Dosimetry Workshop: extremely-low-frequency electric and magnetic fields.

A workshop on the dosimetry of extremely-low-frequency fields was held to assess current knowledge in this field and to develop a set of recommendations for new research that meets the needs of health risk assessment, in particular, the assessment of cancer risk. The workshop was sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute and was held on March 20-22, 1991, in Carmel, California. Major topics of the workshop were microdosimetry of induced electric fields, scaling of induced fields among biological systems from cells to humans, and the problem of defining a biologically effective "dose." A number of research recommendations were developed, the most important of which are to (1) characterize the natural background electric and magnetic fields in tissues and near cells, (2) improve experimental exposure geometries to allow accurate characterization of induced fields in samples, (3) design experiments to distinguish between electric and magnetic field mechanisms, (4) develop standard in vitro biological systems with reproducible and well-established responses to fields, and (5) develop definition of dose with respect to fields at the primary site of interaction.