Search

The IEEE Standards Association recently formally approved a new IEEE C95.1 "Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, 3 kHz to 300 GHz." Official publication of the standard by the IEEE was expected by late 2005, or soon thereafter. The new IEEE standard contains some features of the current ICNIRP guidelines, but it also includes a number of differences. The new IEEE standard is not identical to the ICNIRP guidelines, even for frequencies used in cellular mobile communications and wireless devices and systems. Moreover, the newly approved IEEE standard departs in major ways from its 1991 edition and subsequent amendments

There are two different sets of guidelines promulgated for limiting human exposure to radio-frequency (RF) radiation, worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a persistent, publicly expressed lack of confidence in RF-exposure standards, pertaining to the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) levels. The biological rationales adopted for the IEEE and ICNIRP guidelines for limiting localized exposures are conspicuously divergent, and have produced two sets of distinct MPEs in terms of specific absorption rate (SAR) and averaging tissue volume.

There are a number of general principles that should be applied to the evaluation of the scientific literature, to determine the probability of biological effects being caused by exposure to radio-frequency (RF) radiation. Specifically, before the claims of positive or negative effects in an individual report are accepted into the body of established scientific knowledge, that report should meet the criteria discussed. In analyzing the scientific literature to determine the probability of a biological response from exposure to RF energy, one must consider (1) the consistency of experimental results claimed, (2) the nature of the response and the biological system involved, (3) the ability to consistently replicate the results, and (4) whether results claimed and observations reported can be explained by previously accepted biological principles, or must be explained only on the basis of new, untested hypotheses.

Each year, the (US) President's Cancer Panel [1] identifies an area of concern related to the successful implementation of the National Cancer Program. The panel, authorized by the National Cancer Act in 1971, holds meetings around the country to which it invites relevant experts in the field to give testimony. The final report of the panel, issued in the fall, is based on all testimony received (at the meetings as well as through other channels) and peer-reviewed literature in the field. The panel Web site [1] includes archived reports from 1996 (“Fighting the War on Cancer in an Evolving Health Care System”) to 2008 (“Maximizing Our Nation's Investment in Cancer”).