| Workgroup Report: Base Stations and Wireless Networks—Radiofrequency (RF) Exposures and Health Consequences Peter A. Valberg,1 T. Emilie van Deventer,2 and Michael H. Repacholi2,* 1Gradient Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; 2Radiation and Environmental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Abstract
Radiofrequency (RF) waves have long been used for different types of information exchange via the airwaves—wireless Morse code, radio, television, and wireless telephony (i.e., construction and operation of telephones or telephonic systems) . Increasingly larger numbers of people rely on mobile telephone technology, and health concerns about the associated RF exposure have been raised, particularly because the mobile phone handset operates in close proximity to the human body, and also because large numbers of base station antennas are required to provide widespread availability of service to large populations. The World Health Organization convened an expert workshop to discuss the current state of cellular-telephone health issues, and this article brings together several of the key points that were addressed. The possibility of RF health effects has been investigated in epidemiology studies of cellular telephone users and workers in RF occupations, in experiments with animals exposed to cell-phone RF, and via biophysical consideration of cell-phone RF electric-field intensity and the effect of RF modulation schemes. As summarized here, these separate avenues of scientific investigation provide little support for adverse health effects arising from RF exposure at levels below current international standards. Moreover, radio and television broadcast waves have exposed populations to RF for > 50 years with little evidence of deleterious health consequences. Despite unavoidable uncertainty, current scientific data are consistent with the conclusion that public exposures to permissible RF levels from mobile telephony and base stations are not likely to adversely affect human health. Key words: adverse health effects, cell telephones, electromagnetic waves, mechanisms, mobile telephony, nonionizing, RF modulation. Environ Health Perspect 115:416–424 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.9633 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 6 November 2006]
Address correspondence to P.A. Valberg, Gradient Corporation, 20 University Rd., Cambridge, MA 02138-5756 USA. Telephone: (617) 395-5000. Fax: (617) 395-5001. E-mail: pvalberg@gradientcorp.com *Current address: Visiting Professor, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy. This review was sponsored and funded by the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. P.A.V. is an employee of Gradient Corporation, an environmental consulting company that provides scientific and technical assistance to both regulated industries and regulating agencies. M.H.R. states that when this report was submitted he had no competing financial interests ; since leaving the WHO, he has consulted for telecommunications and electric-power companies. T.E.V.D. declares she has no competing financial interests. Received 21 August 2006 ; accepted 6 November 2006.
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