ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018

Gunde Ziegelberger; Rodney Croft; Maria Feychting; Adèle C. Green; Akimasa Hirata; Guglielmo d'Inzeo; Carmela Marino; Sharon Miller; Gunnhild Oftedal; Tsutomu Okuno; Eric van Rongen; Martin Röösli; Zenon Sienkiewicz; Soichi Watanabe

doi:10.1097/HP.0000000000001137

ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018

Gunde Ziegelberger^*, Rodney Croft, Maria Feychting, Adèle C. Green, Akimasa Hirata, Guglielmo d'Inzeo, Carmela Marino, Sharon Miller, Gunnhild Oftedal, Tsutomu Okuno, Eric van Rongen, Martin Röösli, Zenon Sienkiewicz, Soichi Watanabe

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Final results are now available from two large animal studies that investigated whether long-term exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with mobile (or cell) phones or base stations is carcinogenic; these studies hale from the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, respectively. In both cases, the authors concluded that they had demonstrated that RF EMFs are carcinogenic in male rats but not in female rats or mice (NTP only). The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has evaluated their methods and findings for potential information about the carcinogenicity of exposure to RF EMFs. We found that these studies had important strengths; for example, both followed good laboratory practice (GLP), both used much larger numbers of animals than previous research, and both exposed animals over the whole of their lives. We also noted some major weaknesses, including a lack of blinding, difficulties interpreting statistical analyses due to the association between longer lifespans and tumor occurrence in the exposed rats (NTP only), and failure to account for chance. ICNIRP concluded that these substantial limitations preclude conclusions being drawn concerning RF EMFs and carcinogenesis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	525-532
Number of pages	8
Journal	Health Physics
Volume	118
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001137
Publication status	Published - May 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014–2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html.

Funding Information:
ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Pro-gramme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014-2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).

Keywords

Carcinogenesis
Exposure
International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)
Radiation protection
Radiofrequency

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10.1097/HP.0000000000001137

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Ziegelberger, G., Croft, R., Feychting, M., Green, A. C., Hirata, A., d'Inzeo, G., Marino, C., Miller, S., Oftedal, G., Okuno, T., van Rongen, E., Röösli, M., Sienkiewicz, Z., & Watanabe, S. (2020). ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018. Health Physics, 118(5), 525-532. https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001137

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title = "ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018",

abstract = "Final results are now available from two large animal studies that investigated whether long-term exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with mobile (or cell) phones or base stations is carcinogenic; these studies hale from the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, respectively. In both cases, the authors concluded that they had demonstrated that RF EMFs are carcinogenic in male rats but not in female rats or mice (NTP only). The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has evaluated their methods and findings for potential information about the carcinogenicity of exposure to RF EMFs. We found that these studies had important strengths; for example, both followed good laboratory practice (GLP), both used much larger numbers of animals than previous research, and both exposed animals over the whole of their lives. We also noted some major weaknesses, including a lack of blinding, difficulties interpreting statistical analyses due to the association between longer lifespans and tumor occurrence in the exposed rats (NTP only), and failure to account for chance. ICNIRP concluded that these substantial limitations preclude conclusions being drawn concerning RF EMFs and carcinogenesis.",

keywords = "Carcinogenesis, Exposure, International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), Radiation protection, Radiofrequency",

author = "Gunde Ziegelberger and Rodney Croft and Maria Feychting and Green, {Ad{\`e}le C.} and Akimasa Hirata and Guglielmo d'Inzeo and Carmela Marino and Sharon Miller and Gunnhild Oftedal and Tsutomu Okuno and {van Rongen}, Eric and Martin R{\"o}{\"o}sli and Zenon Sienkiewicz and Soichi Watanabe",

note = "Funding Information: ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014–2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html. Funding Information: ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Pro-gramme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014-2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2019 The Author(s).",

year = "2020",

month = may,

doi = "10.1097/HP.0000000000001137",

language = "English",

volume = "118",

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Ziegelberger, G, Croft, R, Feychting, M, Green, AC, Hirata, A, d'Inzeo, G, Marino, C, Miller, S, Oftedal, G, Okuno, T, van Rongen, E, Röösli, M, Sienkiewicz, Z & Watanabe, S 2020, 'ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018', Health Physics, vol. 118, no. 5, pp. 525-532. https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001137

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T2 - Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018

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AU - Croft, Rodney

AU - Feychting, Maria

AU - Green, Adèle C.

AU - Hirata, Akimasa

AU - d'Inzeo, Guglielmo

AU - Marino, Carmela

AU - Miller, Sharon

AU - Oftedal, Gunnhild

AU - Okuno, Tsutomu

AU - van Rongen, Eric

AU - Röösli, Martin

AU - Sienkiewicz, Zenon

AU - Watanabe, Soichi

N1 - Funding Information: ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014–2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html. Funding Information: ICNIRP gratefully acknowledges the general support received from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the European Union Pro-gramme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) (2014-2020). For further information please consult http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission, any other donors or the organizations with which the collaborators are professionally affiliated. All information concerning the support received by ICNIRP is available at http://www.icnirp.org/en/about-icnirp/support-icnirp/ index.html. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).

PY - 2020/5

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N2 - Final results are now available from two large animal studies that investigated whether long-term exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with mobile (or cell) phones or base stations is carcinogenic; these studies hale from the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, respectively. In both cases, the authors concluded that they had demonstrated that RF EMFs are carcinogenic in male rats but not in female rats or mice (NTP only). The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has evaluated their methods and findings for potential information about the carcinogenicity of exposure to RF EMFs. We found that these studies had important strengths; for example, both followed good laboratory practice (GLP), both used much larger numbers of animals than previous research, and both exposed animals over the whole of their lives. We also noted some major weaknesses, including a lack of blinding, difficulties interpreting statistical analyses due to the association between longer lifespans and tumor occurrence in the exposed rats (NTP only), and failure to account for chance. ICNIRP concluded that these substantial limitations preclude conclusions being drawn concerning RF EMFs and carcinogenesis.

AB - Final results are now available from two large animal studies that investigated whether long-term exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with mobile (or cell) phones or base stations is carcinogenic; these studies hale from the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, respectively. In both cases, the authors concluded that they had demonstrated that RF EMFs are carcinogenic in male rats but not in female rats or mice (NTP only). The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has evaluated their methods and findings for potential information about the carcinogenicity of exposure to RF EMFs. We found that these studies had important strengths; for example, both followed good laboratory practice (GLP), both used much larger numbers of animals than previous research, and both exposed animals over the whole of their lives. We also noted some major weaknesses, including a lack of blinding, difficulties interpreting statistical analyses due to the association between longer lifespans and tumor occurrence in the exposed rats (NTP only), and failure to account for chance. ICNIRP concluded that these substantial limitations preclude conclusions being drawn concerning RF EMFs and carcinogenesis.

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KW - Exposure

KW - International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)

KW - Radiation protection

KW - Radiofrequency

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EP - 532

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ICNIRP note: Critical evaluation of two radiofrequency electromagnetic field animal carcinogenicity studies published in 2018

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Bibliographical note

Keywords

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