Hypersensitivity to RF fields emitted from CDMA cellular phones: A provocation study

Abstract

With the number of cellular phone users rapidly increasing, there is a considerable amount of public concern regarding the effects that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from cellular phones have on health. People with self-attributed electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) complain of subjective symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, and memory loss, and attribute these symptoms to radio frequency (RF) radiation from cellular phones and/or base stations. However, EHS is difficult to diagnose because it relies on a person's subjective judgment. Various provocation studies have been conducted on EHS caused by Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phones in which heart rate and blood pressure or subjective symptoms were investigated. However, there have been few sham-controlled provocation studies on EHS with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) phones where physiological parameters, subjective symptoms, and perception of RF radiation for EHS and non-EHS groups were simultaneously investigated. In this study, two volunteer groups of 18 self-reported EHS and 19 non-EHS persons were tested for both sham and real RF exposure from CDMA cellular phones with a 300 mW maximum exposure that lasted half an hour. We investigated not only the physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability (HRV), but also various subjective symptoms and the perception of EMF. In conclusion, RF exposure did not have any effects on physiological parameters or subjective symptoms in either group. As for EMF perception, there was no evidence that the EHS group better perceived EMF than the non-EHS group.

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

“…The same reasoning applies to the significant differences during pre- and post-exposure in both sham and real exposure sessions. These higher percentages in the EHS group during both the sham and real sessions probably resulted from a bias of EHS individuals, who believe they can feel EMF, as described in our previous reports [23,24]. Therefore, there is no evidence that individuals in the EHS group perceived the radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones better than those in the non-EHS group.…”

Cohort study on the effects of everyday life radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure on non-specific symptoms and tinnitus

“…Regarding near-field sources, no acute effects of mobile phone-like exposure were observed in laboratory trials (Nam et al 2009;Röösli 2008;Stovner et al 2008) except for one study, where a higher headache score was found after applying a 3h mobile phone-like exposure (Hillert et al 2008). In some of the earlier cross-sectional epidemiological studies, positive associations were found (Balikci et al 2005;Chia et al 2000).…”

Do people with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields display physiological effects when exposed to electromagnetic fields? A systematic review of provocation studies

“…Immediately before and after exposure Cases and controls: no effect Spontaneous electrodermal activity and sympathetic skin response to sound Before and 40 min during exposure Cases and controls: no effect Mueller and Schierz [2004] Heart rate, interbeat interval, heart rate variability, breathing frequency When in bed during night Cases: no effect Nam et al [2009] Heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin conductance 5 min before exposure, after 15 and 31 min of exposure, 10 min post-exposure Cases and controls: no effect. Skin conductance not analyzed due to unstable recordings Oftedal et al [2007] Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure Continuous from 10 min before to 5 min after exposure Cases: no effect Rea et al [1991] Pupillary light reflex (time and rate of pupil constriction/dilation) In phases 2-4 (not further specified)…”