EHP: e-m-f Exposure Assessments

Liorni I, et al. COMPUTATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PREGNANT WOMAN MODELS EXPOSED

TO UNIFORM ELF-MAGNETIC FIELDS: COMPLIANCE WITH THE EUROPEAN CURRENT
EXPOSURE REGULATIONS FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES
AT 50 Hz. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, vol. 172, no. 4, 2016, pp. 382-92.
• For general public, exposure of pregnant women and fetus always resulted in compliance with
EU Recommendation. For occupational exposures, (1) Electric fields in pregnant women were
in compliance with the Directive, with exposure variations due to fetal posture of <10 %, (2)
electric fields in fetuses are lower than the occupational limits, with exposure variations due to
fetal posture of >40 % in head tissues, (3) Electric fields in fetal CNS tissues of head are above
the ICNIRP 2010 limits for general public at 1 mT (in 7 and 9 months gestational age) and at 6
mT (in all gestational ages).

Fernandez-Rodriguez, C.E., A.A.A. De Salles and Devra Lee Davis. “Dosimetric Simulations of Brain
Absorption of Mobile Phone Radiation–The Relationship Between psSAR and Age.” IEEE Access,
vol.3, 2015, pp.2425-30.
• A young child’s skull is not only smaller and thinner than an adult’s, but also has dielectric
characteristics closer to those of soft tissues, probably due to a higher water content. The young
skull better matches the electromagnetic characteristics of the skin and brain. As a result, finite-
difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations confirm field penetration and higher specific
absorption rate (SAR) in deeper structures in the young brain.
• If the peak spatial SAR (psSAR) is modeled in the entire head, as current testing standards
recommend, the results for adults and children are equivalent.
• Our anatomically based evaluations rely on FDTD simulations of different tissues within the
brain and confirm that the psSAR in a child’s brain is higher than in an adult’s brain.

Ferreira, Juliana Borges, and Álvaro Augusto Almeida de Salles. “Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in
the head of Tablet users.” 7th Latin American Workshop On Communications, 2015.
• The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the head of tablet user’s was simulated for three
different head models and compared with available international recommendations.
• All results were below the safety recommendations set up by the International Commission
Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Federal Communications Committee
(FCC). Among the heterogeneous models, the highest peak spatial Specific Absorption Rate
(psSAR) values were estimated for the children. For 1 g psSAR the child heterogeneous model
shows highest value in comparison to the SAM model.

Ferreira, Juliana Borges, Alvaro Augusto Almeida de Salles and Claudio Enrique Fernandez-Rodriguez.
“SAR simulations of EMF exposure due to tablet operation close to the user’s body.” Microwave and
Optoelectronics Conference, 2015.
• This paper describes an analysis of the interaction between the electromagnetic field generated
by a tablet with three different models of human heads: a homogeneous model Specific
Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM) and two heterogeneous models: an adult man and a child.
The assessing dosimetric parameters used are the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) computed by
 SEMCAD X. The distance between the tablet and the head models varies from 50 mm to 200
mm. The SAR decreases with the distance.
• The authors conclude in their paper that, “These devices may be used for many hours each day
by adults, adolescents and children, several days a week, and many months each year.
Therefore, special precautionary procedures should be taken in order to avoid health risks due to
long periods of exposure.”

Gandhi, Om. Yes the Children are more exposed to radio-frequency energy from mobile telephones
than adults. IEEE Spectrum, vol. 3, 2015, pp. 985-8.
• In this paper we present arguments based on physics that the main reason for higher exposure of
children (also women and men with smaller heads and likely thinner pinnae) to radiofrequency
energy from mobile phones is the closer placement of the cell phone radiation source by several
millimeters to the tissues of the head, e.g. the brain.

Morris, Robert D., Lloyd L. Morgan, and Devra L. Davis. “Children Absorb Higher Doses of Radio
Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation From Mobile Phones Than Adults.” IEEE Access, vol. 3, 2015,
pp. 2379-87.
• Foster and Chou (2014) reviewed published studies that used computer models of radio-
frequency electromagnetic fields to estimate and compare the tissue dose rate in the heads of
children and adults using mobile phones. Their review confuses exposure with absorption, and
the study results conclude erroneously that children are not more exposed than adults.
• This study shows that the Foster and Chou review was not executed systematically. There are
discrepancies between text summaries and the graphed ratios of child: adult peak special
specific absorption rate, in line with the author’s hypothesis that children have the same or
lower tissue dose than adults. Even the underlying precept of their review is flawed, as the
results of deterministic models are treated as random variables.
• This paper discusses the differences between exposure and tissue absorption and re-examines
the results presented by Foster and Chou. Based upon this review, the authors suggest an
alternative interpretation of the published literature.

