What is a safe milligauss level?
ICNIRP's public guideline is 2,000 mG; the epidemiological association starts at 3–4 mG daily average; the building-biology sleeping-area target is under 0.2 mG.
Last verified 12 August 2026.
Also searched as: safe mG level, how many milligauss is safe, safe microtesla level
- Topic
- safe levels
Question
What is a safe level of magnetic field exposure in milligauss?
Answer
There is no single 'safe' number, because regulatory limits and precautionary targets answer different questions. The highest published value is ICNIRP's 50/60 Hz public reference level of 2,000 mG (200 µT) — a guideline, enforceable only where a jurisdiction adopts it, and the EU still uses the older 1,000 mG (100 µT) figure — both thousands of times above anything found in a normal home. The figure most people are actually looking for is 3–4 mG (0.3–0.4 µT), the daily-average level above which pooled epidemiology found an association — not a demonstrated cause — with childhood leukaemia, and building-biology practice treats under 0.2 mG in a sleeping area as no anomaly. Typical homes measure well below 4 mG away from panels and appliances.
Related records
- ICNIRP 2010 general public magnetic field reference level at 50/60 Hz
200 µT (2000 mG) for the public and 1000 µT occupational — five orders of magnitude above typical household background.
Exposure limits
- WHO/IARC ELF magnetic field association threshold (0.3–0.4 µT)
The average daily exposure level above which pooled epidemiological studies report an association with childhood leukaemia, and the basis for the IARC Group 2B classification of ELF magnetic fields.
Exposure limits
- Building Biology SBM-2024 AC magnetic field bands
Sleeping-area grades at 50/60 Hz: below 0.2 mG no anomaly, 0.2–1 mG weak, 1–5 mG strong, above 5 mG extreme.
Exposure limits
Sources
- icnirp-2010 Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-Varying Electric and Magnetic Fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz) — International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, 2010. guideline, link checked 2026-08-12.
- who-elf Electromagnetic fields and public health: exposure to extremely low frequency fields — World Health Organization, 2007. government, link checked 2026-08-12.
- sbm-2024 Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines for Sleeping Areas (SBM-2024) — Institut für Baubiologie + Nachhaltigkeit (IBN), 2024. ngo, link checked 2026-08-12.
- ahlbom-2000 A pooled analysis of magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia — British Journal of Cancer, 2000. peer-reviewed, link checked 2026-08-12.
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