{"id":94686,"date":"2024-10-17T14:28:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/public-policy\/?p=94686"},"modified":"2025-05-01T15:02:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:02:30","slug":"key-learnings-from-five-years-of-5g-emf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/public-policy\/key-learnings-from-five-years-of-5g-emf\/","title":{"rendered":"Key learnings from five years of 5G EMF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The theme of the GSMA EMF Forum 2024 was to contrast claims made in 2019 about radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) levels with the experience of five years of commercial 5G operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty-one measurement surveys covering all 5G frequency bands<\/a>, including millimetre wave, show that maximum 5G levels are typically less than 1% of international limits. The position of international authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and national experts from at least 46 countries, is that no health risk is expected from 5G provided it complies with the international (ICNIRP) limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No brain tumour risk increase<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An analysis of data for almost 270,000 participants across five countries of the COSMOS Study (International Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health) found no increase in brain tumours linked to mobile phone use – even among long-term users. Professor Maria Feychting from the Karolinska Institute<\/a>, Sweden, on behalf of COSMOS noted that the study could look at latencies of up to 30 years, and that about one third of participants had used a mobile phone for 15 years or longer. She added that even though it is \u2018highly unlikely<\/em>\u2019 that the results will change, COSMOS plans to continue following participants and to examine other possible health risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO radio wave review anticipated in 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Emilie van Deventer, Head of the Radiation and Health Unit of the World Health Organization (WHO) told attendees that the outcome of the health risk assessment by the WHO Task Group on Radiofrequency Fields and Health<\/a> is expected to be published in 2025. Dr van Deventer explained that a 20-member Task Group is supporting the WHO and will formulate conclusions based on a scoping report and a series of systematic reviews<\/a>. On time completion is dependent on the publication of certain input documents, in particular for cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European research activities: SEAWave<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union is funding a five-year programme involving four EMF research projects under the umbrella label CLUE-H<\/a> to assess whether changes to RF-EMF levels due to the introduction of 5G will have any impact on human health and the environment. Professor Theo Samaras from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and coordinator of one of the projects – SEAWave<\/a> (Scientific-Based Exposure and Risk Assessment of Radiofrequency and mm-Wave Systems from children to elderly (5G and Beyond)) – described progress. One SEAWave study found that the transmit power of 5G devices is generally lower and data throughput higher than for other mobile technologies. SEAWave is also conducting human and animal studies of 5G millimetre wave (mmWaves) exposures, with results expected soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICNIRP publication on knowledge gaps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Hirata, the ICNIRP Chair 2024 -2028<\/a>, announced a forthcoming publication setting out knowledge gaps where research is needed to inform future guidelines. ICNIRP Scientific Secretary Dr Dan Baaken added that a steering group will focus on communication to improve understanding of the guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International standards contribute to public trust<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sami Gabriel, Vodafone – Deputy Chair GSMA EMF and Health, facilitated a panel on EMF testing methods for 5G base stations with Professor Wout Joseph, Ghent University (Belgium); Dr Ourouk Jawad, ANFR (France); Dr Teruo Onishi, Chair of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) TC 106; and Christophe Grangeat, Nokia \u2013 Convenor, IEC TC106 MT 3. They discussed how standards can contribute to public trust by defining methods that deliver more accurate assessments corresponding to real base station usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Lidia Stepinska-Ustasiak, T-Mobile (Poland) explained that Poland successfully moved from restrictive limits to the international (ICNIRP) guidelines<\/a> with effect from 2020 but \u2018propaganda and misinformation<\/em>\u2019 remain a problem. She encouraged national authorities to build public trust in technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live 5G radio wave measurements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the afternoon, a GSMA workshop with experts from IEC TC106 MT3<\/a> addressed 5G RF-EMF exposure assessment best practice. Christophe Grangeat provided a tutorial overview of IEC 62232<\/a> (standard) and IEC TR 2669<\/a> (technical report). He was joined by DI Manfred Ruttner, A1 Telekom Austria \u2013 Deputy Chair GSMA EMF and Health, who presented a case study applying the IEC methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by measurements of the commercial 5G networks in Brussels. Experts from IEC TC106 MT3, including Dr Phil Knipe from Total Radiation Solution Pty Ltd (Australia), and representatives of Keysight, Narda, Viavi and Wavecontrol discussed different approaches. The GSMA EMF Forum 2024 was held on 1 October in Brussels in a hybrid format. Watch the recording and download session materials here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The theme of the GSMA EMF Forum 2024 was to contrast claims made in 2019 about radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) levels with the experience of 5 years of commercial 5G operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":94688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1711],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[12147],"class_list":["post-94686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emf-and-health","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"\nKey learnings from five years of 5G EMF - Public Policy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The theme of the GSMA EMF Forum 2024 was to contrast claims made in 2019 about radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) levels with the experience of 5 years of commercial 5G operation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/public-policy\/key-learnings-from-five-years-of-5g-emf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key learnings from five years of 5G EMF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The theme of the GSMA EMF Forum 2024 was to contrast claims made in 2019 about radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) levels with the experience of 5 years of commercial 5G operation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/public-policy\/key-learnings-from-five-years-of-5g-emf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-17T13:28:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T14:02:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/public-policy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Christophe_Manfred_room_view_20241001_153701-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"iivanov@gsma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"iivanov@gsma.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Key learnings from five years of 5G EMF - 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