridge consortium
The ENEA Frascati research centre in Italy headed the
THz-Bridge team and international co-operation wasvital as THz radiation sources spanning the entire
T-gap are not available in any single country. Partners
included research centres and universities in Germany,

The ENEA THz source based on a compact Free
Electron Laser

The THz spectrometer at the University of Stuttgart

In a major part of their work, the partners studied theinteraction of THz radiation with biological samples
of increasing complexity to assess their susceptibility
to damage by the radiation. Irradiated samples weremonitored for changes in morphology and biological
function relevant to the biological system understudy. These included: changes in the properties ofcell membranes to certain molecules, alterations in
the activity of cells found in the outer layer of skin,and assessment of photochemical damage to thebuilding blocks of DNA molecules that encode genetic

information in cells. In white blood cells exposed to
THz radiation, the team looked for signs of genotoxicity
due to disturbances or damage to molecules or cellular
structures involved in genetic inheritance.

imaging applications, at least when patients arelimited to single exposures. However, setting exposure
guidelines requires further studies to identify moreclearly the relationships between dose and response.

Establishing a database of biological spectra wasanother important objective. These are graphicalplots that convey information about the absorption
and emission of radiation by irradiated samples
over a speciﬁed range of wavelengths. For this, theteam carried out spectroscopic analysis of biologicalsamples over infrared
and THz wavelengths
to identify regionsof the spectrum that
could be used for THz
imaging applications.
A typical spectrum isshown in the ﬁgureleft.

The targets for their spectroscopic studies were thevarious constituents of human blood, such as red andwhite blood cells, haemoglobin, glucose, total protein
and cholesterol, as well as a range of amino acids fromwhich proteins are made. The biological spectra theteam collected during the course of the project are now
available to research groups worldwide on the project’s
website1. They also developed tests for analysing blood
samples by infrared spectroscopy of substances such as
cholesterol, total protein and glucose.

The third strandof the team’s work
was the preparationof a questionnairethat was distributedat conferences and through the project website
to groups around the globe that are using, or areplanning to use THz sources. The primary objective
was to collate information on the use of THz radiationfrom a safety point of view. What, it asked, are thesafety precautions adopted? What are the exposure
conditions of personnel? What is the perceived risk
felt by users of THz sources? And what are the physicalparameters of the sources used – such frequency andpower levels?
The THz spectrum of uricacid. The diﬀerences inabsorption can form thebasis for biomedical imaging
applications.

The THz-Bridge results
In the irradiation studies, the team detected no
biological eﬀects under many exposure conditions.
However, in some cases they discovered a change
in the ability of certain chemical compounds to
ﬂow through artiﬁcially created membranes. They
also observed genetic damage in lymphocytes(white blood cells) that were directly exposed to THz
radiation without the shielding eﬀect of blood serum.
The main conclusion from the project is that THz
radiation will probably not be harmful in biomedical

1. http://www.frascati.enea/THz-BRIDGEThe THz-Bridge survey of THz-radiation users was theﬁrst global survey of its kind. Over a period of one year,
approximately 20% of the user community returned
completed questionnaires. From research groups
in the EU, Japan, Russia and the US, these indicate
a clear need for action. Not one set of standards for
exposure of occupational workers exposed to THz
radiation came to light.

Project title:
Tera-Hertz radiation in biological research, investigation
on diagnostics and study of potential genotoxic eﬀects(THz-Bridge)

Project partners:■ ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, UTS Tecnologie Fisiche
Avanzate, Italy (Coordinator)■ Forschungszentrum Rossendorf e. V., Institut für Kernund Hadronenphysik, Germany■ Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physiology andPharmacology – Sackler School of Medicine, Israel■ Universität Stuttgart, 1. Physikalisches Institut, Germany■ Johann Wolfgang-Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main,
Institut für Biophysik, Germany■ University of Genoa, Centro Interuniversitario sulleInterazioni tra Campi elettromagnetici e Biosistemi, Italy■ National Hellenic Research Foundation, Theoretical andPhysical Chemistry Institute, Greece■ Teraview Limited, United Kingdom■ The University of Nottingham, School of Biomedical
Sciences, Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, United
Kingdom■ Universität Freiburg, Department of Molecular andOptical Physics, Germany

