News from the world of science

The BfS produces "Spotlight on EMF Research"

In everyday life, people are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic fields. For example, these fields occur when people use a mobile phone or electrical household appliances. Based on studies, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) assumes that there are no risks to health if the limits applicable in Germany are observed. However, surveys reveal that around 20% of the population say they are concerned about the possible effects of such fields – not only on people but also on the environment.

In order to make a scientifically sound risk assessment, the BfS continually reviews the results of research on the topic and would now like to present selected studies to interested parties via the new service "Spotlight on EMF Research".

This new information service selects individual publications from the over 100 scientific articles published internationally every month on the topic of radiation protection from electromagnetic fields. The articles are selected, summarised and evaluated by experts from the BfS's Competence Centre for Electromagnetic Fields (KEMF).

The BfS categorises the study results within the existing state of knowledge and assesses their relevance to radiation protection in concise articles as well as providing tips on other interesting publications to read. With “Spotlight on EMF Research”, the BfS also presents part of its own scientific work online on the BfS website (www.bfs.de/spotlight).

Dr Inge Paulini

"Electromagnetic fields are an area of radiation research that is characterised by lively scientific work and a correspondingly large number of publications. Keeping up to date with the latest research in this area is one of the key tasks of radiation protection. 'Spotlight on EMF Research' offers scientists, employees of authorities and other interested parties the opportunity to obtain well-founded information on new publications that are relevant to public discourse," says BfS President Inge Paulini.

"Spotlight on EMF Research" can be found here on the BfS website. Interested parties can request regular email updates on all publications from which the spotlights have been selected by sending an email to spotlight@bfs.de.