Exposure to fields in everyday life

A study on the "Assessment of the Bavarian citizens' exposure to low frequency magnetic fields" conducted by BfS on behalf of the Bavarian State Ministry for Regional Development and Environmental Affairs (Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Landesentwicklung und Umweltfragen) some years ago suggests an arithmetic mean value of 0.101 microtesla and a median value of 0.047 microtesla for all individuals under study, based on 24h-measurements carried out using body worn dosimeters.

Within the scope of the research programme on "Radiation Protection in the Process of Power Grid Expansion" current data on the exposure of the general public are collected.

Source: Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS)

For people who stated that they used an electric radio alarm clock, the night-time exposure was on average about two and half times greater than that of the rest of the participants. Whereas the night-time exposure of people who said they did not use an electric radio alarm clock was 0.058 or 0.054 microtesla (mean or median value), it was 0.149 or 0.146 microtesla (not listed in the above table) for people who said they did use an alarm clock of this kind.

Subjects who said they lived in a building that had a mains infeed via the roof or that was in the vicinity (within 100 metres) of a high-voltage power line experienced only slightly higher values than the participants as a whole. Accordingly, the mean exposure in this group was 0.112 microtesla (as opposed to 0.101 microtesla for the participants as a whole) and the median value was 0.061 microtesla (as opposed to 0.047 microtesla for the participants as a whole).

This was the first study that also determined the level of exposure to magnetic fields from traction current installations. For 190 people who stated that they lived close to a railway line, the mean exposure was 0.16 microtesla at 16.7 Hz; the median was 0.1 microtesla.