Panagopoulos, Dimitris J., Olle Johansson, and George L. Carlo. “Real versus simulated mobile phone
exposures in experimental studies.” BioMedical Research International, vol. 2015, no. 607053, 2015.
• This study examined whether exposures to mobile phone radiation in biological/clinical
experiments should be performed with real-life Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) emitted by
commercially available mobile phone handsets, instead of simulated EMFs emitted by
generators or test phones.
• Real mobile phone emissions are constantly and unpredictably varying and thus are very
different from simulated emissions which employ fixed parameters and no variability. This
variability is an important parameter that makes real emissions more bioactive. Living
organisms seem to have decreased defense against environmental stressors of high variability.
• While experimental studies employing simulated EMF-emissions present a strong inconsistency
among their results with less than 50% of them reporting effects, studies employing real mobile
phone exposures demonstrate an almost 100% consistency in showing adverse effects. This
consistency is in agreement with studies showing association with brain tumors, symptoms of
 unwellness, and declines in animal populations.
• We conclude that, in order for experimental findings to reflect reality, it is crucially important
that exposures be performed by commercially available mobile phone handsets.

Redmayne M, and O. Johansson. “Radiofrequency exposure in young and old: different sensitivities in
light of age-relevant natural differences.” Reviews in Environmental Health, vol. 30, no. 4, 2015, pp.
323-35.
• First, we identified the literature which has explored age-specific pathophysiological impacts of
RF-EMR. Natural life-span changes relevant to these different impacts provides context for our
review of the selected literature, followed by discussion of health and well-being implications.
• We conclude that age-dependent RF-EMR study results, when considered in the context of
developmental stage, indicate increased specific vulnerabilities in the young (fetus to
adolescent), the elderly, and those with cancer. There appears to be at least one mechanism other
than the known thermal mechanism causing different responses to RF-EMR depending upon the
exposure parameters, the cell/physiological process involved, and according to age and health
status. As well as personal health and quality-of-life impacts, an aging population means there
are economic implications for public health and policy.

Cabot, E. et al. “Quantification of RF-exposure of the fetus using anatomical CAD-models in three
different gestational stages.” Health Physics, vol. 107, no. 5, 2014, pp. 369-81.
• This study analyzes the exposure of pregnant women and their fetuses in three different
gestational stages to electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range in the near- and the
far-field using numerical modeling.
• When applying the reference levels for the general public, researchers found that the fetus is
sufficiently shielded by the mother. However, the basic restrictions for general public exposure
can be exceeded in the fetus when the mother is exposed at reference levels for occupational
conditions.
• For plane wave exposure at occupational levels, the whole body SAR in the fetus can exceed
the basic restrictions for the general population by at least 1.8 dB, and in the near-field of
professional devices, the 10 g SAR can be non-compliant with the product standard for the
general public by > 3.5 dB.

Pizzaro, Y.A.A., et al. “Specific absorption rate (SAR) in the head of Google glasses and Bluetooth
user’s.” IEEE Latin-America Conference on Communications, 2014.
• Authors considered and simulated the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for two popular wireless
communication devices – Bluetooth and Google glasses – using three different head models
(SAM phantom, 34 year old adults, and 10 year old child). The resulting SAR was then
compared with international recommendations.
• The simulations were performed using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method and
the frequency used to feed the antennas was 2.45 GHz.The resulting SAR was then compared
with international recommendations.

Verloock, Leen, et al. “Assessment of Radio Frequency Exposures in Schools, Homes, and Public
Places in Belgium.” Health Physics, vol. 107, no. 6, 2014, pp. 503-13.
• 94% of the broadband measurements were below 1 V/m. The average and maximal total
electric-field values in schools, homes, and public places, were 0.2 and 3.2 V/m (WiFi), 0.1 and
1.1 V/m (telecommunication), and 0.6 and 2.4 V/m (telecommunication), respectively, while for
offices, average and maximal exposure was 0.9 and 3.3 V/m (telecommunication), satisfying the
ICNIRP reference levels.
• In the considered schools, the highest maximal and average field values were due to internal
signals (WiFi). In the considered homes, public places, and offices, the highest maximal and
average field values originated from telecommunication signals.

Gultekin, David H. and Lothar Moeller. “NMR imaging of cell phone radiation absorption in brain
tissue.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 1, 2013, pp. 58-63.
• This study described a method for measuring absorbed electromagnetic energy radiated from
cell phone antennae into ex vivo brain tissue. The proposed application of NMR thermometry
offers sufficient spatial and temporal resolution to characterize the hot spots from absorbed cell
phone radiation in aqueous media and biological tissues.
• Specific absorption rate measurements averaged over 1 mg and 10 s in the brain tissue cover the
total absorption volume. Reference measurements with fiber optic temperature sensors confirm
the accuracy of the NMR thermometry.