Project Reference: QLK4-CT-2000-00129
Duration: 01-02-2001 to 31-01-2004

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

9Electromagnetic Fields and Health

The EMF-NET project:
What are the implications for policy-makers and the publicof research into the health effects of electromagnetic fields?
The quest to understand if and how electromagnetic
ﬁelds aﬀect health is naturally a sensitive one. Working
from the incomplete charts drawn up so far by scientists,
is it possible for policy makers to steer a course thatavoids undue conﬂict between the many stakeholders?
The EMF-NET project is doing its best to make sure theanswer is yes.
Scientists researching the health eﬀects of nonionising electromagnetic ﬁelds have to contend
with an enormous stretch of the electromagnetic
spectrum, reaching from static electric and magnetic
ﬁelds to electromagnetic ﬁelds at frequencies in theterahertz range. They also have to contend with thecomplexity of the human organism. The number
and nature of the ways in which these two systems
interact can at present only be guessed at. So it is no
surprise that the approaches and techniques so far
mustered by this still youthful branch of science areheterogeneous.
Behind the scenes, there are the dynamic social andpolitical forces at work among an enormous array of
stakeholders with diﬀerent interests in the ﬁeld – thescientists and research groups themselves; policy
makers, politicians, governments and regulatory
bodies, at local, national and international levels. And
we must not forget health professionals, industrialists,
investors, trade associations, trade unions, marketing
professionals, users of devices reliant on EMFs,
patients, and so on. Nor should we overlook for a
moment the modern media.
To bring order to this complex environment would
be far too ambitious an aim for a single initiative but
the participants in the EMF-NET coordination action
do aspire to make a substantial contribution to thisgoal. They are looking to provide an ‘interpretationinterface’ between science and policy making – aframework for the interpretation of research results
through which European policy makers will be better
able to take appropriate account of the best available
science in their decision making.

The EMF-NET participants
EMF-NET draws on a distinguished line-up ofparticipants. Among them are the coordinators of
all EU-supported projects on the health eﬀects of
EMFs, as well as representatives of major national andinternational research programmes and projects inthe ﬁeld. But EMF-NET is much more than a talking
shop where scientiﬁc experts will be content merely
to swap notes. Other participants are bringing
important additional perspectives to the table. They
include industrialists from mobile-phone operatorsand the electrical and electronics industries,
trade-union representatives and delegates from
regulatory authorities. All told, 40 organisations are
represented.

EMF-NET activities
The management team is putting its interpretationinterface into place through a suite of interlocking
activities, though none involves doing any laboratorybased or other primary research in the biologicalsciences. Underlying their approach is a constantprocess of identifying and bringing together the
results of current research in the ﬁeld, which is widelydispersed not only across scientiﬁc disciplines but
also among researchers around the world. In anothercontinuous background activity, participants aremonitoring emerging technologies, such as thirdand fourth-generation mobile telecoms systems, witha view to helping identify the way ahead for future
research. To help in both these tasks and others, theteam is holding a series of public meetings, roundtables, workshops and conferences.
Boards of experts will be making sense of new
information as it emerges, each board consolidating
all research ﬁndings relevant to salient issues that fallwithin its expertise and distilling them into EMF-NET
interpretation reports. The management team will
distribute the reports to several audiences. First andforemost are policy makers and health authorities,
but they will also target other stakeholder groupings,
not least fellow scientists, but also, and just as
importantly, the public at large.
An investigation of risk perception and communication
is a key element on the project’s agenda. Here, theemphasis is on how to communicate information
about risks – potential and actual – without on the
one hand avoiding diﬃcult questions or, on theother, provoking unjustiﬁed fears – a tall order in theincessantly shifting sands of any rapidly developing
scientiﬁc domain. The project has also formed theEuropean Fast Response Team on EMF and Health andcharged it with providing prompt, concise answers toquestions put by the European Commission services.

