Outdoor radiofrequency radiation levels in the West Bank-Palestine.
Lahham A, Hammash A. · 2012
View Original AbstractThis study found average RF exposure of 0.37 μW/cm² in urban areas, with FM radio contributing more than cell towers.
Plain English Summary
Researchers measured radiofrequency radiation from cell towers, radio, and TV stations across 65 locations in Palestine. FM radio stations produced the highest exposure levels at 62% of total radiation. All measurements remained well below international safety limits, providing important baseline data for urban RF exposure.
Why This Matters
This environmental monitoring study provides valuable real-world data on radiofrequency exposure levels that people actually encounter in their daily lives. What's particularly interesting is that FM radio stations, not cell towers, were the dominant source of RF exposure in these urban areas. The measured levels averaged 0.37 μW/cm², which is significantly lower than what you'd experience holding a cell phone to your head (which can exceed 1,000 μW/cm² locally). However, this study only measured compliance with safety guidelines, not biological effects. The reality is that safety guidelines are based on heating effects and don't account for the growing body of research showing biological impacts at much lower exposure levels. While these environmental levels may seem reassuring, they represent continuous, chronic exposure that we're only beginning to understand the long-term implications of.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.000148,0.000089, 0.000007, 0.00386, 0.00037 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 75 MHz to 3 GHz
Exposure Context
This study used 0.000148,0.000089, 0.000007, 0.00386, 0.00037 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 700x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 11.7x above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
This work presents the results of exposure levels to radio frequency (RF) emission from different sources in the environment of the West Bank-Palestine.
These RF emitters include FM and TV broadcasting stations and mobile phone base stations. Power dens...
The average value of power density resulted from FM radio broadcasting in all investigated locations...
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2012_outdoor_radiofrequency_radiation_levels_1127,
author = {Lahham A and Hammash A.},
title = {Outdoor radiofrequency radiation levels in the West Bank-Palestine.},
year = {2012},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21835841/},
}