Health Effects of Mobile Phones Studied on University Students

Finta Viktória, assistant lecturer at the Department of Nuclear Physics of the Eötvös Loránd University researches the impact of the radiation of mobile phones, cordless devices, radio and television transmission towers and microwave ovens on humans, with university students involved in the study.

What are the latest results in this field?

There is no proof of any effect that mobile phones have on the formation or growth of tumors, but their impact on the nervous system and the brain increasingly seems to be proven. According to a recent publication, the use of cordless phones causes lesions in the functioning of the blood-brain barrier, and researchers connect this phenomenon with headaches, asthmatic symptoms and impaired concentration ability.

What are the international precedents of this research, and what kinds of foreign relations do you have?

Here in Hungary, only the Department for Non-Ionising Rediations of the Frédéric Joliot-Curie National Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene had been involved in this kind of research before us. We have worked in collaboration with them since 2007. The Head of the Department is on a two-year delegation in France now, which is also interesting because the measuring equipment that we work with is of French make. Another instrument we have used for a short while is a German tool: this smaller, non-isotropic equipment has been used for measuring 1500 German students so far. The staff of a lab in Switzerland has tested our instrument, and also compared several measurment tools. Our most recent publication is a joint work with Belgian colleagues. The journal Bioelectromagnetics and the organising committee based on it regularly arranges for international meetings where experts dealing with the theme can exchange experiences.

How is such a measurement carried out, and why are the subjects university students?

The reason for examining university students is twofold: on one hand, they are easily accessible at the university, and, on the other hand, this is the age group who have used mobile phones since they were adolescents and are likely to continue using them for a long time, and are responsive to new technologies. Students come on a volunteer basis: they are given the most important information on the measurement, and a questionnaire containing demographic questions and also asking them if they know of a transmission tower or base station in their neighbourhood, if they feel headaches, warming or concentration disorders during or after using mobile phones. Although these questions are a slight suggestive, their answer to them is usually no, except for the warming. They receive a diary in which they have to enter their daily activities. Commuters and residents of Budapest receive the instrument for 24 hours, while those who live in the countryside have it for 72 hours when they travel home at the weekend. This enables us to measure their home environment and their travel route, and also get information on the circumstances in the dormitory and the apartments they rent in Budapest. When they return the instrument, we download the data on a computer and analyse them with a processing program that also prepares statistics. Based on our initial experiences, commuting students are affected in the first place. They travel for a longer time, and are „exposed" to a greater degree, and also spend more time at the university, while their living environment is also largely similar to that of their fellows in the capital city, at least with respect to electromagnetic radiation.

A number of erroneous views prevail on the harmful effects of mobile phones. What kinds of misconceptions have you met with, and what is the truth?

"Electrosmog" is an erroneous expression that has been spreading. However, this extent of electromagnetic radiation cannot be compared to smog, on one hand because these radiations are not stored in the organism, and, on the other hand, because this is not a byproduct that can be reduced to an infinite degree. If one wants to talk about "electrosmog", the right expression could be "complex electro-magnetic environment", which refers to extremely low frequency spaces and radio frequency and microwave radiations. It is also good to know that the mobile telephone transmission aerial does not radiate along the axis, and it operates with guided beams. Thus the safe place to be is exactly under the antenna, while the least favourable according to the measurements is to live on a higher floor of a house where the antenna is on the roof of a neighbouring house, on the side where the person lives. Meanwhile, it is also important to stress that according to our measurements, the magnitude of the radiation that an average Hungarian is exposed to is a hundredth of the health limit. What is not a misconception, however, is that the 50 Hz frequency has been categorised as carcinogenic in humans, which means that childhood leukemia is more frequent by high voltage, for example in apartments above electric substations. Mobile phones are expected to be categorised as non-carcinogenic in 2010.

What can you advise to mobile phone users?

Headsets are worth using in any case, but making phone calls while driving is dangerous not only because it occupies the hand, but also because it narrows the driver's attention. It is also important to note that everything has a less calculable effect on developing organisms. Despite the trend, it is not recommended to buy mobile phones for children, and nor should we let them play on the parents' phones, as that also exposes them to radiation. Mobiles are getting smaller and lighter and have more and more functions, while it might be better to have separate devices for the many different functions (e.g. navigation, taking photos, listening to music).

How do you involve students in the research activity, and how is the theme raised in education?

At present, four students are involved in this topic. One of them is working on a thesis and does local measurements between the two university buildings, with the aim of proving that creating an electro magnetic map makes no sense, as field intensity is highly mutable. Within the framework of the Laboratory Practice in Environmental Physics, we intend to introduce this radio frequency instrument to students at the practical course in Electro Magnetic Radiation. We plan to launch an elective course, which is expected to launch in the autumn of 2010.