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Exposure to Mobile Phone Electromagnetic Fields and Subjective Symptoms: A Double-Blind Study

From the Department of Psychology, University of Essex, United Kingdom (C.C., R.R., E.F.); and Department of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain (A.B.).

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Caterina Cinel, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom. E-mail: ccinel{at}essex.ac.uk

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine whether acute exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (REFs) emitted by mobile phone may affect subjective symptoms.

Methods: Three large groups of volunteers (total 496) were exposed to REFs emitted by mobile phones in one session and sham signals in a different session. REF and sham exposure sessions were counterbalanced and double blinded. Participants were exposed to either Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or unmodulated signals, and the mobile phone was positioned either on the left or on the right side of the head. Before and after REF and sham exposure participants completed a questionnaire to rate five symptoms. Any changes in the severity of the symptoms after REF exposure were compared with changes after sham exposure.

Results: For one group of participants (N = 160), it was found that dizziness was affected by GSM exposure, but this was not consistently found with the other two groups of participants. No other significant effects were found.

Conclusions: We did not find consistent evidence suggesting that exposure to mobile phone REFs affect subjective symptoms. Even though we acknowledge that more research is needed, we believe that our results give an important contribution to the research on mobile phone use and subjective symptoms.

Key Words: radio frequency electromagnetic fields • REF exposure • subjective symptoms • mobile phones

Abbreviations: REF = radio frequency electromagnetic field; GSM = Global System for Mobile Communication; CW = continuous wave; SAR = specific energy absorption rate; SD = standard deviation.