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New Scientist was founded in 1956, this internationally-focused weekly British magazine aims at giving readers exhaustive information on recent worldwide developments in science from a scientific, technical and philosophical perspective. The magazine, based in London, is published in English by Reed Business Information, a Reed Elsevier subsidiary, and has US and Australian editions as well. The current Editor is Jeremy Webb, a professional physician. The New Scientist is widely read by both scientists and the general public, and often used as an information source for articles in the general press. The New Scientist website provides articles from the magazine’s weekly print edition as well as daily science updates.
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No evidence for cellphone mast illness
17/09/2008 5:22 pm
There is no evidence that cellphone masts cause fatigue, anxiety or headaches, according to one of the largest studies of their possible effects on health.
There is no evidence that cellphone masts cause fatigue, anxiety or headaches, according to one of the largest studies of their possible effects on health.
The report, suggests that "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" (EHS), a condition where sufferers feel ill in the vicinity of mobile phones, masts, and appliances like microwave ovens, could be all in the mind.
Surveys suggest 4% of the UK population claim to suffer from the disorder, but it has never been reliably linked to any source of electromagnetic radiation.
The study, led by Elaine Fox of the University of Essex, UK, exposed groups of self-reported EHS sufferers and volunteer controls to the frequencies emitted by the conventional GSM masts and the newer 3G networks. As a control, sometimes no signal was emitted, in what is known as a "sham" test.
The experiments were designed to see whether humans could detect electromagnetic radiation, and also whether exposure to radiation from mobile phone masts could account for the reported symptoms of EHS, which range from headaches to skin rashes and fatigue.
Some EHS sufferers go to extreme lengths to shield themselves – even covering themselves or their homes in foil.
"Whether people can detect electromagnetic fields is a scientifically interesting question because as far as we know humans don't have any receptors to do that," says Fox.
The experiments revealed only two of the 44 EHS sufferers (4.5%) could reliably tell whether the signal was switched on or off. A near-identical proportion of the other volunteers (five of 114, or 4.4%) did the same. The team say that this is the proportion you would expect based on chance alone.
Psychological origin
There was also no evidence that the electromagnetic signals were responsible for any symptoms. During all the experiments – whether there was a signal or not – the EHS sufferers consistently reported more anxiety, fatigue and discomfort, and had higher blood pressure and heart rate than the control participants.
There was only a correlation between their symptoms and the signal when they knew the mast was switched on. In the "double-blind" conditions, where neither the subject nor the researchers knew whether the mast was on or off, the effect disappeared.
The results echo previous findings of double-blind studies with both mobile phone masts and handsets. "We've had three major studies now, and when you take all the science together all the results are pointing in the same direction," says Fox.
The team say that while this study provides more evidence against the idea that mobile phone masts cause EHS, there is no doubt that the symptoms themselves are real. "It's time to look at what's really causing the problems, because these people are quite ill," says Fox.
David Coggon, at the University of Southampton, UK, believes this is yet more evidence that EHS is all in the mind.
"This study is consistent with earlier research in suggesting that, in most if not all cases, symptoms of 'electrosensitivity' are psychological in origin, and not a toxic effect of radio waves," he says.
Journal reference: Environmental Health Perspectives (DOI:10.1289/ehp.10286)
Caroline WILLIAMS
NewScientist.com news service, 25 July 2007.
No evidence for cellphone mast illness
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