Mobile phone base stations and adverse health effects: phase 2 of a cross-sectional study with measured radio frequency electromagnetic fields.
Berg-Beckhoff G, Blettner M, Kowall B, Breckenkamp J, Schlehofer B, Schmiedel S, Bornkessel C, Reis U, Potthoff P, Schuz J · 2009
View Original AbstractMeasured cell tower radiation showed no health effects, but believing towers cause harm was linked to more symptoms.
Plain English Summary
German researchers measured actual radiofrequency radiation levels around cell phone towers and surveyed 3,526 people about their health symptoms. They found no connection between measured radiation exposure and health problems like sleep disturbances, headaches, or mental health issues. However, people who believed the towers were making them sick did report more symptoms, suggesting psychological factors may play a role in perceived health effects.
Why This Matters
This large German study represents one of the more rigorous attempts to examine cell tower health effects by actually measuring exposure levels rather than just estimating them. The finding that measured RF exposure showed no health association, while perceived exposure did correlate with symptoms, highlights a critical distinction in EMF research. What this means for you is that proximity to cell towers alone may not be the primary concern many believe it to be. However, this study examined only the relatively low-level, continuous exposures from distant towers, not the much higher exposures from devices held against your body. The research also focused on short-term symptoms rather than long-term health effects like cancer, which require decades of follow-up to detect.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
The aim of the cross-sectional study was to test the hypothesis that exposure to continuous low-level radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted from mobile phone base stations was related to various health disturbances.
For the investigation people living mainly in urban regions were selected from a nationwide study in...
For the five health scores used, no differences in their medians were observed for exposed versus no...
In this large population-based study, measured RF-EMFs emitted from mobile phone base stations were not associated with adverse health effects.
Show BibTeX
@article{g_2009_mobile_phone_base_stations_1902,
author = {Berg-Beckhoff G and Blettner M and Kowall B and Breckenkamp J and Schlehofer B and Schmiedel S and Bornkessel C and Reis U and Potthoff P and Schuz J},
title = {Mobile phone base stations and adverse health effects: phase 2 of a cross-sectional study with measured radio frequency electromagnetic fields.},
year = {2009},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19151228/},
}