Epidemiological evidence for a health risk from mobile phone base stations.
Human populations are increasingly exposed to microwave/radiofrequency (RF) emissions from wireless communication technology, including mobile phones and their base stations. By searching PubMed, we identified a total of 10 epidemiological studies that assessed for putative health effects of mobile phone base stations. Seven of these studies explored the association between base station proximity and neurobehavioral effects and three investigated cancer. We found that eight of the 10 studies reported increased prevalence of adverse neurobehavioral symptoms or cancer in populations living at distances < 500 meters from base stations. None of the studies reported exposure above accepted international guidelines, suggesting that current guidelines may be inadequate in protecting the health of human populations. We believe that comprehensive epidemiological studies of long-term mobile phone base station exposure are urgently required to more definitively understand its health impact.
Khurana
Vini G
VG
Department of Neurosurgery, The Canberra Hospital, The Australian National University Medical School, Garran, Australia vgkhurana@gmail.com
Hardell
Lennart
L
Everaert
Joris
J
Bortkiewicz
Alicja
A
Carlberg
Michael
M
Ahonen
Mikko
M
D040421:Cell Phone; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D011846:Radio Waves / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018570:Risk Assessment