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"EMF" & brain tumors
>To me the major reason not to use "EMF" is that it implies that all
>electromagnetic fields and non-ionizign radiation is the same -- for
>example, you see "EMF" used to describe static fields, powerline fields,
>mobile phone RF radiation and radar.
>In both scientific and public discourse, you should call it by a precise
>descriptor -- it is a "static magnetic field", a "power-frequency electric
>field", " 900 MHz radio-frequency radiation", etc.
-----
It is good that this point has been brought up - I agree to a large extent
even though I used the abbreviation EMF myself. The more precise descriptor
- the better. As an understatement I think about this term as it is used in
the public debate (=total circus & confusion): Anything magnetic,
electromagnetic, voltage, electrical field, current and derived units
relating to areas, volume or mass - even "allergies to electricity" etc (
http://www.feb.se/index_int.htm ) fall into the "EMF" category. In the
general media all this becomes EMF or just "radiation". When I write "EMF"
it is mainly to give something brief saying "it is this stir again".
When I and three other scientists recently (July 18) wrote an article in the
morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter - we spent a few sentences on discussing
the sloppy use of "radiation" in the context - we here simplified the issue
by excluding gamma- and X-ray irradiation from the "radiations" but "EMF" is
still undefined in many senses. What we wrote was just that depending on
"energy content" these phenomena can (cannot) cause certain effects:
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=572&a=36582&previousRenderType=1
Headline (which we didn't write): "Mobile phones are not dangerous"
I called the man at the newspaper the next day and wanted a foot note
stating that what we really said was that there is unjustified fear of
mobile phones. The response I got was that "it is a semantic question" and
that he had to make a headline with only two words. It was particularly
crazy as we, in the article, discuss the impossibility of proving non-risks.
Anyway - we got a lot of positive responses to this article. Two of the
three objections came from people who seem to belong to the "hyper
electrosensitive" category and the third one was one of the professors who
was out in the media yesterday (see below). He misquoted us by saying that
we had written that "you cannot prove a risk" (this was in an interview for
a local newspaper in northern Sweden).
---
We had a scary day in Sweden yesterday with many press releases on how
mobile phones are supposed to cause brain tumors (recent article in European
Journal of Cancer Prevention). Here are a few links for those who can grasp
Swedish (take something cold to drink before you start reading):
Headline - "The mobile phone can give you a brain tumor":
http://www.expressen.se/article.asp?id=119592
The texts says that you have a two and a half times higher risk of getting a
tumor on the temporal globe (! - it should be lobe of course) relating to
side you use when you use your mobile phone. The story is only about NMT
phones and the researchers say that it will take 10-15 years before they
know about GSM phones. One of the researchers want the exposure limit to be
lowered to 0.02 W/kg.
Then a famous sports commentator - this time as an epidemiology expert:
http://www.expressen.se/article.asp?id=119591
The text under his picture says "it began to heat up in the (my) ear
areas/tract". Headline: "It is not surprising". He says that he tries to use
the mobile phone as little as possible.
Someone told me that the guy who wrote the article is a sports journalist -
I really don't know - I bought three copies of the newspaper during the last
30 years (two of these times because I wrote in it myself - a good way to
reach a particular niche of the population).
The next newspaper is Aftonbladet - headline = "Mobile phoning increases the
risk for brain tumors".
Briefly the text spells fear:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,195943,00.html
Then Metro - see top of page two in the pdf file:
http://www.metro.se/content/acrobat/stockholm/SESTO_20020821_A_Metro.pdf
The head line says: "Mobile phones increase the risk for tumors of the
brain"
These three papers (the first two are only focusing on emotional topics)
cover a large part of our population. The two major morning newspapers in
Sweden both had polls (Internet questions) essentially asking whether people
are afraid of using their mobile phones:
1. Dagens Nyheter - 63 % are believe that using a mobile phone damages your
health:
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=597&a=46912
Headline: "Mobile phone increases the risk for cancer".
Dagens Nyheter (DN, liberal) is probably the number one morning paper from
the political impact aspect.
2. Svenska Dagbladet (SvD, conservative) - 54 % are not afraid of using
their mobile phones.
http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_2577391.asp
Headline: "Quarrel between regarding a study of risks with mobile phones".
Some of the quotation of the professor at the Karolinska Institute is wrong
(I spoke with him yesterday) and besides - he is a professor in molecular
toxicology - not in biology.
The major newspaper in the Gothenburg area (Swedish west coast) is
Göteborgsposten (GP) - here is their contribution yesterday:
http://www2.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?p=gp&d=119&a=98063
Headline next to brain tumor patient: "The mobile phone manufacturers should
inform about the risks". It says that the brain tumor patient is convinced
that his 10 000 mobile phone calls gave him his tumor.
For those of you following the "EMF" issue - I am sure that you recognize
both professors mentioned in the other articles.
My personal reflections only,
Bjorn Cedervall bcradsafers@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/bjorn_cedervall/
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