Proximity to cell phone towers and high voltage power lines significantly elevates biological harm

  • British Medical Journal (BMJ): Distance from home address at birth to the nearest high voltage overhead power line revealed an association with childhood leukemia. Apparent risk extends to 600 meters.
  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine: Significant correlation between cell phone signal strength and decreased perceptual accuracy/headaches, between 20 and 600 meters from cell phone towers in Vienna and Carinthia, Austria (900 MHz, average 20 to 50 μW/m2, maximum 4.1 mW/m2). Cell phone towers should be located to minimize neighbors’ exposure.
  • Journal of Hygiene Research (Chinese): Pregnant women should limit use of RF EMF devices, or increase distance. Observed a six to seven fold increase of cases where embryo growth ceases during the first three months of pregnancy. Distance to cell towers should exceed 500 meters; distance to high voltage lines should exceed 100 meters.
  • Environmental Reviews (Canadian Science Publishing): Hard and fast setbacks are difficult to recommend in all circumstances. Deployment of base stations should be kept as efficient as possible to avoid exposure of the public to unnecessary high levels of RFR. As a general guideline, cell base stations should not be located less than 1500 ft (about 500 meters) from the population, and at a height of about 150 ft (about 50 meters).
  • International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health: Increased prevalence of adverse neurobehavioral symptoms or cancer in populations living closer than 500 meters from cell phone towers, despite exposure levels within international safety guidelines.
  • Science of the Total Environment: Mortality rate from neoplasia was 34.76 per 10,000 inhabitants within 500 meters of cell phone towers in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Outside of these areas, neoplasia deaths were significantly reduced. The largest density power was 40.78 μW/cm2, and the smallest was 0.04 μW/cm2.
  • Environmental Medicine Society (German): Cancer cases increased significantly among people living within 400 meters of a new cell phone tower (935 MHz) in Naila, Germany. Cancer rates close to the tower increased by a factor of 3.11 during the second five year period of the cell phone tower’s operation, and 1.26 during the first five-year period. Cancer patients near the new tower fell ill on average, 8 years earlier.
  • International Journal of Cancer Prevention: Population living within 350 meters of a 850 MHz, 1500 watt cell phone tower in Netanya, Israel experienced a 4 fold cancer increase (i.e., carcinoma of the breast, ovary, lung, kidney, bone, and Hodgkin’s disease). Obvious potentially confounding variables were ruled out.
  • Internal Medicine Journal: The risk of lymphoproliferative or myeloproliferative disorders were elevated 3-fold among adults who had lived within 300 meters of a high voltage power line during their first 15 years of life; and was elevated 5-fold for those who had lived within the same distance aged 0–5 years.
  • Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine: Residents living within 80 meters of cell phone towers have significantly more DNA damage and antioxidants in peripheral blood lymphocytes, compared to residents 300 meters from cell phone towers. Study funded by the Government of India, and New Delhi.
  • Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine: Statistically significant genetic damage in blood leukocytes in residents living within 300 meters of a 800–2200 MHz cell phone tower in Punjab, India. The power density in the area within 300 m from the base station exceeded permissive limits.
  • Pathology Biology (France): Distance from cell phone base station correlates with: a) Fatigue to a distance of 200 to 300 meters; b) Headaches, sleep disturbances, and feelings of discomfort at distances up to 200 meters; c) Irritability, depressive tendencies, and lowering of libido up to 100 meters; and d) Nausea, loss of appetite, visual disturbances at distances to 10 meters. Symptoms significantly more common for women, and older subjects. Human occupancy should exceed 300 meters from cell phone base stations. (Full text link: Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine)
  • Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine: Residents of Isfahan, Iran had significantly elevated nausea, headache, dizziness, irritability, discomfort, nervousness, depression, sleep disturbance, memory loss and lowered libido if they live closer than 300 meters from mobile phone base station antennas. Suggest locating base station antennas at least 300 meters from populations. (Publication “retracted” due to overlap with the following “Diyala Journal of Medicine” study)
  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine (Diyala Journal of Medicine): Residents of Baquba, Iraq had significantly elevated headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbances, irritability, feeling of discomfort, dizziness, and cardiovascular problems if they lived closer than 100 meters to mobile phone base stations. Advisable to locate cellular phone base stations further than 300 meters from population centers as a precautionary measure, to minimize neighbors’ exposure.
  • Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine: La Ñora, Murcia, Spain residents had statistically significant exposure-response associations between RFR intensity and fatigue, irritability, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, sleeping disorder, depressive tendency, feeling of discomfort, difficulty in concentration, loss of memory, visual disorder, dizziness and cardiovascular problems. Severity of the symptoms lessen at distances exceeding 250 meters from the antenna, once exposures drop below 0.1 µW/cm2, i.e., far below the Spanish and European “safety standard” of 450 µW/cm2 at frequencies of 900 MHz.
  • Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine: Risk factors for pregnant women in Beijing who suffered spontaneous abortions include living within 100 meters of a cell phone tower.
  • Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine: Common frog tadpoles had 90% mortality at exposure levels from cell phone tower radiation 140 meters away, with 1.8 to 3.5 V/m. Tadpole mortality was 4.2% for those protected from cell tower radiation by a Faraday cage.
  • Pathology Biology (France): Age correlates with sensitivity of subjects living within 100 meters of cell phone base stations. Locations facing the antennas are the worst position for experiencing symptoms studied.
  • International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences: Keep distance away from mast at least 20 meters, technicians should avoid crowding a location with multiple masts.
  • Oncology Letters: Excessive radiation exposure measured in a Stockholm apartment located 12 meters from cell phone antennas on the roof of an adjacent building.
  • Neurotoxicology: The prevalence of neuropsychiatric effects such as headache, memory changes, dizziness, tremors, depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbance were significantly higher among Menoufiya, Egypt residents in buildings adjacent to roof-mounted cell phone antennas (Exposure during study 0.002 to 0.0067 mW/cm2; Egyptian maximum permissible exposure limits = 0.008 mW/cm2 for continuous exposure; 0.4 mW/cm2 for intermittent exposure).
  • Occupational Medicine (Polish): Survey revealed that people living in the vicinity of base stations report circulatory system problems, sleep disturbances, irritability, depression, blurred vision, concentration difficulties, nausea, lack of appetite, headache and vertigo.
  • Environmental Medicine Society (German): Elevated levels of stress hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline), and lowered dopamine and PEA levels found in the urine of residents during the first 6 months of activating the first cell tower in Rimbach, Germany. The cell tower’s activation also correlated with increases in sleep problems, headache, vertigo, concentration problems, and allergies. Elevated stress hormone levels persisted throughout the first 1.5 years of this experiment.
  • Joint Publications Research Service (U.S./U.S.S.R., 1974): The U.S. once recognized non-thermal biological effects of RF EMF, including changes in: body weight; arterial pressure; reproductive function; central nervous system; and electromyography (muscle control signals). Reference Page 13, Table 1 “Experimental Studies on the Biological Effects of Very Low Intensity Microwaves (150 μW/cm2)”. Also reference Page 41, Table 1, distances for signal to reach 1 or 10 μW/cm2, for millimeter and centimeter waves. Safe distances range from 1,200 to 3,800 meters.
  • International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health: Elevated cancer rates and mortality were documented within 2 kilometers of 100 to 500 kilowatt AM radio broadcasting towers in Korea.
  • Practical Veterinary Surgeon (German): Dairy cows in close proximity to new TV and radio antennas (87 MHz to 18.7 GHz) had significantly reduced milk production, reduced their grazing time to a few minutes before “taking cover” from the antennas, and suffered conjunctivitis. An afflicted cow was moved 20 km from the antennas, the cow returned to normal, but problems quickly recurred when the cow was returned to the new antennas. After publicizing this case, other farmers reported similar results.