Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Rev Environ Health. 2021 Jul 6;37(3):423-450. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2021-0038. Print 2022 Sep 27.
Part of the population considers themselves as sensitive to the man-made electromagnetic radiation (EMF) emitted by powerlines, electric wiring, electric home appliance and the wireless communication devices and networks. Sensitivity is characterized by a broad variety of non-specific symptoms that the sensitive people claim to experience when exposed to EMF. While the experienced symptoms are currently considered as a real life impairment, the factor causing these symptoms remains unclear. So far, scientists were unable to find causality link between symptoms experienced by sensitive persons and the exposures to EMF. However, as presented in this review, the executed to-date scientific studies, examining sensitivity to EMF, are of poor quality to find the link between EMF exposures and sensitivity symptoms of some people. It is logical to consider that the sensitivity to EMF exists but the scientific methodology used to find it is of insufficient quality. It is time to drop out psychology driven provocation studies that ask about feelings-based non-specific symptoms experienced by volunteers under EMF exposure. Such research approach produces only subjective and therefore highly unreliable data that is insufficient to prove, or to disprove, causality link between EHS and EMF. There is a need for a new direction in studying sensitivity to EMF. The basis for it is the notion of a commonly known phenomenon of individual sensitivity, where individuals' responses to EMF depend on the genetic and epigenetic properties of the individual. It is proposed here that new studies, combining provocation approach, where volunteers are exposed to EMF, and high-throughput technologies of transcriptomics and proteomics are used to generate objective data, detecting molecular level biochemical responses of human body to EMF.
一部分人认为自己对电力线、电线、家用电器以及无线通信设备和网络发出的人为电磁辐射（EMF）敏感。敏感性的特征是广泛的非特异性症状，敏感人群声称在接触 EMF 时会出现这些症状。虽然目前认为这些经历的症状是真实的生活障碍，但导致这些症状的因素仍不清楚。到目前为止，科学家们未能在敏感人群所经历的症状与 EMF 暴露之间找到因果关系。然而，正如本综述中所呈现的，迄今为止执行的检查对 EMF 敏感性的科学研究，其质量很差，无法找到 EMF 暴露与一些人敏感性症状之间的联系。有理由认为，对 EMF 的敏感性确实存在，但用于寻找这种敏感性的科学方法的质量不够高。是时候放弃那些询问志愿者在 EMF 暴露下基于感觉的非特异性症状的心理学驱动的激发研究了。这种研究方法只能产生主观的、因此高度不可靠的数据，不足以证明或反驳 EHS 与 EMF 之间的因果关系。有必要在研究对 EMF 的敏感性方面开辟新的方向。其基础是个体敏感性这一众所周知现象的概念，即个体对 EMF 的反应取决于个体的遗传和表观遗传特性。本文提出，新的研究将结合激发方法，即志愿者暴露于 EMF，以及转录组学和蛋白质组学的高通量技术，以生成客观数据，检测人体对 EMF 的分子水平生化反应。
