Author: SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields Research 2018:09Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk Twelfth report from SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2017 Report number: 2018:09 ISSN: 2000-0456 Available at www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se SSM 2018:09 SSM perspective Background The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s (SSM) Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields monitors current research on potential health risks with a correlation to exposure to electromagnetic fields, and provides the Authority with advice on assessing possible health risks. The Council gives guidance when the Authority must give an opinion on policy matters when scientific testing is necessary. The Council is required to submit a written report each year on the current research and knowledge situation. Objective The report has the objective of covering the previous year’s research in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMF). The report gives the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority an overview and provides an important basis for risk assessment. Results The present annual report is the twelfth in this series and covers studies published from October 2015 up to and including March 2017. The report covers differ- ent areas of EMF (static, low frequency, intermediate, and radio fre- quency fields) and different types of studies such as biological, human and epidemiological studies. No new health risks have been identified. Whether mobile phone use causes brain tumours or not was mainly addressed using time trends studies in the last two years. The results were not entirely consistent but mainly point towards a lack of association. Some cell and animal stud- ies indicate that EMF exposure may cause oxidative stress even at low exposure levels. It is unclear what relevance this may have when it comes to direct health effects in humans. A striking result was that some stud- ies showed a stronger association between memory functions and radio wave exposure than other usage variables. The annual report also has a section covering other relevant scientific reports published recently --------- Project information Contact person at SSM: Hélène Asp Reference no: SSM2017-1339 SSM 2018:09 SSM 2018:09 Author: SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields 2018:09Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk Twelfth report from SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2017 Date: April 2018 Report number: 2018:09 ISSN: 2000-0456 Available at www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se This report concerns a study which has been conducted for the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, SSM. The conclusions and view- points presented in the report are those of the author/authors and do not necessarily coincide with those of the SSM. SSM 2018:09 Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk Twelfth report from SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2017 1 Content PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 6 STATIC FIELDS.......................................................................................................................................................... 6 EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY (ELF) FIELDS ................................................................................................................... 6 INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY (IF) FIELDS......................................................................................................................... 7 RADIOFREQUENCY (RF) FIELDS ................................................................................................................................... 8 A GENERAL COMMENT ............................................................................................................................................ 10 SAMMANFATTNING ....................................................................................................................................... 11 STATISKA FÄLT ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 LÅGFREKVENTA FÄLT .............................................................................................................................................. 11 INTERMEDIÄRA FÄLT ............................................................................................................................................... 13 RADIOFREKVENTA FÄLT ........................................................................................................................................... 13 EN ALLMÄN KOMMENTAR ........................................................................................................................................ 15 PREAMBLE...................................................................................................................................................... 16 1. STATIC FIELDS ............................................................................................................................................. 18 1.1. CELL STUDIES ................................................................................................................................................. 18 1.1.1. Development and Reproduction ......................................................................................................... 18 1.1.2. DNA integrity and oxidative stress ..................................................................................................... 18 1.1.3. Conclusions for static magnetic field cell studies ............................................................................... 19 1.2. ANIMAL STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................. 19 1.2.1. Development and Reproduction ......................................................................................................... 19 1.2.2. Physiology ........................................................................................................................................... 20 1.2.3. Summary and conclusions on static magnetic field animal studies.................................................... 21 1.3. HUMAN STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................. 22 1.4. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ............................................................................................................................... 22 1.4.1. Symptoms ........................................................................................................................................... 23 1.4.2. Reproduction ...................................................................................................................................... 24 1.4.3. Conclusions on epidemiological studies ............................................................................................. 24 2. EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY (ELF) FIELDS ................................................................................................ 25 2.1. CELL STUDIES ................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.1.1. Differentiation .................................................................................................................................... 25 2.1.2. Neurodegeneration ............................................................................................................................ 25 2.1.3. Neuronal activity ................................................................................................................................ 25 2.1.4. Immune system .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1.5. DNA damage ...................................................................................................................................... 27 2.1.6. Oxidative stress .................................................................................................................................. 28 2.1.7. Cell proliferation ................................................................................................................................. 29 2.1.8. Apoptosis ............................................................................................................................................ 31 2.1.9. Extremely low frequency magnetic fields and nanoparticles ............................................................. 31 2.1.10. Proteome .......................................................................................................................................... 31 2.1.11. Gene expression ................................................................................................................................ 32 2.1.12. DNA methylation .............................................................................................................................. 33 2.1.13. Intracellular calcium ........................................................................................................................