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Symptoms & Sensitivity

Exposure to mobile phone electromagnetic fields and subjective symptoms: a double-blind study.

No Effects Found

Cinel C, Russo R, Boldini A, Fox E. · 2008

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Mobile phone radiation doesn't cause immediate symptoms like headaches, but this study doesn't address long-term health risks.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 496 volunteers to mobile phone radiation in a controlled, double-blind study to see if it caused symptoms like headaches or dizziness. They found only one inconsistent effect - dizziness in one group that wasn't replicated in the other groups. The study concluded there's no consistent evidence that mobile phone radiation causes immediate physical symptoms.

Study Details

The objective of this study was to examine whether acute exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (REFs) emitted by mobile phone may affect subjective symptoms.

Three large groups of volunteers (total 496) were exposed to REFs emitted by mobile phones in one se...

For one group of participants (N = 160), it was found that dizziness was affected by GSM exposure, b...

We did not find consistent evidence suggesting that exposure to mobile phone REFs affect subjective symptoms. Even though we acknowledge that more research is needed, we believe that our results give an important contribution to the research on mobile phone use and subjective symptoms.

Cite This Study
Cinel C, Russo R, Boldini A, Fox E. (2008). Exposure to mobile phone electromagnetic fields and subjective symptoms: a double-blind study. Psychosom Med. 70(3):345-348, 2008.
Show BibTeX
@article{c_2008_exposure_to_mobile_phone_2983,
  author = {Cinel C and Russo R and Boldini A and Fox E.},
  title = {Exposure to mobile phone electromagnetic fields and subjective symptoms: a double-blind study.},
  year = {2008},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18378872/},
}
PubMed: 18378872

Cited By (41 papers)

View all 41 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

No, the 2008 Cinel study found no consistent evidence that mobile phone radiation causes immediate physical symptoms. Among 496 volunteers, only one group showed dizziness from GSM exposure, but this effect wasn't replicated in the other two groups tested.
The Cinel study tested 496 volunteers across three separate groups in controlled, double-blind conditions. Researchers exposed participants to mobile phone electromagnetic fields to determine if the radiation caused symptoms like headaches or dizziness.
Dizziness was the only symptom affected by GSM exposure, but only in one group of 160 participants. This effect wasn't consistently found in the other two groups, leading researchers to conclude there's no reliable evidence of symptom causation.
The dizziness effect appeared in only one of three groups tested, making it inconsistent and unreliable. In scientific research, findings must be reproducible across groups to be considered valid evidence of a real effect.
The study used double-blind methodology with 496 participants, meaning neither researchers nor volunteers knew when real radiation exposure occurred. This design eliminates psychological bias and provides the most reliable way to test for genuine physical symptom effects.