Source of funding and results of studies of health effects of mobile phone use: systematic review of experimental studies.
Huss A, Egger M, Hug K, Huwiler-Müntener K, Röösli M, Gomes D, Da Ros MA · 2008
View Original AbstractIndustry-funded EMF studies are 90% less likely to find health effects than independent research, revealing systematic bias in wireless safety science.
Plain English Summary
Researchers analyzed 59 studies on radiofrequency radiation health effects to see if funding sources influenced results. They found that studies funded exclusively by the telecommunications industry were 90% less likely to report harmful health effects compared to studies funded by public agencies or charities. This pattern held even after accounting for study quality and other factors.
Why This Matters
This research exposes a troubling pattern that should concern anyone trying to make sense of EMF health science. When telecommunications companies fund research on their own products' safety, the studies are dramatically less likely to find health effects. The odds ratio of 0.11 means industry-funded studies were nearly 10 times less likely to report significant health effects than independently funded research. This mirrors what we've seen with tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, where financial conflicts of interest systematically bias research outcomes. What this means for you is simple: when evaluating EMF research, always ask who paid for it. The most reliable science comes from independent researchers without financial ties to the wireless industry. This doesn't mean every industry study is automatically wrong, but it does mean you should give greater weight to peer-reviewed research funded by government agencies, universities, and health organizations.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
We examined whether the source of funding of studies of the effects of low-level radiofrequency radiation is associated with the results of studies. We conducted a systematic review of studies of controlled exposure to radiofrequency radiation with health-related outcomes (electroencephalogram, cognitive or cardiovascular function, hormone levels, symptoms, and subjective well-being).
We searched EMBASE, Medline, and a specialist database in February 2005 and scrutinized reference li...
Of 59 studies, 12 (20%) were funded exclusively by the telecommunications industry, 11 (19%) were fu...
The interpretation of results from studies of health effects of radiofrequency radiation should take sponsorship into account.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2008_source_of_funding_and_2214,
author = {Huss A and Egger M and Hug K and Huwiler-Müntener K and Röösli M and Gomes D and Da Ros MA},
title = {Source of funding and results of studies of health effects of mobile phone use: systematic review of experimental studies.},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1289/ehp.9149},
url = {https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.9149},
}