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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electromagnetic hypersensitivity | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:19:15.755092+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Prevalence == In 1997, before Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G technology, a group of scientists attempted to estimate the number of people reporting "subjective symptoms" from electromagnetic fields for the European Commission. They estimated that electromagnetic sensitivity occurred in "less than a few cases per million of the population" (based on centres of occupational medicine in UK, Italy and France) or up to "a few tenths of a per cent of the population" (based on self-aid groups in Denmark, Ireland and Sweden). In 2005, the UK Health Protection Agency reviewed this and several other studies for prevalence figures and concluded that "the differences in prevalence were at least partly due to the differences in available information and media attention around electromagnetic hypersensitivity that exist in different countries" and that "Similar views have been expressed by other commentators". The authors noted that most of the studies focused on computer monitors (VDUs), as such the "findings cannot apply in full" to other forms of EMF exposure such as radio waves from mobile phones/base stations. In 2007, a UK survey aimed at a randomly selected group of 20,000 people found a prevalence of 4% for symptoms self-attributed to electromagnetic exposure. A 2013 study using telephone surveys in Taiwan concluded that the rates of IEI-EMF were in decline within the country, despite previous expectations of a rise in prevalence as electronic devices became more widespread. Rates declined from 13% in 2007 to 5% in 2013. The study also referred to apparent declines in the Netherlands (from 7% in 2009 to 4% in 2011) and in Germany (from 10% in 2009 to 7% in 2013). More women believed themselves to be electromagnetically hypersensitive than men. In 2021, physicist Sébastien Point noted that the prevalence of electrohypersensitivity is similar to the prevalence of specific phobias as well as the gender ratio (2 electrohypersensitive or phobic women for one electrohypersensitive or phobic man), which, according to him, reinforces the hypothesis that electrohypersensitivity is a new specific phobia.
== Society and culture == In 2010, a cell tower operator in South Africa revealed at a public meeting that the tower that nearby residents were blaming for their EHS symptoms had been turned off over six weeks before the meeting, making it a highly unlikely cause of EHS symptoms. In February 2014, the UK Advertising Standards Authority found that claims of harm from electromagnetic radiation, made in a product advertisement, were unsubstantiated and misleading. People have sued for damages due to harm claimed from electromagnetic radiation. In 2012, a New Mexico judge dismissed a lawsuit in which a person sued his neighbor, claiming to have been harmed by EM radiation from his neighbor's cordless telephones, dimmer switches, chargers, Wi-Fi, and other devices. The plaintiff brought the testimony of his doctor, who also believed she had EHS, and a person who represented himself as a neurotoxicologist; the judge found none of their testimony credible. In 2015, parents of a boy at a school in Southborough, Massachusetts, alleged that the school's Wi-Fi was making the boy sick. In November 2015, a depressed teenage girl in England died by suicide. This act was attributed to EHS by her parents and taken up by tabloids and EHS advocates. The public position of the EU's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) to the European Commission is that "new improved studies on the association between radio frequency fields from broadcast transmitters and childhood cancer provide evidence against such an association." But "data on the health effects of intermediate frequency fields used, for example, in metal detectors or anti-theft devices in shops, are still lacking." The SCENIHR called for research to continue. Some people who feel they are sensitive to electromagnetic fields self-treat by trying to reduce their exposure to electromagnetic sources by disconnecting or removing electrical devices, shielding or screening their selves or their residences, and alternative medicine. In Sweden, some municipalities provide disability grants to people who claim to have EHS to have abatement work done in their homes, even though the public health authority does not recognize EHS as an actual medical condition; towns in Halland do not provide such funds and this decision was challenged and upheld in court. The United States National Radio Quiet Zone is an area where wireless signals are restricted for scientific research purposes, and some people who believe they have EHS have relocated there to seek relief. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway and Director general of the World Health Organization, claims to have EHS. In 2015, she said that she had been sensitive for 25 years. The 2022 documentary Electric Malady examines the life of a Swedish man who claims to have EHS. The crime drama television series Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad, features the character Chuck McGill, who claims to have EHS. McGill lives his day-to-day life without electricity, his house lit by gas lamps, with his apparent reactions to electrical currents playing a part in the story.
== See also == Wireless electronic devices and health Electromagnetic radiation and health Bioelectromagnetics – the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities Microwave auditory effect List of questionable diseases Radiophobia – the fear of ionizing radiation, originating in the early 1900s Wind turbine syndrome Tinfoil hat – a popular stereotype and slang term for paranoia, persecutory delusions, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories
== References ==
== External links == Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Energy and Health: Research Needs from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) (Technical Report 178 – published June 2017)