Effects of radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones on electromagnetic hypersensitive subjects

Kwon, Choi, Kim, Yoo

Description

With the use of the third generation (3 G) mobile phones on the rise, social concerns have arisen concerning the possible health effects of radio frequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile phones in humans. The number of people with self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), who complain of various subjective symptoms such as headache, dizziness and fatigue, has also increased. However, the origins of EHS remain unclear. Methods In this double-blind study, two volunteer groups of 17 EHS and 20 non-EHS subjects were simultaneously investigated for physiological changes (heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiration rate), eight subjective symptoms, and perception of RF-EMFs during real and sham exposure sessions. Experiments were conducted using a dummy phone containing a WCDMA module (average power, 24 dBm at 1950 MHz; specific absorption rate, 1.57 W/kg) within a headset placed on the head for 32 min. Results WCDMA RF-EMFs generated no physiological changes or subjective symptoms in either group. There was no evidence that EHS subjects perceived RF-EMFs better than non-EHS subjects. Conclusions Considering the analyzed physiological data, the subjective symptoms surveyed, and the percentages of those who believed they were being exposed, 32 min of RF radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones demonstrated no effects in either EHS or non-EHS subjects.

Sujets

• Provocation
• HRV

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 5
• Langue: English

Extrait

Kwonet al. Environmental Health2012,11:69 http://www.ehjournal.net/content/11/1/69

R E S E A R C H

Open Access

Effects of radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones on electromagnetic hypersensitive subjects 1,2 1,2 2,3 4 1,2,3,4* Min Kyung Kwon , Joon Yul Choi , Sung Kean Kim , Tae Keun Yoo and Deok Won Kim

Abstract Background:With the use of the third generation (3 G) mobile phones on the rise, social concerns have arisen concerning the possible health effects of radio frequencyelectromagnetic fields (RFEMFs) emitted by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile phones in humans. The number of people with selfreported electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), who complain of various subjective symptoms such as headache, dizziness and fatigue, has also increased. However, the origins of EHS remain unclear. Methods:In this doubleblind study, two volunteer groups of 17 EHS and 20 nonEHS subjects were simultaneously investigated for physiological changes (heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiration rate), eight subjective symptoms, and perception of RFEMFs during real and sham exposure sessions. Experiments were conducted using a dummy phone containing a WCDMA module (average power, 24 dBm at 1950 MHz; specific absorption rate, 1.57 W/kg) within a headset placed on the head for 32 min. Results:WCDMA RFEMFs generated no physiological changes or subjective symptoms in either group. There was no evidence that EHS subjects perceived RFEMFs better than nonEHS subjects. Conclusions:Considering the analyzed physiological data, the subjective symptoms surveyed, and the percentages of those who believed they were being exposed, 32 min of RF radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones demonstrated no effects in either EHS or nonEHS subjects. Keywords:Provocation, Physiological changes, HRV, Subjective symptoms, EMF perception

Background With the increasing use of third generation (3 G) mobile phones, social concerns have arisen concerning the pos sible health effects of radio frequencyelectromagnetic fields (RFEMFs) emitted by mobile phones in humans [1]. On the basis of limited evidence from both human and animal studies, the World Health Organization has classified RFEMFs as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) [2]. A number of people have selfreported electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), characterized by a variety of nonspecific symptoms that differ from indi vidual to individual. Crosssectional survey studies in

* Correspondence: [e-mail] 1 Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea 2 Department of Medical Engineering, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

different countries have reported that EHS subjects ex perience nonspecific subjective symptoms (e.g., head ache, dizziness, fatigue, sleep disorder) associated with EMF exposure: 1.5% in Sweden [3], 3.2% in California [4], and 5% in Switzerland [5]. For some individuals, the symptoms can have lifestylechanging consequences [6]. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) on humans between EHS and nonEHS groups, only a few provocation studies involving WCDMA have simultan eously evaluated physiological changes, subjective symp toms, and EMF perception. Furubayashi et al. measured psychological and cognitive parameters during pre and postexposure [7]. They also monitored physiological parameters, such as skin temperature, heart rate and local blood flow, and asked participants (EHS and non EHS women) to report on their subjective perception of

© 2012 Kwon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.