New Study: European Union Stakeholders Want More Research to Address the Impacts of Wireless to Wildlife and Plants

A newly published paper by European experts documents a “broad consensus” on the need to fund more research and initiate activities to address regulatory gaps regarding the effects of wireless and non ionizing electromagnetic exposure to plants, animals, and other living organisms. 

There is an unprecedented exposure of living organisms to mobile communications radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) emissions. Guidelines on exposure thresholds to limit thermal effects from these emissions are restricted to humans. However, tissue heating can occur in all living organisms that are exposed. In addition, exposure at millimetric frequencies used by 5G may impact surface tissues and organs of plants and small-size species. It is also expected that the addition of 5G to existing networks will intensify radiofrequency absorption by living organisms.

The paper entitled “The exposure of nonhuman living organisms to mobile communication emissions: A survey to establish European stakeholders' policy option preferences” by Laura Recuero Virto, Arno Thielens, Marek Czerwiński and  Jérémy Froidevaux was published in the journal Risk Analysis on May 22, 2024.

The authors highlight that non-human organisms are at risk of exposure to thermal levels due to the lack of consideration of non-humans in wireless radiation compliance procedures, a situation more prevalent with the advent of 5G.  

In sum, given the absence of relevant regulations and guidelines, nonhuman organisms can also be exposed to man-made EMFs at thermal levels. Flying animals and plants located within exclusion zones surrounding mobile phone base stations or between two connected radio relay antennas are especially at high risk of such exposure. It is worth noting that exclusion zones with no public access around the mobile phone base stations are widening when 5G technology involves adding new emissions to a mast with pre existing emissions based on older technologies (ITU, 2018; Lewicki, 2020).

This paper reports the findings of a survey of key European stakeholders’ policy option preferences based on the European Parliament's report which proposed a set of policy options regarding the effects of RF-EMF exposure of plants, animals, and other living organisms in the context of 5G. The Report's policy options included funding more research, implementing environmental monitoring networks, ensuring access to more information from operators on antennas and EMF emissions, and developing compliance procedures that consider non-humans. The researchers found “a broad consensus regarding funding research on the topic being the first option, and no action being the last.” 

Highlights

• A top priority is more high-quality research on impacts to non humans; Despite very different viewpoints “there is a consensus on the preferred policy option, that is, funding research.” 

• Monitoring RF-EMF exposure, and compliance assessments and prevention are the second preferred solutions, followed by funding research: However, when more weight is attributed to selected private sector respondents and when seeking to reduce the distance of these selected private sector respondents to the consensus, funding research is the preferred policy option, followed by monitoring RF-EMF exposure.

• There is a lack of scientific information on the effects of wireless RF to nonhuman organisms, particularly for high frequencies (> 6 gigahertz) and for plants, fungi, and invertebrates. “As a consequence, the risk of exposure has not been evaluated or uprated with the arrival of new technologies.”

• An international research agenda is needed:  As there is no  international organization to evaluate EMF exposure risks to nonhuman organisms, existing organizations, such as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (UICN), could adopt an agenda and propose research priorities. 

The researchers commented on ICNIRP’s new project group on Environment and EMFs set up in 2021 to “draft a statement on the environmental effects of electromagnetic fields on the basis of qualitatively reliable scientific papers” and evaluate the adequacy of human exposure limits stating: 

“It is possible that this project group may deliver some broad statements because thermal thresholds are species-dependent and research is still lacking. Nevertheless, ecosystem and ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) approaches could be developed, inspired by ionizing radiation frameworks developed for the environment…” 

The paper concludes:

“To conclude, humans have so far chosen not to address the effects of RF-EMF on nonhuman organisms even if there is evidence of thermal effects on all living organisms. The controversial debates on RF-EMF effects on human health have probably hampered early attempts to address the effects on nonhuman organisms. Our results show that, for the consulted stakeholders, this topic calls for some action. It is not a matter of hindering progress, but understanding the optimal conditions for technological proliferation, given the current state of knowledge.” 

The authors had previously published a paper “Addressing Wildlife Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields: Time for Action” recommending mitigation measures until adequate research was performed.

Citation

Recuero Virto L, Thielens A, Czerwiński M, Froidevaux J. The exposure of nonhuman living organisms to mobile communication emissions: A survey to establish European stakeholders' policy option preferences. Risk Anal. 2024 May 22.