The California Department of Health Services EMF program has produced various draft Risk Evaluations on EMFs; the final version was produced in May 2002.
Note: California DHS seem to be changing their website and various links have broken - we will restore them when possible.
The review was conducted by three scientists employed by the Department. It was published by the Department but does not constitute the official view of California. Their conclusions were:
“To one degree or another all three of the DHS scientists are inclined to believe that EMFs can cause some degree of increased risk of childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and miscarriage.
They strongly believe that EMFs do not increase the risk of birth defects, or low birth weight.
They strongly believe that EMFs are not universal carcinogens, since there are a number of cancer types that are not associated with EMF exposure.
To one degree or another they are inclined to believe that EMFs do not cause an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Depression, or symptoms attributed by some to a sensitivity to EMFs. However,
All three scientists had judgments that were close to the dividing line between believing and not believing that EMFs cause some degree of increased risk of suicide, or
For adult leukemia, two of the scientists were close to the dividing line between believing and not believing and one was prone to believe that EMFs cause some degree of increased risk.”
Other review groups:
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
- International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)
- The European Union's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)
- Public Health England (PHE), formerly Health Protection Agency (HPA),
- Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
- California Department of Health Services
- Bioinitiative