CITIZENS FOR SAFE TECHNOLOGY
The BioInitiative Report 2007
The BioInitiative Report 2007 is the result of collaboration by twenty-one working scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (see individual names, accreditations and affiliations below) The BioInitiative Report provides detailed analysis of the impact on human health (biological not thermal) of exposure to electromagnetic radiation hundreds or even thousands of times below limits currently established by Health
Canada, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in Europe. The authors of the BioInitiative Report have considered more than 2,000 scientific studies and reviews; they conclude that the existing public safety limits are inadequate to protect public health and further state that in light of the total weight of evidence, new public safety limits - as well as limits on further deployment of risk-laden, insufficiently proven
technologies - are undeniably warranted. The following recommendation from the BioInitiative Report Overall Summary of Conclusions is particularly direct:
Section 17: Key Scientific Evidence and Public Health Policy Recommendations
“Mobile phone-free and Wi-Fi free public areas should be established in areas where the public congregates and can have a reasonable expectation of safety……..”
“Health agencies and school districts should strongly discourage or prohibit cell towers on or near (within 1000’ of) school properties, should delay any new WLAN installations in school classrooms, pre-schools and day-care facilities; and should either remove or disable existing wireless facilities, or be required to offer classrooms with no RF exposure to those families who choose not to have their children involuntarily exposed.”
Further critical points, extracted from the Summary for the Public of the
BioInitiative Report:
“B. Defining preventative actions for reduction in RF exposures
Given the scientific evidence at hand (Chapter 17), the rapid deployment of new wireless technologies that chronically expose people to pulsed RF at levels reported to cause bioeffects, which in turn, could reasonably be presumed to lead to serious health impacts, is of public health concern. Section 17 summarizes evidence that has resulted in a public health recommendation that preventative action is warranted to reduce or minimize RF exposures to the public. There is suggestive to strongly suggestive evidence that RF exposures may cause changes in cell membrane function, cell communication, cell metabolism, activation of proto-oncogenes and can
trigger the production of stress proteins at exposure levels below current regulatory limits. Resulting effects can include DNA breaks and chromosome aberrations, cell death including death of brain neurons, increased free radical production, activation of the endogenous opioid
system, cell stress and premature aging, changes in brain function including memory loss, retarded learning, slower motor function and other performance impairment in children,headaches and fatigue, sleep disorders, neurodegenerative conditions, reduction in melatonin secretion and cancers (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12).
As early as 2000, some experts in bioelectromagnetics promoted a 0.1 µW/cm2 limit (which is 0.614 Volts per meter) for ambient outdoor exposure to pulsed RF, so generally in cities, the public would have adequate protection against involuntary exposure to pulsed radiofrequency
(e.g., from cell towers, and other wireless technologies). The Salzburg Resolution of 2000 set a target of 0.1 µW/cm2 (or 0.614 V/m) for public exposure to pulsed radiofrequency. Since then, there are many credible anecdotal reports of unwellness and illness in the vicinity of wireless
transmitters (wireless voice and data communication antennas) at lower levels. Effects include sleep disruption, impairment of memory and concentration, fatigue, headache, skin disorders, visual symptoms (floaters), nausea, loss of appetite, tinnitus, and cardiac problems (racing heartbeat), There are some credible articles from researchers reporting that cell tower -level RF exposures (estimated to be between 0.01 and 0.5 µW/cm2) produce ill-effects in populations living up to several hundred meters from wireless antenna sites.
This information now argues for thresholds or guidelines that are substantially below current FCC and ICNIPR standards for whole body exposure. Uncertainty about how low such standards might have to go to be prudent from a public health standpoint should not prevent reasonable
efforts to respond to the information at hand. No lower limit for bioeffects and adverse health effects from RF has been established, so the possible health risks of wireless WLAN and WI-FI systems, for example, will require further research and no assertion of safety at any level of wireless exposure (chronic exposure) can be made at this time. The lower limit for reported
human health effects has dropped 100-fold below the safety standard (for mobile phones and PDAs); 1000- to 10,000-fold for other wireless (cell towers at distance; WI-FI and WLAN devices). The entire basis for safety standards is called into question, and it is not unreasonable to question the safety of RF at any level.
Carl F. Blackman*, Ph.D.
Founder, Former President and
Full Member of the Bioelectromagnetics Society
Raleigh, NC USA
*opinions expressed are not necessarily those of his employer,
the US Environmental Protection Agency
Former President and Full Member of Bioelectromagnetics Society
Dept. of Physiology. College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University
New York, NY USA
Full Member of the Bioelectromagnetics Society
Institute of Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
Full Member. Bioelectromagnetics Society
Sage Associates
Santa Barbara, CA USA
Director, Institute for Health and the Environment
University at Albany East Campus
Rensselaer, NY USA
Friends Research Institute
Los Angeles, CA USA
Coordinator Emerging Issues and Scientific Liaison
Strategic Knowledge and Innovation
European Environmental Agency
Copenhagen, Denmark
Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD, Prof.
Department of Oncology
University Hospital
Orebro, Sweden
The Experimental Dermatology Unit.
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington USA
Kjell Hansson Mild, PhD, Prof.
Former President and Full Member of Bioelectromagnetics Society
Board Member, European Bioelectromagnetics Society (EBEA)
Umea University, Department of Radiation Physics
Umeå, Sweden
Sage Associates
Santa Barbara, CA USA
Friends Research Institute
Los Angeles, CA USA
Guangdi Chen, PhD
Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory,
Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Hangzhou . People's Republic of China
Reviewers (partial)
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC USA
Health Science Consultant
San Francisco, CA USA
University of California, San Francisco
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Cardiovascular Research Institute, Institute for Health Policy Studies
San Francisco, CA USA
Professor of Physics
Human Radiation Effects Group
Wills Physics Laboratory
Bristol University, Bristol, UK
Washington State Department of Health (retired)
Olympia, Washington
Microwave News
New York, NY USA