Bellieni et. al. “Exposure to electromagnetic fields from laptop use of “laptop” computers.” Archives of
Environmental and Occupational Health, vol. 67, no. 1, 2012, pp. 31-6.
• The authors measured electromagnetic fields (EMFs) laptop computers produce and estimated
the induced currents in the body, to assess the safety of laptop computers.
• When close to the body, the laptop induces currents that are within 34.2% to 49.8% ICNIRP
recommendations, but not negligible, to the adult’s body and to the fetus (in pregnant women).
On the contrary, the power supply induces strong intracorporal electric current densities in the
fetus and in the adult subject, which are respectively 182-263% and 71-483% higher than
ICNIRP 98 basic restriction recommended to prevent adverse health effects.

Gandhi, O.P., et al. “Exposure limits: the underestimation of absorbed cell phone radiation, especially
in children.” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, vol. 31, no. 1, 2012.
• The existing cell phone certification process uses a plastic model of the head called the Specific
Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM), representing the top 10% of U.S. military recruits in
1989 and greatly underestimating the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for typical mobile phone
users, especially children.
• Radiofrequency (RF) exposure to a head smaller than SAM will absorb a relatively higher SAR.
Also, SAM uses a fluid having the average electrical properties of the head that cannot indicate
differential absorption of specific brain tissue, nor absorption in children or smaller adults. The
SAR for a 10-year old is up to 153% higher than the SAR for the SAM model. When electrical
properties are considered, a child’s head’s absorption can be over two times greater, and
absorption of the skull’s bone marrow can be ten times greater than adults.
• Therefore, a new certification process is needed that incorporates different modes of use, head
sizes, and tissue properties. Anatomically based models should be employed in revising safety
 standards for these ubiquitous modern devices and standards should be set by accountable,
independent groups.

“Sound Exposure and Risk Assessment of Wireless Network Devices.” European Commission, 2012.
• The highest exposures found were due to the use of a mobile phone as a wireless access point
with the phone in contact with the body. In this configuration, the maximum exposure may even
exceed safety limits by a factor of two or more, depending on the phone model.
• The estimated mean exposure at the highest data rate is also higher than that of the phone used
in talk mode. Therefore, the most effective way for people to reduce exposure is to keep the
phone, while tethering, at least 50 mm away from the body (e.g., in a bag) or, even better, more
than 200 mm away (e.g., on the table).

Bakker, J. F., et al. “Assessment of Induced SAR in children Exposed to Electromagnetic Plane Waves
Between 10 MHz and 5.6 GHz.” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 55, no. 11, 2010, pp. 3115-30.
• The objective of this study was to assess if the SAR in children remains below the basic
restrictions upon exposure at the reference levels.
• Researchers found that the basic restriction on the SAR wb is occasionally exceeded for
children, up to a maximum of 45% in small children. The maximum SAR 10g values, usually
found at body protrusions, remain under the limit for all scenarios studied.

Christ A, et al. “Age-dependent tissue-specific exposure of cell phone users.” Physics in Medicine and
Biology, vol. 55, no. 7, 2010, pp. 1767-83.
• In this study, we compare the absorption in various parts of the cortex for different magnetic
resonance imaging-based head phantoms of adults and children exposed to different models of
mobile phones.
• The results show that the locally induced fields in children can be significantly higher (>3 dB)
in subregions of the brain (cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus) and the eye due to the
closer proximity of the phone to these tissues. The increase is even larger for bone marrow (>10
dB) as a result of its significantly high conductivity.

Findlay, R. P., and P. J. Dimbylow. “SAR in a child voxel phantom from exposure to wireless computer
networks (Wi-Fi).” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 55, no. 15, 2010, pp. N405-11.
• In all situations studied, the SAR values calculated were considerably below basic restrictions.
This represents less than 1% of the SAR previously calculated in the head for a typical mobile
phone exposure condition.

Markovà E, L. Malmgren and I. Belyaev. “Microwaves from Mobile Phones Inhibit 53BP1 Focus
Formation in Human Stem Cells More Strongly Than in Differentiated Cells: Possible Mechanistic
Link to Cancer Risk.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 3, 2010, pp. 394–9.
• Researchers studied whether microwaves from mobile telephones of the Global System for
Mobile Communication (GSM) and the Universal Global Telecommunications System (UMTS)
 induce DSBs or affect DSB repair in stem cells.
• The strongest microwave effects were always observed in stem cells. This result may suggest
both significant misbalance in DSB repair and severe stress response. Our findings that stem
cells are most sensitive to microwave exposure and react to more frequencies than do
differentiated cells may be important for cancer risk assessment and indicate that stem cells are
the most relevant cellular model for validating safe mobile communication signals.”

