Sweden offers the recommendations to reduce cell phone radiation as well as to reduce magnetic field radiation. However the country does not confirm cancer as a health effect.
“The hands-free recommendation for mobile phone calls remains even though trends of glioma incidences do not provide support for an increasing risk caused by mobile phone radio wave exposure. However, observed biological effects and uncertainties regarding possible longterm effects justify caution.” – Swedish Radiation Authority
“When it comes to use of mobile phones, there is a slight suspicion that this has an impact on human health. This factor has led to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s conclusion that reducing unnecessary exposure is justified. This can for example be done by using hands-free equipment or the speakerphone setting.” -Swedish Radiation Authority Recommendations on Wireless
Powerlines and Magnetic Fields
“The Swedish authorities’ recommendation to generally limit exposure to low frequency magnetic fields, due to the observed increased incidence of childhood leukaemia close to power lines, still remains.” – Swedish Radiation Authority
Recommendations
“Due to the concern over a link between weak, low-frequency magnetic fields and the incidence of childhood leukaemia, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority issues the following recommendations in connection with social planning and building projects:
- Work towards the design or location of new power lines and electrical installations so as to limit exposure to magnetic fields
- Avoid locating new housing, schools and pre-schools in close proximity to electrical installations generating elevated magnetic fields
- Work towards limiting magnetic fields that deviate substantially from what can be deemed normal in home, school, pre-school and occupational environments.
The measures must be achievable at a reasonable cost.
You can reduce your own exposure to magnetic fields at home by increasing your distance to appliances and devices, and by switching them off when you are not using them.”-Swedish Radiation Authority Recommendations
“Recommendations The current scientific knowledge does not give the Committee reason to recommend the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management to reconsider the current policy regarding overhead power lines. Since there are indications for a causal relationship between exposure to magnetic fields and increased risks of childhood leukaemia and brain tumours, and magnetic fields are not blocked by soil or construction materials, the Committee suggests the State Secretary from a public health perspective to consider extending the precautionary policy to underground power cables and other sources of long-term exposure to magnetic fields from the electricity grid, such as transformer stations and transformer houses.” Swedish Expert Council Report , 2018
Sweden has a Scientific Council for Electromagnetic Fields that submits a written report once a year on the state of knowledge to the Radiation Safety Authority.
According to the –Sweden Radiation Authority
“The hands-free recommendation for mobile phone calls remains even though trends of glioma incidences do not provide support for an increasing risk caused by mobile phone exposure. However, uncertainties regarding possible long-term effects justifies caution.”
“The authorities’ recommendation to limit the exposure for low frequency magnetic fields still remains, due to the conceivable correlation between this kind of fields and childhood leukemia.”
Notably, independent scientists have called for a member of the Scientific Council for Electromagnetic Fields to step down from one of his positions as the Director of BERENIS (an expert group in Switzerland) due to conflicts of interest. Dr. Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD sent a letter to the President of the Swiss Confederation endorsed by several international experts. Download a PDF of this Letter
Associate Professor Martin Röösli is the chair (Director) of BERENIS, and of the subgroup 3 evaluating RF-radiation health risks from 5G technology, despite conflicts of interest, and history of misrepresentation of science.”
Martin Röösli is part of the Sweden Scientific Council for Electromagnetic Fields as well as the Switzerland expert group. Although his research has found memory damage associated with cell phone radiation in replicated research he maintains this effect is not replicated.
Mona Nilsson from Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation asks Emelie van Deventer, electrical engineer, from WHO EMF Project what iis her reply to the 220 scientists who signed the EMF Scientists appeal calling for better protection of the public from EMF:s and why the public should trust the WHO and not the 220 scientists
Emelie van Deventer responds without responding to any of the two questions.
The questions was posed at the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s seminar in Stockholm on May 19th 2016.
In this next video, Mona Nilsson from Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation asks Eric van Rongen one of 8 experts in the Swedish Radiation Safetey Authority’s expert group on EMF at a seminar on May 19th 2016, why the Swedish people and decision makers should trust him more than the 220 scientists who signed the EMF scientists appeal.
Here is what the Swedish Radiation Authority Scientific Council states about the study on memory in adolescents in their 2020 Report ‘ Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk, Fourteenth report from SSM’s ScientificCouncil on Electromagnetic Fields, 2019
“The study by Foerster et al. (2018) investigated the relationship between absorbed RF-EMF dose from wireless communication devices and memory performance in adolescents. The study follows up a report published by Schoeni et al. (2015) with twice the sample size and more recent information on the absorption of RF-EMF in adolescents’ brains. Almost 700 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years participated in the study over a period of one year. The participants were recruited from 7th to 9th public school grades in urban and rural areas of Swiss-German speaking Switzerland. Figural and verbal memory performance was measured twice with a one-year follow-up period using standardised computer tests. In addition, with the consent of the parents and the adolescents, the analysis included objectively collected mobile phone usage data from the Swiss mobile service providers, covering the entire study period. Environmental RF-EMF exposure was individually modelled for the school and residence of the study participants. A subgroup of the adolescents also participated in a personal RFEMF measurement study. Based on these usage and exposure data, the cumulative RF-EMF dose from mobile phones and other wireless communication devices (expressed in mJ per kilogram body weight per day) was calculated both for the brain and for the whole body (Roser et al., 2015). The study found that cumulative RF-EMF brain dose from mobile phone use over one year was associated with a negative effect on the development of figural memory performance in adolescents, confirming prior results published in 2015. Figural memory is mainly located in the right brain hemisphere, and association with RF-EMF was more pronounced in adolescents using the mobile phone on the right side of the head (80% of study participants). Verbal memory is mainly located in the left brain hemisphere. With regard to usage data from mobile service providers, adolescents using their mobile phone also on the left side of the head tended to show a negative effect on the development of their verbal memory. Other aspects of wireless communication use, such as sending text messages, playing games or browsing the internet cause only marginal RF-EMF dose to the brain and were not associated with the development of memory performance over one year. The dependence of the results on the laterality and absence of associations in the negative exposure control variables texting, gaming and browsing the internet may suggest that RF-EMF absorbed by the brain is responsible for the observed associations. Most of the cumulative brain dose was from own mobile phone calls, while the contribution of mobile base stations and Wi-Fi was low. A strength of the study is the assessment of cumulative brain dose and the use of objective mobile phone use data recorded by mobile service providers. The effects were relatively small and the mechanism of action is unclear. An influence of other factors thus cannot be completely ruled out. For instance, the study results could have been affected by puberty, which affects both mobile phone use and the participant’s behaviour as well as cognitive abilities. The study sample is relatively small.”
In the 2018 Report “ Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk, Thirteenth report from SSM’s Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2018 the Authority downplays the NIH animal study stating
“The majority of the animal studies carried out on oxidative stress have indicated a possible relationship with radio wave exposure, some even below reference levels. The results are however not an established effect and further studies are needed to confirm the association in animals and to establish whether, and to what extent, it may occur in humans. Oxidative stress is a natural biological process that can sometimes be involved in pathogenesis, but under what circumstances needs to be investigated.
Two large animal studies (the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) study and the Italian Falcioni et al. study) have been published during the period. Both studies observed a relationship between radio wave exposure and Schwannoma in the heart for male rats. There is some inconsistency in the results between the two studies which weakens the significance of the results. Even if radio wave exposure could induce Schwannoma in the heart in humans, it is a very rare tumour in humans and therefore, the relevance for public health is most likely low.”
