Mobile Phone Masts Do Not Make You Ill

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Main Category: Allergy
Also Included In: Public Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry;  Mental Health
Article Date: 26 Jul 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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A major UK three-year study has indicated that mobile phone masks do not make you sick - they are not the cause of the symptoms of ill health claimed by some people. Such symptoms as nausea, fatigue and anxiety may feel genuine, according to the Environmental Health Perspectives study, but they are not triggered by the masts.

Mast Sanity, a campaign group, says the findings are unreliable because 12 participants in the trial dropped out due to ill health.

Numerous people during the trial blamed the masts for their symptoms when they were told they were turned on. However, dozens thought the mast was on when it was off and still felt the symptoms, while others felt well when they thought the masts were off (when they were, in fact, on). The study indicates the problem is a psychological one.

Study leader, Elaine Fox, University of Essex, explained that belief is a powerful thing. "If you really believe something is going to do you some harm, it will."

Electro-sensitivity is believed by a number of individuals to be an allergy to such modern day appliances as mobile phone masts and hair driers.

A previous UK study, carried out by the HPA (Health Protection Agency) reported there was no evidence that showed an association between electrical equipment and ill health. That study, however, did not examine the effects the waves from phone masts might have. This latest study has done just that.

Scientists studied a total of 44 participants, excluding the 12 who dropped out. All the 44 had reported symptoms. They were compared to a control group of 114 who had never complained of ill effects from phone masts.

When both groups were told a signal was being emitted from the phone masts - both GSM and UMTS (3G), those who had reported symptoms said they did not feel well.

However, when the trial was double-blind, the number of symptoms reported was completely random. In other words, when neither testers nor participants knew whether the masts were emitting or not, the participants' reports of feeling ill did not correspond at all with the masts' emissions or lack of emissions.

5 people out of the control group of 114 guessed correctly when emissions were taking place, and 2 did the same from the group of 44. The researchers said this proportion is what is expected by chance.

Even though it seems the 'sensitive' people reported symptoms at random, their symptoms were real - their blood pressure had risen and their perspiration had increased. Despite their symptoms not synchronizing with emitting phone masts, these physiological reactions did occur.

The researchers concluded that the range of symptoms and physiological responses do not appear to be related to the presence of either GSM or 3G signals.

"Does Short-Term Exposure to Mobile Phone Base Station Signals Increase Symptoms in Individuals who Report Sensitivity to Electromagnetic Fields? A Double-Blind Randomised Provocation Study"
Stacy Eltiti, Denise Wallace, Anna Ridgewell, Konstantina Zougkou, Riccardo Russo, Francisco Sepulveda, Dariush Mirshekar-Syahkal, Paul Rasor, Roger Deeble, and Elaine Fox
Environ Health Perspect doi:10.1289/ehp.10286
-- Click here to view abstract (pdf)
-- Click here to view full article (pdf)

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
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