Health Research Programs

Extensive research has been conducted into possible health effects of exposure to many types of radio signals.

The consensus of scientific reviews to date is that there are no established adverse health effects from exposures to radio signals at levels below the 1998 guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). When weighing the evidence for potential health effects, scientists consider different aspects before drawing their conclusions:

• Have the effects been reported in the scientific peer reviewed literature?
• Have the reported effects been independently replicated?
• Is there a credible mechanism of action for the reported effects?
• Do the reported effects have any health significance?
• What is the strength of the reported effect?
• Do the reported effects exhibit a dose-response relationship?
• Is the study 'hypothesis testing' or 'hypothesis generating'?
• Have the statistical analyses of the results been conducted properly?
• Are there more obvious explanations for the reported outcomes?
• How does this study fit into the total existing research body?
  
  

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified areas for continuing research to support future health risk assessments. Many research programmes have been guided by the WHO research recommendations for electromagnetic fields and the WHO estimates that since 1997 over US$200million of funding has been allocated to such programmes.