COMAR POSITION STATEMENT: RADIO-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS: MEDICAL AND ENERGY RELATED R&D
Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR), IEEE · 1980
IEEE engineers recognized RF research gaps and safety concerns in 1980, calling for independent study panels decades before widespread wireless adoption.
Plain English Summary
This 1980 IEEE committee position statement outlined research priorities for radio-frequency electromagnetic fields in medical applications, including breast cancer detection and tissue monitoring. The committee identified barriers preventing progress in RF research and proposed establishing study panels and funding mechanisms to advance the field.
Why This Matters
This document represents a fascinating historical perspective on how the engineering community viewed RF electromagnetic field research four decades ago. The IEEE committee recognized the dual nature of RF technology - its medical potential alongside safety concerns - at a time when wireless technology was in its infancy. What's particularly striking is their call for interdisciplinary research panels and dedicated funding, suggesting even then that industry-driven research alone wasn't sufficient. This early recognition of research gaps helps explain why we still face many of the same questions today about RF safety. The committee's focus on medical applications like hyperthermia treatment and breast cancer detection shows how RF technology was being developed for beneficial uses, yet they simultaneously acknowledged the need for safety research - a balance we're still trying to strike in our smartphone era.
Finding
The potential for damage is related to the strength and frequency of a Field to which a human being is exposed. At microwave frequencies, which extend from three-hundred millions to three-hundred billions of cycles per second (300 MHz to 300 GHz), levels of field strength can be reckoned in units of milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm2). The human body serves as a reference for a very low level: It emits RFEM energy at a rate near 0.005 mW/cm2. Moderate levels (0.1 to 10 mW/cm2) are easily tolerated by the human being, at least for short exposures. Highly intense levels (well in excess of 100 mW/cm2) are unequivocally dangerous.
In their words
“The potential for damage is related to the strength and frequency of a Field to which a human being is exposed. At microwave frequencies, which extend from three-hundred millions to three-hundred billions of cycles per second (300 MHz to 300 GHz), levels of field strength can be reckoned in units of milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm2). The human body serves as a reference for a very low level: It emits RFEM energy at a rate near 0.005 mW/cm2. Moderate levels (0.1 to 10 mW/cm2) are easily tolerated by the human being, at least for short exposures. Highly intense levels (well in excess of 100 mW/cm2) are unequivocally dangerous.”
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Show BibTeX
@article{comar_position_statement_radio_frequency_electromagnetic_fields_medical_and_ener_g6483,
author = {Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR) and IEEE},
title = {COMAR POSITION STATEMENT: RADIO-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS: MEDICAL AND ENERGY RELATED R&D},
year = {1980},
}