• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.1017-1023
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• 2003

Recently, the use an electric apparatus has brought into concerns about health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields. During the last 2 decades, a number of epidemiological studies have explored the association between childhood leukaemia and residential exposure to power-frequency electromagnetic fields. Several studies have suggested that there is a small excess leukaemia risk with magnetic field exposure above 2 mG. A number of governmental and international organizations have developed exposure gudelines. The most rigid regulation with exposure levels for the elementary school and hospital has been enacted by Switzerland. Although there is no convincing supportive laboratory evidence, and the absence of a plausible biological mechanism of disease causation limits, governments are increasingly called on to adopt precautionary approaches to regulating electromagnetic field exposures. The government would need to establish the policy for electromagnetic fields and continually to be concerned about possible health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.243-250
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• 2004

Recently, concerns about health risks exposed to electromagnetic fields have been brought in the safety of electric power lines. A number of governmental and international organizations have advised to avoid the magnetic field exposure to the schools and residential areas. Some epidemiologic studies showed that electromagnetic fields should not exceed the exposure limits of 2-3mG to the people living near high-voltage transmission lines. In this study, the principles, ranges and survey methods of the assessment for powerfrequency electromagnetic fields were reviewed from the relevant research papers and documents. The ranges of electromagnetic fields were determined from 50m to 100m and have been defined according to the properties of each electric power lines and a new methodology was suggested in this study. It would be necessary to develop and improve specific assessment methods for various high-voltage transmission lines projects.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2017

The effect of electromagnetic field on aquatic organisms has received little attention. In the current study, the effect of 50Hz electromagnetic field on muscle histopathology of Caspian Sea Cyprinus carpio, a species of economic importance, was investigated. A total of 120 healthy fish were used in this study. They were classified randomly in one of two groups as follows: Control or unexposed EMF group and experimental group with 5 different magnetic field intensities (0.1, 1, 3, 5 and 7mT) at 2 different exposure times including 30 and 60 minutes. Fish in the experimental group were exposed only once. Two weeks after exposure, dorsal muscles sectioned transversely, stained and were examined using a light microscope. Histopathologic assessments showed significant difference between control and EMF exposed groups at both 30 min. (p<0.01) and 60 min. (p<0.001) exposure times. We report for the first time that electromagnetic field in interaction with muscular tissue of Cyprinus carpio exhibits a dual effect which depends on the field intensity, and exposure time. At short exposure time (30 min.), EMF stimulates muscle growth process. At longer exposure time (60 min.), EMF can damage muscle tissue and result in muscle necrosis. More research is required to elucidate precise mechanisms involved in muscle hypertrophy and pathologic changes.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

The safety of human exposure to an ever-increasing number and diversity of electromagnetic field (EMF) sources both at work and at home has become a public health issue. To date, many in vivo and in vitro studies have revealed that EMF exposure can alter cellular homeostasis, endocrine function, reproductive function, and fetal development in animal systems. Reproductive parameters reported to be altered by EMF exposure include male germ cell death, the estrous cycle, reproductive endocrine hormones, reproductive organ weights, sperm motility, early embryonic development, and pregnancy success. At the cellular level, an increase in free radicals and $[Ca^{2+}]i$ may mediate the effect of EMFs and lead to cell growth inhibition, protein misfolding, and DNA breaks. The effect of EMF exposure on reproductive function differs according to frequency and wave, strength (energy), and duration of exposure. In the present review, the effects of EMFs on reproductive function are summarized according to the types of EMF, wave type, strength, and duration of exposure at cellular and organism levels.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.520-529
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• 1999

Exposure limits for human protection are determined by converting basic limits for induced current, SAR(specific absorption rate), or power density, which are based upon biological effects, to measurable electric and magnetic field intensities. As a part of studies for the establishment of a domestic guideline for exposure limits, the validity of the exposure limits of five representative guidelines or standards, which are derived from basic limits, are investigated in this paper, using the published results for coupling mechanisms of electromagnetic field into a human body, and problems in each standard are analyzed and compared with each other.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.86-92
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• 2019

