Accidental exposure to electromagnetic fields from the radar of a naval ship; a descriptive study

Part of a crew on a Norwegian naval ship was exposed to the radar waves for approximately 7 min from an American destroyer during an incident at sea in August 2012. Information about the exposure was not given by the navy. This is a description of what happened with the crew on board after this event. 14 persons had been on the ship bridge or outside on the deck during the exposure and the rest of the crew had been inside the ship. 27 persons were examined at a hospital 6–8 months after the event, as they had developeda large number of symptoms from different organ systems. They were very worried about all types of possible adverse health effects due to the incident. All were examined by an occupational physician and anophthalmologist, by an interview, clinical examinations and blood tests at the hospital. The interview of the personnel revealed that they had not experienced any major heating during the episode. Their symptoms developed days or weeks after the radar exposure. They had no objective signs of adverse health effects at the examination related to the incident. Long-term health effect from the exposure is highly unlikely. The development of different symptoms after the incident was probably due to the fear of possible health consequences. Better routines for such incidents at sea should be developed to avoid this type of anxiety.publishedVersio

Accidental exposure to electromagnetic fields from the radar of a naval ship: a descriptive study

Part of a crew on a Norwegian naval ship was exposed to the radar waves for approximately 7 min from an American destroyer during an incident at sea in August 2012. Information about the exposure was not given by the navy. This is a description of what happened with the crew on board after this event. 14 persons had been on the ship bridge or outside on the deck during the exposure and the rest of the crew had been inside the ship. 27 persons were examined at a hospital 6–8 months after the event, as they had developeda large number of symptoms from different organ systems. They were very worried about all types of possible adverse health effects due to the incident. All were examined by an occupational physician and anophthalmologist, by an interview, clinical examinations and blood tests at the hospital. The interview of the personnel revealed that they had not experienced any major heating during the episode. Their symptoms developed days or weeks after the radar exposure. They had no objective signs of adverse health effects at the examination related to the incident. Long-term health effect from the exposure is highly unlikely. The development of different symptoms after the incident was probably due to the fear of possible health consequences. Better routines for such incidents at sea should be developed to avoid this type of anxiety

Neurological effect of mobile phone, 2005

Epidemiological studies have shown a statistical link between mobile phone use and the occurrence of various symptoms. Aside from the discomfort due to heating on and around the ear is the headache symptom most often associated with cell phone use in a Norwegian-Swedish study. Highlights: In this study we wanted to investigate whether the RF fields from GSM phones had significance for headache and other symptoms and blood pressure and pulse rate. We wanted to conduct an experiment with a high probability of revealing a correlation, if it exists. Subjects who regularly had experienced headaches or discomfort in the head in close connection with mobile phone use, but not responded to other electrical equipment, were invited to a laboratory test where they learned that they were subjected to "mobile phone radiation" and only those who had similar symptoms they usually had the use of mobile phones were included. A total of 17 people participated in repeated attempts. We conducted a total of 75 tests with radiofrequency fields and 75 without. Instead of using a phone directly, we headed the RF signal from the phone to antennas mounted close your ears to the test person. In this way we achieved to expose a relatively large at around ørtet to increase the chance that a potential sensitive organ would be affected. The experiment was conducted double blind and other matters that could affect the results was checked. Main findings: Tests in which subjects were not exposed to the radiofrequency fields resulted in stronger symptoms than tests with field, but the differences were not statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the two exposure conditions in terms of type hopdine, page or localization ringing headaches. Similarly, we found that subjects were not able to detect when they were exposed and not, and we also found no significant effect on blood pressure or pulse rate. Our result agrees with the results of other similar studies. It is possible that the expectation headache may explain why the subjects had symptoms too without being exposed. Such noceboeffekt is a well documented mechanism to induce symptoms similar to the placebo effect makes a fresher. We assume that noceboeffekten also to some extent explain the symptoms that some people experience when they use mobile phone in everyday life. NSD1261-1: D-form, diary. NSD1261-2: E-form. NSD1261-3: SPSS-B1. NSD1261-4: SPSS-FG-analysis-00

Methodological limitations in experimental studies on symptom development in individuals with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) - a systematic review