The EMF-NET results
Only one year into its four-year term, the project has
already built up a high proﬁle for itself in the scientiﬁcand policy-making communities, thanks in no smallpart to a project website rich in content1. It has maderapid progress in the cataloguing of relevant research
results, organised and participated in dozens ofevents and is looking forward to future events it has
set up for the coming year; including two activities
dedicated to discussion of the implementation of
EU directive 2004/40/EC on occupational exposure
to EMF. In August 2005, it began publishing its ﬁrst
set of 13 interpretation reports. They cover subjects
ranging from epidemiological and laboratory studies
to emerging technologies. The Fast Response teamhas also published responses to questions on suchmatters as the recent advice from a UK regulatory
body on the use of mobile phones by children, thehealth eﬀects of telephone masts and the use of
ferrite beads in hands-free kits for mobile phones.

1. See http://emf-net.isib.cnr.it/

Project title:
Eﬀects of the exposure to electromagnetic ﬁelds: fromscience to public health and safer workplace (EMF-NET)

Steering Committee:■ Paolo Ravazzani, Istituto di Ingegneria Biomedica,
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milan, Italy(Coordinator)■ Elisabeth Cardis, International Agency for Research on
Cancer, Lyon, France■ Lawrence Challis, National Radiological Protection Board,
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom■ Jochen Buschmann, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur
Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., München,
Germany■ Guglielmo D’Inzeo, Interuniversity Center «Interaction
between Electromagnetic Fields and Biosystem» (ICEmB),
Genoa, Italy■ Maria Feychting, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm,
Sweden■ Gerd Friedrich, Forschungsgemeinschaft Funk e. V., Bonn,
Germany■ Kjell Hansson Mild, National Institute for Working Life,Umea, Sweden■ Jukka Juutilainen, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland■ Jolanta Karpowicz, Centralny Instytut Ochrony PracyPanstwowy Instytut Badawczy, Warsaw, Poland■ Norbert Leitgeb, Institute of Clinical Engineering, Graz
University of Technology, Graz, Austria■ Demosthenes Papamelethiou, Joint Research Centre,
Ispra, Italy■ Theodoros Samaras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Thessaloniki, Greece■ Gyorgy Thuroczy, “Frederic Joliot-Curie” National
Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene,
Budapest, Hungary■ Bernard Veyret, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie etde Physique de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

Project Reference: SSPE-CT-2004-502173
Duration: 01-03-2004 to 29-02-2008

European Commission - Research Directorate-General - European Communities, 2005 - Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

REC 5 3400 - Cover EMF.indd 1

19/10/05 22:17:24

More information can be found on the following websites:
The European Commission, Directorate-General for Research: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/index_en.cfm
The ‘Electromagnetic ﬁelds’ website of the Directorate-General for Research:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/quality-of-life/ka4/ka4_electromagnetic_en.html
The EMF-NET website: http://www.jrc.cec.eu.int/emf-net/
The International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection: http://www.icnirp.de/
The Electromagnetic Fields page of the World Health Organisation (WHO): http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/
The COST281 homepage: Research on the potential health implications from mobile communication systems funded by COST
(European Co-operation in the ﬁeld of Scientiﬁc and Technical Research): http://www.cost281.org/over.php
GSMWorld homepage. An industrial association for mobile telephone operators: http://www.gsmworld.com/gsmeurope/index.shtml
The Mobile Manufacturers Forum: http://www.mmfai.org/public/

KI-70-05-528-EN-C

EU-funded research into the impact ofelectromagnetic fields and mobile telephones on health
There is much public concern about the issues surrounding the eﬀects ofelectromagnetic ﬁelds on health – in particular, the potential health eﬀects
of mobile telephones. This brochure describes what electromagnetic ﬁelds
are, where they are found, and what is being done to investigate theirpotential for aﬀecting our health. There are maximum exposure limits thatare regularly reviewed in the light of new scientiﬁc research, much of it
funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.

Health andelectromagnetic fields$ P N N V OJ UZ  SF T F B SD I

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