III. Existing Scientific Research on EMF
While a direct link between exposure to EMFs and human health effects has yet to be proven, several studies undertaken since the Commission decision in 1993 have conclusions that have prompted additional public concern. For example, the National Institutes of Environmental Health Services Working Group (NIEHS), British National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)2 all suggest that there is a possibly a weak link between exposure to EMFs and childhood leukemia. The IARC and the NIEHS panels determined that there is not conclusive proof to demonstrate a relationship between exposure to EMFs and childhood brain cancer, as well as breast cancer (both female and male). In general, these panels are inclined to embrace biophysical studies that tend to be more skeptical of a possible link between exposure to a magnetic field and potential biological effects. These panels do accept numerous epidemiological studies which support the general conclusion that EMFs are a possible carcinogen.
2 The World Health Organization's IARC, has a four-point classification of a substance's degree of carcinogenicity: not carcinogenic, indeterminable, possible carcinogenic, and probably carcinogenic. The IARC rates EMFs as "possible carcinogenic" but also includes gasoline exhaust, styrofoam and coffee in that same classification of risk.
