Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity

What is electromagnetic hypersensitivity? It’s an alleged condition in which a person is especially sensitive to weak radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by a cell phone or other wireless technology. All sorts of symptoms are claimed to be associated with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, such as headaches, fatigue, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. An example of a person who says he has electromagnetic hypersensitivity is Arthur Firstenberg, author of The Invisible Rainbow, a book about his trials and tribulations. Many people purportedly suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity flock to Green Bank, West Virginia, because a radiotelescope there requires that the surrounding area being a “radio quiet zone.”

Is electromagnetic hypersensitivity real? Answering this question should be easy. Take people who claim such hypersensitivity, sit them down in a lab, turn a radiofrequency device on (or just pretend to), and ask them if they can sense it. Ask them about their symptoms. Of course, you must do this carefully, avoiding any subtle cues that might signal if the radiation is present. (For a cautionary tale about why such care is important, read this post.) You should do the study double blind (neither the patient nor the doctor who asks the questions should be told if the radiation is or is not on) and compare the patients to control subjects.

The effects of
radiofrequency
electromagnetic fields
exposure on human
self-reported symptoms.

Many such experiments have been done, and recently a systematic review of the results was published.

Xavier Bosch-Caplanch, Ekpereonne Esu, Chioma Moses Oringanje, Stefan Dongus, Hamed Jalilian, John Eyers, Christian Auer, Martin Meremikwu, and Martin Röösli (2024) The effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields exposure on human self-reported symptoms: A systematic review of human experimental studies. Environment International, Volume 187, Article number 108612.

This review is part of an ongoing project by the World Health Organization to assess potential health effects from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. The authors come from a variety of countries, but several work at the respected Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. I’m particularly familiar with the fine research of Martin Röösli, a renowned leader in this field.

The authors surveyed all publications on this topic and established stringent eligibility criteria so only the highest quality papers were included in their review. A total of 41 studies met the criteria. What did they find? Here’s the key conclusion from the author’s abstract.

The available evidence suggested that study volunteers could not perceive the EMF [electromagnetic field] exposure status better than what is expected by chance and that IEI-EMF [Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields, their fancy name for electromagnetic hypersensitivity] individuals could not determine EMF conditions better than the general population.

The patients couldn’t determine if the fields were on or off better than chance. In other words, they were right about the field being on or off about as often as if they had decided the question by flipping a coin. The authors added

Available evidence suggests that [an] acute RF-EMF [radiofrequency electromagnetic field] below regulatory limits does not cause symptoms and corresponding claims in... everyday life are related to perceived and not to real EMF exposure status.

Let me repeat, the claims are related “to perceived and not to real EMF exposure.” This means that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is not caused by an electromagnetic field being present, but is caused by thinking that an electromagnetic field is present.

Yes, there are some limitations to this study, which are discussed and analyzed by the authors. The experimental conditions might differ from real-life exposures in the duration, frequency, and location of the field source. Most of the subjects were young, healthy volunteers, so the authors could not make conclusions about the elderly or chronically ill. The authors could not rule out the possibility that a few super-sensitive people are mixed in with a vast majority who can’t sense the fields (although they do offer some evidence suggesting that this is not the case).

Are Electromagnetic Fields
Making Me Ill?

Their results do not prove that a condition like electromagnetic hypersensitivity is impossible. Impossibility proofs are always difficult in science, and especially in medicine and biology. But the evidence suggests that the patients’ symptoms are related “to perceived and not to real EMF exposure.” While I don’t doubt that these patients are suffering, I’m skeptical that their distress is caused by electromagnetic fields. 

To learn more about potential health effects of electromagnetic fields, I refer you to Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology (especially Chapter 9) or Are Electromagnetic Fields Making Me Ill?

Martin Röösli - Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and Vulnerable Populations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXY0WQJ37Q

Is Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Real?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrkL1Hm5myE

J. Patrick Reilly (1937—2024)

J. Patrick Reilly died on October 28 in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 87. He was a leader in the field of bioelectricity, and especially the study of electrical stimulation.

Russ Hobbie and I didn’t mention Reilly in Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology, but I did in my review paper “The Development of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.”

J. Patrick Reilly of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory calculated electric fields in the body produced by a changing magnetic field, although primarily in the context of neural stimulation caused by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [54, 55].

[54] Reilly, J. P. (1989). Peripheral nerve stimulation by induced electric currents: Exposure to time-varying magnetic fields. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 27, 101–110.

[55] Reilly, J. P. (1991). Magnetic field excitation of peripheral nerves and the heart: A comparison of thresholds. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 29, 571–579.

The papers included this biography of the author. 

 

Applied Bioelectricity,
by J. Patrick Reilly.

Reilly was also known for his 1998 book Applied Bioelectricity: From Electrical Stimulation to Electropathology, which covered many of the same topics as Chapters 6–8 in IPMB: The Hodgkin-Huxley model of a nerve action potential, the electrical properties of cardiac tissue, the strength-duration curve, the electrocardiogram, and magnetic stimulation. However, you can tell that Russ and I are physicists while Reilly is an engineer. Applied Bioelectricity focuses less on deriving equations from fundamental principles and providing insights using toy models, and more on predicting stimulus thresholds, analyzing stimulus wave forms, examining electrode types, and assessing electrical injuries. That’s probably why he included the word “Applied” in his title. Compared to IPMB, Applied Bioelectricity has no homework problems, fewer equations, a similar number of figures, more references, and way more tables.

Reilly’s preface begins

The use of electrical devices is pervasive in modern society. The same electrical forces that run our air conditioners, lighting, communications, computers, and myriad other devices are also capable of interacting with biological systems, including the human body. The biological effects of electrical forces can be beneficial, as with medical diagnostic devices or biomedical implants, or can be detrimental, as with chance exposures that we typically call electric shock. Whether our interest is in intended or accidental exposure, it is important to understand the range of potential biological reactions to electrical stimulation.

In 2018, Reilly was the winner of the d’Arsonval Award, presented by the Bioelectromagnetic Society for outstanding achievement in research in bioelectromagnetics. The award puts him in good company. Other d’Arsonval Award winners include Herman Schwan, Thomas Tenforde, Elanor Adair, Shoogo Ueno, and Kenneth Foster.

I don’t recall meeting Reilly, which is a bit surprising given the overlap in our research areas. I certainly have been aware of his work for a long time. He was a skilled musician as well as an engineer. I would like to get a hold of his book Snake Music: A Detroit Memoir. It sounds like he had a difficult childhood, and there were many obstacles he had to overcome to make himself into a leading expert in bioelectricity. Thank goodness he persevered. J. Patrick Reilly, we’ll miss ya.