Risk analysis of human exposure to electromagnetic fields (revised) 2012 - EU Commission EFHRAN Report

This revised report from the European Commission funded "European Health Risk Assessment Network on Electromagnetic Fields Exposure (EFHRAN)" group considers and reviews the latest published research exploring possible effects on humans from EMF in order to identify any potential health concerns.

Both epidemiological and experimental studies are considered, for cancer and non-cancer endpoints with separate analyses made for low, intermediate and high frequencies

For High Frequencies the EFHRAN report concludes:

Inclusion of recent data regarding adult brain tumours necessitates a revision to the original classification, and it is now considered to be best described as being limited. However, this classification is subject to uncertainty, because the evidence for an increased risk of brain tumours is restricted to two large-scale case-control studies, and there are unresolved questions relating to possible biases and errors inherent to retrospective epidemiological studies. Further, the time-trend analyses are also not compatible with a large increase in brain tumour incidence in relation to mobile phone use.

'This revision updates the existing consensus opinion of EMF-NET (2009) and SCENIHR (2009a) but is consistent with the more recent assessment performed by the IARC Working Group (Baan et al, 2011) regarding the carcinogenicity of RF fields.'

"Inclusion of recent data on other endpoints has not necessitated any revisions to the existing consensus opinions of EMF-NET (2009) or SCENIHR (2009a). For none of these diseases is there sufficient evidence for a causal association between exposure and the risk of the disease, and this includes all childhood cancers. Overall, the strength of evidence for these outcomes remains as inadequate".

"While increased responsiveness to RF fields has not been demonstrated in provocation studies, even in subjects that self-report hypersensitivity, the possibility remains that long-term mobile phone use may induce symptoms, such as migraine and vertigo, and further work is required to clarify this issue."

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