UMTS Base Station-like Exposure, Well-Being, and Cognitive Performance Sabine J. Regel,1 Sonja Negovetic,1 Martin Röösli,2 Veronica Berdiñas,3 Jürgen Schuderer,3 Anke Huss,2 Urs Lott,3 Niels Kuster,3 and Peter Achermann1,4 1Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; 2Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; 3IT'IS Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland; 4Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Abstract Background: Radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) of mobile communication systems are widespread in the living environment, yet their effects on humans are uncertain despite a growing body of literature. Objectives: We investigated the influence of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) base station-like signal on well-being and cognitive performance in subjects with and without self-reported sensitivity to RF EMF. Methods: We performed a controlled exposure experiment (45 min at an electric field strength of 0, 1, or 10 V/m, incident with a polarization of 45° from the left back side of the subject, weekly intervals) in a randomized, double-blind crossover design. A total of 117 healthy subjects (33 self-reported sensitive, 84 nonsensitive subjects) participated in the study. We assessed well-being, perceived field strength, and cognitive performance with questionnaires and cognitive tasks and conducted statistical analyses using linear mixed models. Organ-specific and brain tissue–specific dosimetry including uncertainty and variation analysis was performed. Results: In both groups, well-being and perceived field strength were not associated with actual exposure levels. We observed no consistent condition-induced changes in cognitive performance except for two marginal effects. At 10 V/m we observed a slight effect on speed in one of six tasks in the sensitive subjects and an effect on accuracy in another task in nonsensitive subjects. Both effects disappeared after multiple end point adjustment. Conclusions: In contrast to a recent Dutch study, we could not confirm a short-term effect of UMTS base station-like exposure on well-being. The reported effects on brain functioning were marginal and may have occurred by chance. Peak spatial absorption in brain tissue was considerably smaller than during use of a mobile phone. No conclusions can be drawn regarding short-term effects of cell phone exposure or the effects of long-term base station-like exposure on human health. Key words: base station, cognitive function, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, human exposure, mobile phones, RF EMF. Environ Health Perspect 114:1270–1275 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8934 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 6 June 2006] Address correspondence to P. Achermann, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. Telephone: 41-44-63-559-54. Fax: 41-44-63-557-07. E-mail: acherman@pharma.unizh.ch We thank N. Burgermeister and E. Honegger for help with the experiment, D. Spät for support with exposure equipment, B. Anholt for help with power analysis, R. Dürr, P. Sepan, and K. Wüthrich for technical support, and A. Borbély for comments on the manuscript. We acknowledge the support of G. Dürrenberger in fund raising and the scientific expert panel (P. Zwamborn, H-G. Wieser, C. Schindler, and A. Grob) in the design of the study. The study was supported by Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication grant A2004-0. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 19 December 2005 ; accepted 16 May 2006. The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |