Neurodegenerative disorders

The main neurodegenerative disorders are Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, known in the USA as Lou Gehrig's disease).

View of NRPB

In November 2001 the NRPB’s Advisory Group published a Report on electromagnetic fields and neurodegenerative disease. The conclusion was:

“There is no good ground for thinking that exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields can cause Parkinson’s disease and only very weak evidence to suggest it could cause Alzheimer’s disease. The evidence that people employed in electrical occupations have an increased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is substantially stronger, but this could be because they run an increased risk of having an electric shock rather than any effect of long-term exposure to the fields per se.” More on NRPB

In its new advice on exposure guidelines in 2004, the NRPB stated:

“Studies of occupational exposure to ELF EMFs do not provide strong evidence of associations with neurodegenerative diseases. The only possible exception concerns people employed in electrical occupations who appear to have an increased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; however, this may be due to effects of electric shocks rather than any effect of long-term exposure to the fields per se.” More on NRPB

View of ICNIRP

A major review published by ICNIRP in 2002 concluded:

"For reasons discussed in the preceding sections, the ALS [amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis] results are intriguing and point toward a possible risk increase in subjects with EMF exposure. However, confirmatory studies are needed, as is an appropriate consideration of confounding, for example, from electric shocks, as a conceivable explanation. As for AD [Alzheimer’s disease], it appears the excess risk is constrained to studies with weaker designs; thus support for the hypothesis of a link between EMF and AD is weak." More on ICNIRP

View of SCENIHR

SCENIHR is the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks. In their opinion on EMFs in 2007 they stated:

"For several of the other outcomes the support was never strong. Nevertheless, several neurodegenerative diseases are still considered worthy of study in this respect, and this refers particularly to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and Alzheimer disease." more on SCENIHR

View of WHO

The WHO Environmental Helath Criteria Monograph published in 2007 concluded:

"It has been hypothesized that exposure to ELF fields is associated with several neurodegenerative diseases. For Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis the number of studies has been small and there is no evidence for an association with these diseases. For Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more studies have been published. Some of these reports suggest that people employed in electrical occupations might have an increased risk of ALS. So far, no biological mechanism has been established which can explain this association, although it could have arisen because of confounders related to electrical occupations, such as electric shocks. Overall, the evidence for the association between ELF exposure and ALS is considered to be inadequate.

The few studies investigating the association between ELF exposure and Alzheimer's disease are inconsistent. However, the higher quality studies that focused on Alzheimer morbidity rather than mortality do not indicate an association. Altogether, the evidence for an association between ELF exposure and Alzheimer's disease is inadequate."

More on the WHO Monograph

Multiple sclerosis has not been looked at as much as the other neurodegenrative disorders. We are aware of just one paper which concludes it found “no support” for an association with EMFs.

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