New products and services, such as 5G and wireless power transmission equipment, have recently brought about changes in the field of electromagnetic technology. There is a need for the evaluation and measurement of the health effects of such technology. To address this need, the development of international standards related to human exposure to electromagnetic waves of these new technologies are currently being discussed. This article briefly introduces the International Standard Organization standards for human exposure to electromagnetic waves, and focuses on the major standard trends for SAR measurement techniques that employ vector probes, wireless power transfer, and 5G base station measurement.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.151-157
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• 2015

The increasing use of mobile phones has raised public concern about the possible biological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure on the human brain. To investigate the potential effect of RF-EMF exposure on the brain, we examined the behaviors and hippocampal morphology of C57BL/6 mice after sub-chronic exposure to RF-EMFs with a relatively high SAR level (5.0 W/kg). We applied a 2-hour daily exposure of WCDMA 1,950 MHz using a reverberation chamber that was designed for whole-body exposure for 60 days. In the behavioral tests, RF-EMF did not alter the physical activity or long-term memory of mice. Moreover, no alteration was found in the neuronal and glial cells in the hippocampus by RF-EMFs. In this study, we showed that sub-chronic whole body RF exposure did not produce memory impairment and hippocampal morphological alteration in C57BL/6 mice.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.31-35
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• 2011

The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC) has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans(Group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use on 31, May 2011. It takes 10 years after announcing the electric magnetic as possibly carcinogenic to humans(Group 2B) and 14 years after starting research project. It is too late as mentioned, too weak in terms of the same class to 'pickles & coffee' and too little in terms of using words 'more studies required'. The guidelines on human exposure to electromagnetic fields have been developed to provide guidance to identify the safety of exposure to electromagnetic fields. On the recent recommendations of safety guidelines, there has been discussion on possible chronic effects of electromagnetic fields with much lower or no threshold. This paper riviews the global trends of safety guidelines and has suggested the new guidelines for protecting the human health, wildlife and insects.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.843-852
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• 2017

Recently, as the WHO IARC has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic (group 2B) to humans, there is increasing concern about the health effects of overexposure from electromagnetic fields. Especially, the workers are exposed to higher level of electromagnetic radiation than the general public. As a result, in Europe, the protection guidelines for the worker are developed and the exposure of the worker is strictly controlled. In this paper, the EU directive, standards and guidelines of the EMF exposure for the worker were reviewed, and the exposure assessment of EMF was performed for the arc welding. Based on that, we propose a way to introduce a national policy to protect the workers from EMF exposure in working environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.20-28
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• 2021

With an increase in the commercialization of electricity, and the development of advanced and large electric devices and various wireless radio wave services, concerns over the effects of electromagnetic fields on human health have increased. Accordingly, the World Health Organization encouraged the development of international standards by establishing the 'International Electromagnetic Fields Project' in 1996 based on studies on the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields on the human body. Moreover, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) classified electromagnetic fields as possible carcinogens under Group 2B category, even though they have been found to have a weak correlation with those effects on human health. Mid-to-large-sized electric facilities used at industrial sites mostly adopt a commercial frequency of 60 Hz, and workers handling these facilities are exposed to such extremely low frequency (ELF) fields for a long time. A previous study suggested that exposure to ELF electromagnetic fields with frequency ranges from 0 to 300 Hz, even for a short time, at densities higher than 100 μT may have harmful effects on human body as it affects the activation of nerve cells in the central nervous system by inducing an electric field and current and stimulating muscles and the nervous system in the body. Such studies, however, focused on home appliances used by ordinary people, and research on facilities utilizing high-capacity current and operated by workers at industrial sites is lacking. Therefore, in this study, a 3000 kilowatt generator, which is a high-capacity electric facility employed at industrial sites, was investigated, and the size of the magnetic fields generated during its no-load and high-load operations per distance to produce a map was measured to reveal spots deemed hazardous according to domestic and international exposure standards. The findings of this study is expected to alleviate workers' anxiety about the harmful effects of magnetic fields on their body and to minimize the level of exposure during operations.