Research record
Key studies and hazard classifications, each stating what was found, what it can and cannot establish, and where it sits in the evidence base.
A pooled analysis of nine studies that produced the 0.3–0.4 µT figure still cited in every ELF policy discussion, reporting roughly twice the relative risk above that level.
2000 · systematic review · high
An international prospective cohort that records phone use from operator data rather than recall, designed to address the recall-bias problem that limits the case–control literature.
2024 · cohort · moderate
A nationwide cohort using subscription records rather than recall found no elevated brain tumour incidence among long-term subscribers, including those with 13 or more years of subscription.
2011 · cohort · high
IARC classified extremely low frequency magnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) on the basis of consistent epidemiological associations with childhood leukaemia above roughly 0.3–0.4 µT.
2002 · classification · hazard classification
IARC classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on limited evidence for glioma and acoustic neuroma from heavy mobile phone use.
2011 · classification · hazard classification
The largest case–control study of mobile phone use and brain tumours found no overall increase in glioma or meningioma, with a raised glioma odds ratio confined to the highest decile of reported call time.
2010 · case control · high
Two-year whole-body exposure studies found clear evidence of malignant schwannomas of the heart in male rats at exposure levels above the human whole-body limit, with no such finding in female rats or in mice.
2018 · animal · high
A lifespan rat study at far-field, base-station-like levels reported the same rare heart schwannoma signal as the NTP study, at much lower exposure intensities.
2018 · animal · moderate
WHO recognises that people report real and sometimes disabling symptoms they attribute to EMF, while provocation studies have not shown that participants can detect field presence or that symptoms track actual exposure.
2005 · systematic review · contested
A systematic review and meta-analysis of human observational studies found no association between mobile phone use and brain or head-and-neck cancers, including for long-term and heavy use.
2024 · systematic review · high
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