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Effects of short-term W-CDMA mobile phone base station exposure on women with or without mobile phone related symptoms

No Effects Found

Furubayashi T, Ushiyama A, Terao Y, Mizuno Y, Shirasawa K, Pongpaibool P, Simba AY, Wake K, Nishikawa M, Miyawaki K, Yasuda A, Uchiyama M, Yamashita HK, Masuda H, Hirota S, Takahashi M, Okano T, Inomata-Terada S, Sokejima S, Maruyama E, Watanabe S, Taki M, Ohkubo C, Ugawa Y. · 2009

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People reporting electromagnetic sensitivity couldn't detect cell tower radiation better than controls, suggesting symptoms aren't directly caused by EMF exposure.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Japanese researchers exposed 54 women to cell tower-like radio waves for 30 minutes to test whether people who report mobile phone sensitivity can actually detect electromagnetic fields. They found that sensitive individuals couldn't tell when they were being exposed any better than control subjects, but they consistently reported more discomfort regardless of whether the EMF was on or off. This suggests that electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms aren't directly caused by the radio waves themselves.

Study Details

To investigate possible health effects of mobile phone use, we conducted a double-blind, cross-over provocation study to confirm whether subjects with mobile phone related symptoms (MPRS) are more susceptible than control subjects to the effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from base stations.

We sent questionnaires to 5,000 women and obtained 2,472 valid responses from possible candidates; f...

The MPRS group did not differ from the controls in their ability to detect exposure to EMF; neverthe...

In conclusion, we found no evidence of any causal link between hypersensitivity symptoms and exposure to EMF from base stations.

Cite This Study
Furubayashi T, Ushiyama A, Terao Y, Mizuno Y, Shirasawa K, Pongpaibool P, Simba AY, Wake K, Nishikawa M, Miyawaki K, Yasuda A, Uchiyama M, Yamashita HK, Masuda H, Hirota S, Takahashi M, Okano T, Inomata-Terada S, Sokejima S, Maruyama E, Watanabe S, Taki M, Ohkubo C, Ugawa Y. (2009). Effects of short-term W-CDMA mobile phone base station exposure on women with or without mobile phone related symptoms Bioelectromagnetics. 30(2):100-113, 2009.
Show BibTeX
@article{t_2009_effects_of_shortterm_wcdma_2866,
  author = {Furubayashi T and Ushiyama A and Terao Y and Mizuno Y and Shirasawa K and Pongpaibool P and Simba AY and Wake K and Nishikawa M and Miyawaki K and Yasuda A and Uchiyama M and Yamashita HK and Masuda H and Hirota S and Takahashi M and Okano T and Inomata-Terada S and Sokejima S and Maruyama E and Watanabe S and Taki M and Ohkubo C and Ugawa Y.},
  title = {Effects of short-term W-CDMA mobile phone base station exposure on women with or without mobile phone related symptoms},
  year = {2009},
  doi = {10.1002/bem.20446},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.20446},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Japanese researchers exposed 54 women to cell tower-like radio waves for 30 minutes to test whether people who report mobile phone sensitivity can actually detect electromagnetic fields. They found that sensitive individuals couldn't tell when they were being exposed any better than control subjects, but they consistently reported more discomfort regardless of whether the EMF was on or off. This suggests that electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms aren't directly caused by the radio waves themselves.