EMF and Health - Research in Finland

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Jerome Hunt
7 years ago
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1 EMF and Health - Research in Finland Research Partners: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) Technical Research Center (VTT) Universities: Kuopio, Helsinki, Tampere, Turku

Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) Technical

2 European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) EU/COST Action 244 "Biological Effects of Electromagnetic fields" EU/COST Action 281: "Potential Health Implications from Mobile Communication Systems" EU/COST BM 0704 "Emerging EMF Technologies and Health Risk Management"

281: "Potential Health Implications from Mobile Communication

3 LaVita-programme Cardiovascular responses FIOH Cognitive processes and brain activity Turku Univ. Biological effectsbudding yest as a model organism Kuopio Univ. Effects on cardiac pacemakers FIOH ODC-activity Kuopio Univ. Health Risk Assessment of Wireless Communication Case-control study on brain tumour etiology Tampere Univ. (LaVita) In vitro dosimetry and biomarkers to study in vivo biological effects STUK Human studies Effects on hearing and balance FIOH Numerical simulation of human exposure to RF fields VTT Dynamic adaptive modelling of the human body for RF radiation absorption TUT Cell and animal studies Modelling

Health Risk Assessment of Wireless Communication Case-control study on brain tumour etiology Tampere Univ.

4 Health Risks of Mobile Communications (HERMO) 1. The effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on inner-ear sensitivity, University of Turku 2. Long- and short-term effects of GSM electromagnetic fields on pre-attentive auditory discrimination in the human brain, University of Helsinki 3. Thermophysiological and cardiovascular responses of human subjects exposed to RF fields from mobile phones, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 4. Effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on developing nervous system, University of Kuopio 5. The effects of radiofrequency radiation from mobile phone systems on brain functions, Tampere University of Technology 6. Cellular phones and brain tumour risk: assessment of sources of error, STUK 7. Development of radio-frequency dosimetry, STUK 8. Computational dosimetry of RF exposure cases, VTT 9. In-vivo estimation of tissue permittivity, Tampere University of Technology 10. Interaction of mobile phones with superficial implants, University of Kuopio 11. Tissue heating close to implants by mobile phone, University of Kuopio 12. Identification of protein targets of mobile phone radiation in human volunteers, STUK 13. Effects of RF radiation on cellular oxidative stress: Consequences on genotoxicity and apoptosis, University of Kuopio

Thermophysiological and cardiovascular responses of human subjects exposed to RF fields from mobile phones, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 4.

5 Wireless Communication and Health (WIRECOM) Sub-projects: 1. Thermal effects of RF fields in head area (FIOH) 2. Effects of mobile phone electromagnetic field on human brain: PET-study (Turku Univ.) 3. RF dosimetry for biological studies (STUK) 4. Cohort study on mobile phone users and health (COSMOS)(STUK)

Effects of mobile phone electromagnetic field on human brain: PET-study

6 FIOH study (WIRECOM)

7 FIOH project Subjects: y boys (N=26) and y men (N=33) RF-exposure: 2 W/kg for boys 4 W/kg for adults Decreasing trend in total Hb content in frontal area in adult group No changes in teenage group

8 Eurobarometer 2010

9 Environmental factors

10 Mobile phone masts

11 Mobile phone handsets

12 Risks versus Benefits

13 Case 1 A woman jogging on a seaside running tracks suddenly sank right down to the wet and saggy ground in Turku. She was not able to move her feet immersed into the sand, but succeeded in digging the cell phone out of her pocket, and called emergency services. Later, the rescue divers waded to the woman and to pulled her out of the muddy sand.

She was not able to move her feet immersed into the sand, but succeeded in digging the

14 Case 2 6-year-old boy fell into an ill-protected rain-water well in Kuopio. The well had not a cover, but the aperture mask was set on a thin strip of plastic. The boy fell about three metres, but survived. At the well bottom, the boy dug of his pocket his cell phone and alerted the fire brigade, who brought him up the narrow tunnel.

The boy fell about three metres, but survived.

15 Case 3 8-year-old girl, returning from school to home, was kidnapped by a young man and carried by his car to a cottage, where her hands and feet were roped together. After that, the man left back to his workplace. Luckily, the girl had a mobile phone with her, and she managed to use it, and to call her mother. The emergency services found the girl inside the cottage, at 15 km away from her home.

After that, the man left back to his workplace.

EMR Exposure Limits & Assessment Methods for Mobile Phone Communications. Lindsay Martin Manager, Non-Ionising Radiation Section

EMR Exposure Limits & Assessment Methods for Mobile Phone Communications Lindsay Martin Manager, Non-Ionising Radiation Section Introduction How can we use Wireless Communication Safely? Wireless communication