Peyman, A., S. Holden, and C. Gabriel. “Dielectric Properties of Tissues at Microwave Frequencies.”
Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme, 2009.
• This project consolidated and added to the knowledge of tissue dielectric data by providing a
literature review of all relevant papers published in the past decade, and obtaining, analysing
and making available extensive, novel, experimental data acquired from measurement on live
animals and on tissue excised from animals at various stages of growth and development.
• The results of hte age study showed that while the dielectric properties of grey matter does not
change with age, other tissues such as white matter and spinal cord vary significantly.
Specifically, study results found that the dielectric parameters (permittivity and equivalent
conductivity) in children’s brains are greater (around 10 to 20% higher) in comparison to those
in the adults brains, and therefore greater SAR is estimated in the children’s brains.
• The outcome of this study increased understanding of the variation of dielectric properties with
age and motivated research on aqueous ionic solutions that proved to be of academic as well as
practical interest.

Peyman, A., et al. “Variation of the dielectric properties of tissues with age: the effect on the values of
SAR in children when exposed to walkie–talkie devices.” Physics in Biology and Medicine, vol. 54, no.
2, 2009, pp. 227–41.
• In vitro dielectric properties of ageing porcine tissues were measured in the frequency range of
50 MHz-20 GHz, and the total combined uncertainties of the measurements were assessed.
• The results show statistically significant reduction with age in both permittivity and
conductivity of 10 out of 15 measured tissues. At microwave frequencies, the observed
variations are mainly due to the reduction in the water content of tissues as an animal ages.

Kühn S, et al. “Assessment of induced radio-frequency electromagnetic fields in various anatomical

human body models.” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 54, no. 4, 2009, pp. 875-90.
• The reference levels for testing compliance of human exposure with radio-frequency (RF)
safety limits have been derived from very simplified models of the human. In order to validate
these findings for anatomical models, we investigated the absorption characteristics for various
anatomies ranging from 6 year old child to large adult male by numerical modeling.
• Our findings suggest that the reference levels of current electromagnetic (EM) safety guidelines
for demonstrating compliance as well as some of the current measurement standards are not
consistent with the basic restrictions and need to be revised.

Wiart, J., et al. “Analysis of RF Exposure in the Head Tissues of Children and Adults.” Physics in
Medicine and Biology, vol. 53, no. 13, 2008.
 • “This paper analyzes the radio frequencies (RF) exposure in the head tissues of children using a
cellular handset or RF sources (a dipole and a generic handset) at 900, 1800, 2100 and 2400
MHz.”
• “The maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) over 10 g in the head was analyzed in seven
child and six adult heterogeneous head models. The simulations performed show that the
differences between the maximum SAR over 10 g estimated in the head models of the adults
and the ones of the children are small compared to the standard deviations. But they indicate
that the maximum SAR in 1 g of peripheral brain tissues of the child models aged between 5
and 8 years is about two times higher than in adult models. This difference is not observed for
the child models of children above 8 years old: the maximum SAR in 1 g of peripheral brain
tissues is about the same as the one in adult models. Such differences can be explained by the
lower thicknesses of pinna, skin and skull of the younger child models.”

De Salles, A. A., Bulla, G., Rodriguez, C. E. “Electromagnetic absorption in the head of adults and
children due to mobile phone operation close to the head.” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, vol.
25, no. 4, 2006, pp. 349–360.
• The authors simulated the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) produced by mobile phones in the
head of adults and children using an algorithm based on the Finite Difference Time Domain
(FDTD) method, using realistic models of the child and adult head.
• The frequencies used to feed the antennas were 1850 MHz and 850 MHz and the SAR results
were compared with the available international recommendations.
• Researchers show that under similar conditions, the 1g-SAR calculated for children is higher
than that for the adults. When using the 10-year old child model, SAR values higher than 60%
than those for adults are obtained.

Gandhi, O.P., G. Lazzi, and C. M. Furse. “Electromagnetic absorption in the human head and neck for
mobile telephones at 835 and 1900 MHz.” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques,
vol. 44, no. 10, 1996, pp. 1884-97.
• Authors used the finite-difference time-domain method and a new millimeter-resolution
anatomically based model of the human to study electromagnetic energy coupled to the head
due to mobile telephones at 835 and 1900 MHz.
• Assuming reduced dimensions characteristic of today’s mobile telephones, the authors have
obtained SAR distributions for two different lengths of monopole antennas of lengths /spl
lambda//4 and 3/spl lambda//8 for a model of the adult male and reduced-scale models of 10-
and 5-year-old children and find that peak one-voxel and 1-g SARs are larger for the smaller
models of children, particularly at 835 MHz. Homogeneous models(instead of anatomically
realistic heterogeneous models) on the SAR distributions are shown to grossly overestimate
both the peak 1-voxel and 1-g SARs.
• The authors showed that 5-year-old and 10-year-old children have higher psSARs (peak spatial
specific absorption rate) than adults.