Technical Report No.1167

No. 1167

The review of the human health effect due to the exposure to electromagnetic fields

Technical Committee on the Magnetic Application in Biology and Medicine

Keyword :

Electromagnetic fields, DC, ELF, Intermediate Frequency, Health Risk, Guideline

This technical committee reviews mainly the possible health effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) including the frequencies of DC (0), ELF (50/60Hz) and IF (300Hz-10 kHz) regions. First, chapter one gives the outline of the purpose of this committee. World Health Organization (WHO) published two documents regarding the possible human health effects. One is the Environmental Health Criteria Monograph (EHC 232) in 2006 focused on DC EMF, and the other is the EHC 238, in 2007 focusing on ELF EMF. Using two documents, the human health risk was evaluated comprehensively in chapter 2 and chapter 3. In addition to evaluate the possible human health effects, chapter 4 gives strongly the study need of IF EMF because there are still now no enough information to evaluate the possible human health effects of IF EMF. The comparison of guideline between ICNIRP and IEEE/IECS is presented in chapter 5. In chapter 6, there are examples of the magnetic field application in medicine and biology in addition to the future research need of ELF EMF to make clear the human health risk. Overall evaluation is given in chapter 7. Through this report of technical committee, the current finding is enough for understanding of human health effects.