The present study examined the effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation emitted by a standard GSM phone at 890 MHz on human cognitive functions. This study attempted to establish a connection between the exposure of a specific area of the brain and the cognitive functions associated with that area. A total of 36 healthy right-handed male subjects performed four distinct cognitive tasks: spatial item recognition, verbal item recognition, and two spatial compatibility tasks. Tasks were chosen according to the brain side they are assumed to activate. All subjects performed the tasks under three exposure conditions: right side, left side, and sham exposure. The phones were controlled by a base station simulator and operated at their full power. We have recorded the reaction times (RTs) and accuracy of the responses. The experiments consisted of two sections, of 1 h each, with a 5 min break in between. The tasks and the exposure regimes were counterbalanced. The results indicated that the exposure of the left side of the brain slows down the left-hand response time, in the second-laterpart of the experiment. This effect was apparent in three of the four tasks, and was highly significant in only one of the tests. The exposure intensity and its duration exceeded the common exposure of cellular phone users.

This study examined the time dependence effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) emitted by standard GSM cellular phones on the cognitive functions of humans. A total of 48 healthy right-handed male subjects performed a spatial working memory task (that required either a left-hand or a right-hand response) while being exposed to one of two GSM phones placed at both sides of the head. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups. Each group was exposed to one of three exposure conditions: left-side of the head, right-side, or sham-exposure. The experiment consisted of 12 blocks of trials. Response times (RTs) and accuracy of the responses were recorded. It was found that the average RT of the right-hand responses under left-side exposure condition was significantly longer than those of the right-side and sham-exposure groups averaged together during the first two time blocks. These results confirmed the existence of an effect of exposure on RT, as well as the fact that exposure duration (together with the responding hand and the side of exposure) may play an important role in producing detectable RFR effects on performance. Differences in these parameters might be the reason for the failure of certain studies to detect or replicate RFR effects.

This study characterizes extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic field (MF) levels in 10 car models. Extensive measurements were conducted in three diesel, four gasoline, and three hybrid cars, under similar controlled conditions and negligible background fields. Averaged over all four seats under various driving scenarios the fields were lowest in diesel cars (0.02 μT), higher for gasoline (0.04–0.05 μT) and highest in hybrids (0.06–0.09 μT), but all were in-line with daily exposures from other sources. Hybrid cars had the highest mean and 95th percentile MF levels, and an especially large percentage of measurements above 0.2 μT. These parameters were also higher for moving conditions compared to standing while idling or revving at 2500 RPM and higher still at 80 km/h compared to 40 km/h. Fields in non-hybrid cars were higher at the front seats, while in hybrid cars they were higher at the back seats, particularly the back right seat where 16%–69% of measurements were greater than 0.2 μT. As our results do not include low frequency fields (below 30 Hz) that might be generated by tire rotation, we suggest that net currents flowing through the cars’ metallic chassis may be a possible source of MF. Larger surveys in standardized and well-described settings should be conducted with different types of vehicles and with spectral analysis of fields including lower frequencies due to magnetization of tires.

Relatively high exposures to radiofrequency (RF) fields can occur in the broadcast, medical, and communications industries, as well in occupations that use RF emitting equipment (e.g. law enforcement). Information on exposure to workers employed in these industries and occupations is limited. We present results of an Israeli National Survey of occupational RF field levels at frequencies between ~100 kHz and 40 GHz, representing Industrial Heating, Communications, Radar, Research, and Medicine. Almost 4300 measurements from 900 sources across 25 occupations were recorded and categorised as 'routine', 'incidental', or 'unintended'. The occupation-specific geometric means (GMs) of the percentage of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit values (TLVs) for each of the three exposure scenarios are presented together with the geometric standard deviation (GSD). Additionally, we present estimates of occupation-specific annual personal exposures and collective exposures. The vast majority of the GM of routine exposures ranged from a fraction to less than 1% of ACGIH TLVs, except for Walkie-Talkie (GM 94% of ACGIH), Induction Heating (17%), Plastic Welding (11%), Industrial Heating (6%) and Diathermy (6%). The GM of incidental and unintended exposures exceeded the TLV for one and 14 occupations, respectively. In many cases, the within-occupation GSD was very large, and though the medians remained below TLV, variable fractions of these occupations were projected to exceed the TLV. In rank order, Walkie-Talkie, Plastic Welding, and Induction Heating workers had the highest annual cumulative personal exposure. For cumulative collective exposures within an occupation, Walkie-Talkie dominated with 96.3% of the total, reflecting both large population and high personal exposure. A brief exceedance of the TLV does not automatically translate to hazard as RF exposure limits (issued by various bodies, including ACGIH) include a 10-fold safety factor relative to thermal thresholds and are based on a 6 min averaging period.

To advance our understanding of an association between exposure to power frequency magnetic fields (MFs) and the risk of childhood leukemia, we should conduct a study that is convincingly free of selection and response bias, with highly accurate exposure assessment and a large number of highly exposed individuals. Previous measurements revealed that MF in apartments located above internal transformer stations (ITSs) are higher than in other apartments in the same building. An international epidemiologic study of childhood leukemia, TransExpo, was designed to take advantage of this scenario. This article presents the results of an exposure assessment study performed in apartment buildings with ITS in Israel. Measurements were performed in 41 apartments within 10 buildings. Average MF at the height of 0.5 m was 0.40 mT in apartments above the ITS and 0.06-0.12 mT in all other apartments. These results confirm that classification of MF exposure based on apartment location is feasible with remarkable specificity (0.98 and 0.96 for cutoff points of 0.2 and 0.4 mT, respectively) and sensitivity (1.00 for both cutoff points). Because the location of an apartment relative to the ITS can be easily determined, an exposure assessment can reliably be performed without obtaining access to residences.