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EMF Standards Explained - L3

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EMF Standards Explained - L2

Overview
Types of Standards - Emission, Exposure, Compliance
How are the EMF safety standards established?
EMF safety guideline reviews
World Health Organisation review of EMF health and safety
Do the standards protect children?
What about children living, learning and playing near base stations?
Are exclusion or buffer zones required around base stations?
Are some standards are more restrictive than the International ICNIRP guidelines?

Overview

Standards are part of everyday life in today’s society but many people don’t even realise they exist.  The homes we live in, the cars we drive and appliances we use are all built to standards so they work correctly and are safe to use.

Electrical appliances are a good example of ‘standards at work’.  You purchase a new appliance and simply expect it to work correctly off the mains AC power.  Mobile phones and wireless networks are similar, we expect them to work where ever we are and don’t really consider how this is achieved.

In terms of safety and public awareness, motor vehicles have lead the way in recent years with many new life saving initiatives now becoming part of most cars.

Safety standards operate ‘silently’ in the background in the majority of situations, however they are developed through many years of research and development. Wireless technology is no exception with many decades of research contributing to the safety standards in place today.

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Types of EMF Standards - Emission, Exposure, Compliance

There are 3 common types of EMF standards

  1. Emission Standards set limits on the radio signals emitted from transmitters and other devices.  The purpose of emission standards is to regulate the amount of radio frequency emission from a device to minimise the possibility of interference to other services or near by equipment.  Emission standards are often part of an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) framework. 
     
  2. Exposure Standards (safety) set limits on the amount of radio frequency energy that can be absorbed by people.  The purpose of exposure standards is to establish the maximum radio frequency energy level know as Specific Absorption rate (SAR) in watts per kilogram (W/kg) that can be safely absorbed by people.
      
  3. Compliance Standards describe the procedures used to ensure that mobile phones and wireless networks comply with the exposure standards.

How are the EMF safety standards established?

Decades of research into EMF and health has produced a large body of scientific literature which national and international standards organisations can review to establish safe exposure limits.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has formally recognised the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) to develop the international EMF exposure guidelines.

Click here to view the ICNIRP EMF safety guidelines

The WHO advises;

“the international EMF safety guidelines from ICNIRP were developed following reviews of all the peer-reviewed scientific literature, including thermal and non-thermal effects.  The standards are based on evaluations of biological effects that have been established to have health consequences.”

WHO Standards and Guidelines http://www.who.int/peh-emf/standards/en/

The international guidelines developed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) are based on a careful analysis of published scientific literature (including evidence for both thermal and non-thermal effects) and offer protection against all identified hazards of RF energy with large safety margins.

These guidelines are designed to offer protection for all persons and ages including children.

View the ICNIRP presentation - "Basis for development of the standard" (P Vecchia Oct 2008)

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EMF safety guideline reviews

Part of ICNIRP's role is to monitor the scientific research and review the EMF safety guidelines.  The most recent reviews are listed below:

  • 2009 - Following completion of several national and international research programs, ICNIRP conducted a review and reaffirmed the current guidelines.  The review concluded "it is the opinion of ICNIRP that the scientific literature published since the 1998 guidelines has provided no evidence of any adverse effects below the basic restrictions"

    Click here for the 2009 ICNIRP review summary
  • 2010 -  following publication of the INTERPHONE study on mobile phone use and brain cancer risk in May 2010, ICNIRP's review concluded that the results give no reason for the guidlines to be altered. 

    Click here for the ICNIRP 2010 review note
     

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World Health Organisation review of EMF health and safety

In relation to EMF and health the WHO says;

"The main conclusion from the WHO reviews is that EMF exposures below the limits recommended in the ICNIRP international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health."

WHO Standards and Guidelines http://www.who.int/peh-emf/standards/en/

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Do the standards protect children?

The International EMF Guidelines from ICNIRP are designed to protect people of all ages including children and incorporate large safety factors.

Specifically in relation to the ICNIRP limits and children the WHO advise;

“The ICNIRP guidelines were developed to limit human exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) under conditions of maximum absorption of the fields, which rarely occurs, and the limits incorporate large safety factors to protect workers and even larger safety factors to protect the general public, including children. Thus, the limits in the ICNIRP guidelines are highly protective and are based on all the available scientific evidence”

WHO Children and mobiles clarification statement http://www.who.int/peh-emf/meetings/ottawa_june05/en/index4.html

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What about children living, learning and playing near base stations?

Mobile phone base stations operate in accordance with international guideline limits on radio wave exposure. Actual exposure to RF from base stations is very low, a fraction of the international guideline and standard levels.

These standards and guidelines are based on detailed, independent evaluations of an extensive scientific database of studies relating to radio waves and health. Scientific expert reviews and government agencies have been consistent in concluding that these guidelines are reliable safeguards for all segments of the population, including children.

The ICNIRP reviewed the current scientific literature and reaffirmed their existing radiofrequency guidelines in 2009. As part of this review ICNIRP acknowledged some new studies showing a small theoretical increase in calculated radio signal absorption levels for people less than 1.3 m in height (corresponding approximately to children aged 8 or younger).

The ICNIRP summarises this by saying;

“However, this is negligible compared with the large reduction factor of 50 (5,000%) for the general public”.

(reference http://www.icnirp.org/documents/StatementEMF.pdf)

In reality this would mean standing very close (within about 5 m) directly in front of a base station antenna which is virtually impossible at most sites because these areas are not accessible to the public.
 

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Are exclusion or buffer zones required around base stations?

Exclusion zones or restricted access areas are only required where the radio frequency signal level exceeds the permitted safety limits.  For a base station this usually occurs within a few metres of the antenna which is normally well above the ground or on a rooftop. 

At ground level, arbitary exclusion zones based on distance from a base station are not scientifically sound and are not required by safety standards for this reason.  Further information is available from the Mobile Carriers Forum

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Are some standards more restrictive than the International ICNIRP guidelines?

The majority of national standards are based on the well established International ICNIRP guidelines.  Some standards have small differences in the derived exposure levels, however, the basic exposure restrictions are similar to the ICNIRP values. 

The World Health Organization warns against adopting additional arbitrary reductions on the ICNIRP levels as such measures are not based in science and may undermine public confidence.

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EMF Standards Explained - L3

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