Medical Oncology Department, Paris University, Paris, France; European Cancer and Environment Research Institute (ECERI), Brussels, Belgium.
European Cancer and Environment Research Institute (ECERI), Brussels, Belgium.
Environ Res. 2022 Sep;212(Pt A):113374. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113374. Epub 2022 May 7.
Much of the controversy over the cause of electrohypersensitivity (EHS) lies in the absence of recognized clinical and biological criteria for a widely accepted diagnosis. However, there are presently sufficient data for EHS to be acknowledged as a distinctly well-defined and objectively characterized neurologic pathological disorder. Because we have shown that 1) EHS is frequently associated with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in EHS patients, and 2) that both individualized disorders share a common pathophysiological mechanism for symptom occurrence; it appears that EHS and MCS can be identified as a unique neurologic syndrome, regardless their causal origin. In this overview we distinguish the etiology of EHS itself from the environmental causes that trigger pathophysiological changes and clinical symptoms after EHS has occurred. Contrary to present scientifically unfounded claims, we indubitably refute the hypothesis of a nocebo effect to explain the genesis of EHS and its presentation. We as well refute the erroneous concept that EHS could be reduced to a vague and unproven "functional impairment". To the contrary, we show here there are objective pathophysiological changes and health effects induced by electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure in EHS patients and most of all in healthy subjects, meaning that excessive non-thermal anthropogenic EMFs are strongly noxious for health. In this overview and medical assessment we focus on the effects of extremely low frequencies, wireless communications radiofrequencies and microwaves EMF. We discuss how to better define and characterize EHS. Taken into consideration the WHO proposed causality criteria, we show that EHS is in fact causally associated with increased exposure to man-made EMF, and in some cases to marketed environmental chemicals. We therefore appeal to all governments and international health institutions, particularly the WHO, to urgently consider the growing EHS-associated pandemic plague, and to acknowledge EHS as a mainly new real EMF causally-related pathology.
电过敏症（EHS）病因的争议主要在于缺乏广泛认可的临床和生物学标准来进行诊断。然而，目前已经有足够的数据可以将 EHS 确认为一种明确界定且具有客观特征的神经病理障碍。因为我们已经证明：1）EHS 患者经常伴有多种化学敏感性（MCS），2）这两种个体疾病具有相同的发生症状的病理生理机制。因此，无论其病因如何，EHS 和 MCS 都可以被视为一种独特的神经综合征。在这篇综述中，我们将 EHS 本身的病因与引发其发生后病理生理变化和临床症状的环境因素区分开来。与目前缺乏科学依据的观点相反，我们坚决驳斥用“安慰剂效应”来解释 EHS 病因及其表现的假说。我们还驳斥了 EHS 可以被简化为模糊且未经证实的“功能障碍”的错误概念。相反，我们在此展示了电磁场（EMF）暴露在 EHS 患者和大多数健康受试者中引起的客观病理生理变化和健康影响，这意味着过度的非热人工 EMF 对健康具有很强的危害性。在这篇综述和医学评估中，我们重点关注极低频、无线通信射频和微波 EMF 的影响。我们讨论了如何更好地定义和描述 EHS。根据世界卫生组织（WHO）提出的因果关系标准，我们表明 EHS 实际上与人为 EMF 的暴露增加有关，在某些情况下与市场上的环境化学物质有关。因此，我们呼吁所有政府和国际卫生机构，特别是世界卫生组织，紧急考虑日益严重的与 EHS 相关的大流行瘟疫，并承认 EHS 主要是一种新的与 EMF 有关的真实病理。
