Minute of the Bordeaux Forum

"Future European Research on Mobile Communication and Health"

19 - 20 April 1999

& some additional thoughts

Forum organized by COST 244bis - European umbrella action for the study of the effects of e.m. radiation in the range 0 - 300 GHz on biological systems.
Rather than funding research, COST provides an "ID card" to projects to apply to the various funding programmes, like those in FP4 or FP5.
COST244bis participates in the EMF project of the World Health Organization.
Although focussed on Mobile Comunication the Forum was the natural frame to establishing contacts and stimulate collaborations in the field of bioelectromagnetism.

10 plenary reviews - 50 posters

Information on the "Quality of Life" Programme

The delegate of the "Quality of Life" Programme - Dr. Vanvossel - pointed out that "Research on Bioelectromagnetism" fits in the "Environment and Health" Key Action.

Beyond scientific quality, proposals have to match at least one of the following objectives:

Reduction of health effects due to environmental hazards (incl. e.m. radiation and mixed exposure)
Assessment on environmental health hazards
Support to health and environmental policy makers

Basic research is not excluded, but it has to be a corner stone for future applications.
The presence of industrial partners is not a must, unless needed for the specific objective.
Partners : Minimum 2 - NEW info: Third parties like U.S. and Canadian partners can participate as observers, but get no funds.
Funding : No minimum threshold in the funding request.
Overall budget: 160 MEuro in the Health and Environment key action. 25% of this will be allocated in the first call (deadline June 8, 1999)

Important note

A consortium of mobile phone manufacturers and research institutions (MMF) will apply with a number of proposals for a budget close or exceeding the allocated one.

All these proposals will concentrate on the frequency range between 0.9 and 2.5 GHz.

It is therefore important to strongly motivate the interest in the high frequency region (100 GHz - 10 THz) which is not otherwise covered.

Motivations:

e.m. radiation in the 100 GHz to 10 THz range as a "diagnostic tool" on biological systems (spectroscopy, including time resolved one, near-field microscopy, 2D and 3D imaging).
=> Provide a short list of significant systems to investigate. In the present proposal is reasonable to consider only "in vitro" measurements.
e.m. radiation can be used as an "excitation tool" to test cellular damage (in particular cell membrane and nucleus, including DNA breaks) wide spectral- and power level- ranges covered by the available sources

Why to include high frequencies in the present FP5 priorities:

Effort on the study of mobile-frequencies effects lagging behind the technological development and spread in use of mobile communications.
Epidemiological studies to make an assessment of risk requested by WHO within year 2002, even if in vitro and in vivo studies have not yet been completed or, in some cases, have still to start.
High frequencies belong to background radiation in the environment:
satellite to ground communications (TV bands 9 -12 GHz, Iridium system 18 - 30 GHz satellite to gateway, wide band radars 20 - 30 GHz)

Trend towards higher frequencies - Terahertz Optics:

Realization of solid state devices capable of bridging the gap between electronic devices on one side, and Free Electron Lasers (FEL) and Far Infrared gas lasers on the other side.

Although not yet causing a risk for the general population, the construction and use of an increasing number of new sources of coherent radiation in this frequency range requires adequate risk assessment, protection measurements, and safety regulations for the exposed personnel at research institutions and enterprises.

Other features of the radiation

Amplitude modulation, which plays an important role in most bioelectromagnetic effects, is easily available for all sources considered by this proposal.
The possibility of varying the intensity of the incident radiation over several order of magnitude allows one to identify and investigate the presence of the so-called "power windows", in which certain effects appear.
Dosimetry (i.e. the definition of standard irradiation conditions) is a very important issue to be addressed.

Systems to be investigated:

Short list of significant systems, in which the radiation can be used either as diagnostic or as excitation tool. In the present proposal is reasonable to consider only "in vitro" measurements. Samples prepared by biology groups for testing at mobile phone frequencies can be as well tested at the high frequencies of interest.

People contacted:

Dr. Maria Rosaria Scarfi - Laboratorio di Bioelettromagnetismo, CNR-IRECE Napoli, Italy - e-mail: scarfi@irece1.irece.na.cnr.it

Long date expertise in the study of genotoxic effects of electromagnetic fields.

In vitro experiments on lymphocyte cultures and cell lines. Cooperative effects between e.m. fields and chemical mutagens.

Dr. Scarfi is present at the meeting for a possible participation in the project proposal.

Dr. Rainer Meyer - Institute of Physiology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wihelms-Universitaet Bonn, D - e-mail: meyer@physio.uni-bonn.de

Review talk on "In vitro experiments dealing with the biological effects of RF fields at low energies". Interactions of RF fields with: cell membrane, some signaling and enzymes systems, cell proliferation and the DNA of the nucleus.

Dr. M. Harms-Ringdahl - Department of Molecular Genome Research. Stockholm University, SE - e-mail: mats.herms-ringdahl@molgen-su.se

Poster on the interaction of microwaves (around 1 GHz) with human lymphocytes and brain cells. Experimental methods like Anomalous Viscosity Time Dependence (AVTD) for the study of chromatin conformation, and Pulse-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) for the study of DNA damage after microwave exposure.