Background Hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields (EMF) is a controversial condition. While individuals with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) claim to experience health complaints upon EMF exposure, many experimental studies have found no convincing evidence for a physical relation. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate methodological limitations in experimental studies on symptom development in IEI-EMF individuals that might have fostered false positive or false negative results. Furthermore, we compared the profiles of these limitations between studies with positive and negative results. Methods The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guided the methodological conduct and reporting. Eligible were blinded experimental studies that exposed individuals with IEI-EMF to different EMF exposure levels and queried the development of symptoms during or after each exposure trial. Strengths and limitations in design, conduct and analysis of individual studies were assessed using a customized rating tool. Results Twenty-eight studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. In many studies, both with positive and negative results, we identified methodological limitations that might have either fostered false or masked real effects of exposure. The most common limitations were related to the selection of study participants, the counterbalancing of the exposure sequence and the effectiveness of blinding. Many studies further lacked statistical power estimates. Methodically sound studies indicated that an effect of exposure is unlikely. Conclusion Overall, the evidence points towards no effect of exposure. If physical effects exist, previous findings suggest that they must be very weak or affect only few individuals with IEI-EMF. Given the evidence that the nocebo effect or medical/mental disorders may explain the symptoms in many individuals with IEI-EMF, additional research is required to identify the various factors that may be important for developing IEI-EMF and for provoking the symptoms. We recommend the identification of subgroups and exploring IEI-EMF in the context of other idiopathic environmental intolerances. If further experimental studies are conducted, they should preferably be performed at the individual level. In particular, to increase the likelihood of detecting hypersensitive individuals, if they exist, we encourage researchers to achieve a high credibility of the results by minimizing sources of risk of bias and imprecision

Hearing loss in the royal Norwegian navy: a cross-sectional study

Objectives Prior studies have indicated a high prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among Navy personnel; however, it is not clear whether this is caused by work on board. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of hearing loss among Navy personnel in the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN), and to investigate whether there is an association between work on board RNoN vessels and occurrence of hearing loss. Methods Navy personnel currently working on board RNoN vessels were recruited to complete a questionnaire on noise exposure and health followed by pure tone audiometry. Hearing loss was defined as hearing threshold levels ≥25 dB in either ear at the frequencies 3,000, 4,000 or 6,000 Hz. Hearing thresholds were adjusted for age and gender using ISO 7029. Results The prevalence of hearing loss among Navy personnel was 31.4 %. The work exposure variables: years of work in the Navy, years on vessel(s) in the Navy and years of sailing in the Navy were associated with reduced hearing after adjusting for age, gender and otitis as an adult. Among the work exposure variables, years of sailing in the Navy was the strongest predictor of reduced hearing, and significantly reduced hearing was found at the frequencies 1,000, 3,000 and 4,000 Hz. Conclusions Our results indicate that time spent on board vessels in the RNoN is a predictor of reduced hearing

Accidental exposure to electromagnetic fields from the radar of a naval ship; a descriptive study

Part of a crew on a Norwegian naval ship was exposed to the radar waves for approximately 7 min from an American destroyer during an incident at sea in August 2012. Information about the exposure was not given by the navy. This is a description of what happened with the crew on board after this event. 14 persons had been on the ship bridge or outside on the deck during the exposure and the rest of the crew had been inside the ship. 27 persons were examined at a hospital 6–8 months after the event, as they had developeda large number of symptoms from different organ systems. They were very worried about all types of possible adverse health effects due to the incident. All were examined by an occupational physician and anophthalmologist, by an interview, clinical examinations and blood tests at the hospital. The interview of the personnel revealed that they had not experienced any major heating during the episode. Their symptoms developed days or weeks after the radar exposure. They had no objective signs of adverse health effects at the examination related to the incident. Long-term health effect from the exposure is highly unlikely. The development of different symptoms after the incident was probably due to the fear of possible health consequences. Better routines for such incidents at sea should be developed to avoid this type of anxiety

Review of human experimental RF EMF studies published in the period 2011-2015

International audienceIn the ongoing task of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop Environment Health Criteria (EHC) for radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF), literature published after 1991 will be included. This presentation focus on studies that have been published in the period 2011-2015. Studies that complied with the predefined inclusion criteria include outcomes related to cognitive performance, brain electrical activity, brain metabolism and blood flow, symptoms, well-being and exposure detection, cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems and temperature. For most endpoints only a few studies suggested a possible effect of exposure, while for electrical brain activity, effects were suggested in most studies