Those ICNIRP (International Comission of Non-Ionising Radiation 'Protection') guidance levels [1],[2] for electromagnetic radiation exposure are ridicuouly (and dangerously) high in our environment.
Please, watch the marvellous 'A Radiant Day' video. It describes the historical origins of ICNIRP guidance levels. Video contains also interesting interviews: Igor Belyaev, Eva Markova, Gerd Oberfeld, John Osepchuck, Michael Repacholi, etc.
Description of the Norwegian TV NRK1 video
Update 7th March 2009: Dr Neil Cherry once wrote:
"The standard based on the ICNIRP Guidelines is focused on avoiding tissue heating, not based on biological and epidemiological evidence. The maintenance of the standard is obtained by ignoring or rejecting any and all evidence that contradicts it."
I am amazed how accurate his following critique of ICNIRP is now, almost ten years after the first publication!
UPDATE: Critic of the ICNIRP and the International EMF-Project at the WHO - collected:
http://www.chronicexposure.org/limitsICNIRP.html
As you propably know those ICNIRP-guidance levels only protect from tissue heating. They don't consider following elements that affect human health:
- wavelength/frequency
- near field/far field
- overall duration of exposure (continuous, interrupted), acute and chronic exposures
- polarization (linear, circular)
- continues wave (CW) and pulsed fields
(pulse repetition rate, pulse width or duty cycle, pulse shape, pulse to average power, etc.)
- modulation (amplitude, frequency, phase, complex)
- static magnetic field at the place of exposure
- electromagnetic stray field
Update 28th July 2009: Professor Karl Hecht was perhaps the first person (with Ross Adey and Yuri Grigoriev) who understood how artificial and unrealistic those thermal-only ICNIRP guidance levels are. If you happen to read/understand German, you will perhaps enjoy his steel-hard argumentation [1],[2],[3],[4]. The English version is shorter, but still thought-provoking [1].
And the too high, chronic exposure will most likely cause:
1. Calcium Ion Efflux (CIE) [1],[2],[3].
2. Breakage of Blood-Brain Barrier [1],[2],[3]
3. Pineal Gland dysfunction that affects melatonin and serotonin production [1],[2]
4. Dysfunction of Lymphocytes and their ability to repair DNA[1]
5. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation that breaks DNA [1]
Please, do your best to advice your representative in the parliament to drop those ultra-high ICNIRP guidance levels (2.000.000 - 10.000.000 uW/m2)
to
less harmful level : 1000 uW/m2 (outdoor) and 100 uW/m2 (indoor).
[requested by European Parliament and BioInitiative and professor Neil Cherry].
Any comments on the video?
Awesome post!! Thanks for the video link!
Posted by: Mihkel | February 07, 2009 at 01:14 AM
Hi Mikko,
Your blog is awesome. I am recommending it to my friends and family who share an interest in EMF, etc. Today was the day a lot of American TV stations switched to digital broadcasts, and everyone I have asked about this, including me, has a bit of a headache today :(. Searching about this led me here, and to reading a lot of great stuff. I'm hopeful my headache and sudden vagueness will get better, but it looks like there is a lot of work to be done...
Your blog presents so much new reading material, it is almost intimidating :). But please keep up the good work!
Posted by: Ben | February 18, 2009 at 06:15 AM
Hi Mihkel
Thanks for commenting. I updated my posting with Neil Cherry's critique of ICNIRP. You might find it interesting ;-)
Cheers
Mikko
Posted by: PhD Mikko Ahonen | March 07, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Greetings Ben
Good point. I have a feeling that headaches that people got when new mobile services are launced are not just random or psychosomatic.
Our body/brain react to changes in our environment.
First, see my base stations and health risks review:
www.uta.fi/~mikko.ahonen/riski-extra.htm#_Toc197567399
The papers of Hutter et al. (2006) and Abdel-Rassoul et al. (2007) and Santini et al. (2003) might be interesting. If you have difficulties in accessing them, please, let me know.
Secondly, there is documentation available that indicates poor health when new services were launced:
- Arthur Firstenberg describes the launch of mobile services in New York and how people got ill: www.mindfully.org/Technology/2004/Electromagnetic-Fields-EMF1jun04.htm
- Olle Johansson and Örjan Hallberg wrote about the declining health in connection to new mobile services launch.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15548949
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19211231 --> Check those figures in the document!
Many people don't take Arthur Firstenberg or Olle Johansson seriously. What if they are right? They have tried to warn policy makers for years. And only a minority listens :-\
Take care
Mikko
Posted by: PhD Mikko Ahonen | March 07, 2009 at 07:29 AM