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Is there any exposure from a mobile phone in stand-by mode?

No Effects Found

Mild KH, Andersen JB, Pedersen GF. · 2012

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Phones in standby mode emit negligible EMF radiation, questioning studies that blame standby phones for health effects.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers examined whether mobile phones in standby mode produce meaningful EMF exposure, after several studies claimed standby phones could affect sleep and reproductive health. They found that phones in standby mode only transmit briefly every 2-5 hours for location updates, functioning as passive receivers the rest of the time with essentially no microwave emissions. This means EMF exposure from phones in standby mode is negligible.

Study Details

Several studies have been using a GSM mobile phone in stand-by mode as the source for exposure, and they claimed that this caused effects on for instance sleep and testicular function

In stand-by mode the phone is only active in periodic location updates, and this occurs with a frequency set by the net operator. Typical updates occur with 2-5 h in between, and between these updates the phone is to be considered as a passive radio receiver with no microwave emission. Thus, the exposure in stand-by mode can be considered negligible.

Cite This Study
Mild KH, Andersen JB, Pedersen GF. (2012). Is there any exposure from a mobile phone in stand-by mode? Electromagn Biol Med. 31(1):52-56, 2012.
Show BibTeX
@article{kh_2012_is_there_any_exposure_3245,
  author = {Mild KH and Andersen JB and Pedersen GF.},
  title = {Is there any exposure from a mobile phone in stand-by mode?},
  year = {2012},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22268596/},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Researchers examined whether mobile phones in standby mode produce meaningful EMF exposure, after several studies claimed standby phones could affect sleep and reproductive health. They found that phones in standby mode only transmit briefly every 2-5 hours for location updates, functioning as passive receivers the rest of the time with essentially no microwave emissions. This means EMF exposure from phones in standby mode is negligible.