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Symptoms & Sensitivity

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 with electromagnetic hypersensitivity couldn't detect actual EMF exposure and showed identical responses to fake exposure, suggesting symptoms aren't caused by electromagnetic fields.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 54 women (including 11 with self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity) to cell tower radiation at 10 V/m for 30 minutes in a controlled lab setting. Neither group could detect when they were actually being exposed to EMF, and both groups showed identical biological responses whether exposed to real or fake radiation. The study found no evidence that people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity react differently to cell tower emissions than healthy controls.

Exposure Information

A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 2.14 GHz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 2.14 GHzPower lines50/60 Hz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

The study examined exposure from: 2.14 GHz Duration: 30 min: continuous

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_3031,
  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},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18780296/},
}
PubMed: 18780296

Cited By (60 papers)

View all 60 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

No, women cannot detect 2.14 GHz cell tower radiation exposure. A 2009 study exposed 54 women to W-CDMA base station signals at 10 V/m for 30 minutes, and neither healthy women nor those with electromagnetic hypersensitivity could identify when they were actually being exposed versus fake exposure.
No, 30-minute cell tower exposure doesn't cause different symptoms in electromagnetically sensitive women. The 2009 Furubayashi study found that women with self-reported sensitivity experienced identical biological responses to both real 2.14 GHz radiation and sham exposure, showing no causal link between symptoms and actual EMF.
No, W-CDMA base stations don't affect women's autonomic nervous system function. Research exposing 54 women to 2.14 GHz signals at 10 V/m found no significant changes in autonomic functions during real versus fake exposure, regardless of whether women reported electromagnetic sensitivity.
No, electromagnetically sensitive women cannot identify real versus fake cell tower signals. A controlled study found that 11 women with self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity performed no better than healthy controls at detecting actual 2.14 GHz W-CDMA radiation during 30-minute laboratory exposures.
Cell tower radiation at 10 V/m doesn't cause psychological symptoms in women. While electromagnetically sensitive women consistently reported more discomfort than controls, they experienced identical symptoms whether exposed to real 2.14 GHz W-CDMA signals or fake radiation, indicating no causal relationship.