New ICNIRP Guidelines will be published, any moment now, in the Health Physics journal. However, for already several months it is known what these new ICNIRP Guidelines will be…
Interestingly and importantly, ICNIRP dismisses completely:
- existence and significance of non-thermal effects
- existence of the risk of cancer in long term avid users of mobile phones
- IARC’s classification of RF as a possible human carcinogen (IARC review of science was not included in list of science reviews used by ICNIRP in preparation of the new guidelines)
Within the ICNIRP, the Project Group that was tasked with preparing the new ICNIRP Guidelines: Rodney Croft (Chair),Guglielmo D’Inzeo, Maria Feychting, Akimasa Hirata, Kari Jokela, Sarah Loughran, Carmela Marino, Gunnhild Oftedal, Eric van Rongen, Martin Röösli, Zenon Sienkiewicz, John Tattersall, and Soichi Watanabe.
On October 15, 2019, at the meeting of the GSMA, Eric van Rongen, Chairman of ICNIRP, presented lecture “Key features of the final ICNIRP RF guidelines relevant to mobile communications”.
In this lecture, participants of the GSMA conference were informed what will be new in the new ICNIRP Guidelines.
Few excerpts…
THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THE NEW ICNIRP GUIDELINES was stated to be the derived from the previously performed science reviews, supplemented with some new publications:
- draft WHO RF EHC
- SCENihR
- SSM reports
- original papers not included
THE GENERAL FINDINGS OF THE REVIEW OF SCIENCE PERFORMED BY ICNIRP:
- No evidence that RF EMF causes adverse health effects other then
through heating - No evidence for cancer
- No adverse non-thermal effects
- Some evidence for some biological effects, but these are not adverse
- Thermal biology literature was also considered
SAR & FREQUENCY – measuring and expressing exposures
- Previous:
- SAR up to 10 GHz, power density at higher frequencies
- Now:
- whole-body SAR up to 300 GHz
- local SAR up to 6 GHz
- 6-300 GHz: absorbed (=incident – reflected) power density
ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECT LEVELS
- Whole body:
- SAR 4 W/kg, averaged over 30 min (=time to ~ reach steady state)
- Local:
- 100 kHz – 6 GHz:
- Head & Torso: local SAR/10g 20 W/kg, averaged over 6 min
- Limbs: local SAR/10g 40 W/kg, averaged over 6 min
- >6 – 300 GHz: absorbed power density 200 W/m2, averaged over
6 min, 4 cm2
- 100 kHz – 6 GHz:
- Focal beam exposure
- >30 – 300 GHz: absorbed power density 400 W/m2, averaged over
6 min, 1 cm2
- >30 – 300 GHz: absorbed power density 400 W/m2, averaged over
- Also (complex) limits for short (pulsed) exposures
OLD VS. NEW ICNIRP GUIDELINES
REFERENCE LEVELS FOR 5G EXPOSURES
