James C. Lin’s research while affiliated with University of Illinois at Chicago and other places

The recent disclosure of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) closing down its RF radiation research program on how RF radiation causes cancer was a surprise [1] , [2] , [3] . NTP is a part of the National Institutes of Health and reports to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NTP’s mandates are to provide the scientific basis for programs, activities, and policies that promote health or lead to the prevention of disease.

Could the RadioBio initiative be suggesting a paradigm shift in the U.S. military’s standard of operation procedures?

The rapid proliferation of cellular mobile telecommunication devices and systems is raising public health concerns about the biological effects and safety of RF radiation exposure. There is also concern about the efficacy of promulgated health safety limits, rules, and recommendations for the RF radiation used by these devices and systems. This article reviews and discusses the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) notices and rules, International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, and International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (EMFs). The recently revised RF exposure limits are adjusted only for heating with RF radiation. These limits are largely intended to restrict short-term heating by RF radiation that raises tissue temperatures. They are narrow in scope and are not applicable to long-term exposure at low levels. This review discusses the assumptions underlying the standards and the outdated exposure metrics employed, and concludes that the revised guidelines do not adequately protect children, workers, or the public from exposure to RF radiation or people with sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation from wireless devices and systems. Furthermore, the review discusses important animal data that the standards do not appear to take into account. Moreover, for millimeter-wave radiation from 5G mobile communications, there are no adequate human health effects studies in the published literature. The conclusions by scientific organizations, such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), that diverge from these standards are also discussed. The review concludes that many of the recommended limits are debatable and require more scientific justification from the standpoint of safety and public health protection.

The currently promulgated RF exposure guidelines and standards cover the entire range of RF radiation and apply predominantly to restrict RF-induced short-term heating and in guarding against raising tissue temperatures, including the 5G frequencies. There are substantial abnormalities in these putative health safety protection guidelines and standards. Some of the safety limits are irrelevant, debatable, and absent of scientific justification from the standpoint of safety and public health protection. Also, the cellular mobile 5G technology is hailed as a speedier and more secure wireless communication technology than its predecessor systems. The key supporting architecture uses millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and antenna array technology to achieve better directivity, lower latency, and elevated data transmission rates. For radiation protection, it is not obvious whether the health effects of 5G mm-wave radiations would be analogous or not to radiations from previous generations (which was classified as possibly carcinogenic in humans by IARC). The interaction of mm-waves with the structure and function of pertinent cellular elements and cutaneous neuroreceptors in the skin are of special concern. The current scientific database is inadequate at mm wavelengths to render a trustworthy appraisal or to reach a judgment with confidence.

The past two decades have seen exponential growth in demand for wireless access that has been projected to continue for years to come. Meeting the demand would necessarily bring about greater human exposure to microwave and radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Our knowledge regarding its health effects has increased. Nevertheless, they have become a focal point of current interest and concern. The cellphone and allied wireless communication technologies have demonstrated their direct benefit to people in modern society. However, as for their impact on the radiation health and safety of humans who are unnecessarily subjected to various levels of RF exposure over prolonged durations or even over their lifetime, the jury is still out. Furthermore, there are consistent indications from epidemiological studies and animal investigations that RF exposure is probably carcinogenic to humans. The principle of ALARA—as low as reasonably achievable—ought to be adopted as a strategy for RF health and safety protection.

I appreciate the letter from Foster, Chou, and Croft expressing their concerns about my recent article on health safety guidelines for RF exposures [1] . The letter is understandable, given its authors strong convictions that there is nothing but heat to worry about with RF exposure. In the interest of clarity, I will respond to the writers’ three points in their order of presentation.

The incidents of sonic attacks on diplomatic personnel in Havana, Cuba, will likely remain a mystery until a culprit is found in the act. The one-time diplomatic affair, the Havana Syndrome, has apparently morphed into a weapons research program in the United States [1] . Indeed, it appears that research in high-power microwaves has persisted worldwide including that undertaken by some of the major military powers [2] , [3] .

The microwave auditory effect has been widely recognized as one of the most interesting and significant biological phenomena from microwave exposure. The hearing of pulsed microwaves is a unique exception to sound waves encountered in human auditory perception. The hearing of microwave pulses involves electromagnetic waves. This paper reviews the research in humans and animals leading to scientific documentations that absorption of a single microwave pulse impinging on the head may be perceived as an acoustic zip, click, or knocking sound. A train of microwave pulses may be sensed as buzz, chirp, or tune by humans. It describes neurophysiological, psychophysical, and behavioral observations from laboratory studies involving humans and animals. Mechanistic studies show that the microwave pulse, upon absorption by tissues in the head, launches a pressure wave that travels by bone conduction to the inner ear, where it activates the cochlear receptors via the same process involved for normal sound hearing. Depending on the impinging microwave pulse powers, the level of induced sound pressure could be considerably above the threshold of auditory perception to cause tissue injury. The microwave auditory effects and associated pressures could potentially render damage to brain tissue to cause lethal or nonlethal injuries.

The rollout of 5G cellular communication technology is well underway worldwide. The advocates of 5G mobile technology hail it as a faster and more secure technology than its predecessor, 3G and 4G systems. The major enabling infrastructure uses millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and phased-array technology to achieve line-of-sight directivity, high data rates, and low latency. A central vulnerability or security threat is that it may allow spying on users. Nevertheless, this is a system architecture and technology or regulatory issue but not a biological effect or health safety matter.