RADIO FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

RF-EMF

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

Mobile Phones, Base Station and Health

 

By 2020, we expect that nearly everything will be connected, with an estimated 50 billion connected devices, things and objects supporting almost every aspect of our daily lives. ITU, October 2015

So how safe are wireless devices and the networks that connect them?

Radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) is a non-ionising radiation that cannot disrupt the structure of biological material. It lacks the energy to break the chemical bonds within molecules, thus it cannot cause ionisation in the human body. It causes some heating effect, but usually not enough to cause any kind of long-term damage to tissues

Research on EMF

Extensive research has been performed to investigate whether mobile phones and base stations pose a potential health risk, including in Malaysia.  All reviews conducted so far have indicated that exposures below the limits recommended in the ICNIRP EMF guidelines, covering the full frequency range from 0-300 GHz, do not produce any known adverse health effect.  However, there are still gaps in knowledge that requires further research before long-term health risk assessments can be made.
 


MCMC has conducted several research on EMF in collaboration with local universities.

 
University Research Findings

University of Malaysia Perlis
2021
  • Effects of Short-Term 5G (700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, 28 GHz) Base Station Signal Exposure on Cognitive Performance, Well Being, Physiological Parameters and Electroencephalography (EEG) of the Malaysian Adults
There were no significant effects of short-term radiation exposure emitted from the 5G base station antenna signals on Malaysian adults regarding EMF perception, cognitive performance, well-being, EEG, and physiological parameters. [UniMAP]
University of Malaysia Perlis

university-2015-16.jpg
  1. University of Malaysia Perlis
  2. University of Malaysia Kelantan

2015 - 2016

  • Effects of Short-Term LTE (850, 1800, 2600 MHz) Base Station Signal Exposure on Cognitive Performance, Well Being, Physiological Parameters and Electroencephalography (EEG) of the Malaysian Children
 
  • A Study on the Biological Effects of LTE (850, 1800, 2600 MHz) Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) Exposures.

There is no significant difference between the exposure to the Short-term LTE base station signals and Sham exposure towards EMF perception, EEG response, cognitive performance, well-being, physiological parameters (P’s > 0.05) of the Malaysian Children. [UniMAP]


The findings found no strong evidence that chronic exposure to 4G LTE 850, 1800 and 2600 MHz had any effect on blood cells. The results also showed that chronic exposure to 4G LTE did not induce DNA damage and did not cause cancer.[UniMAP, UMK]
 
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University of Technology Malaysia

2015

  • Remote EMF Monitoring System through Wireless Industry Emission (WIE) Laboratory
  • Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Measurement Systems for the Test and Certification of Mobile Telecommunication Equipment.
The measured EMF radiation levels are significantly below the reference limit. Specifically 90% of the stations in Malaysia have been measuring electric field strength values below 3 V/m in peak.
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University of Malaya

2014

  • Risk Communication Research for Electromagnetic Field (EMF) from Radio Frequency (RF)
Public’s anxiety of RF-EMF is heavily influenced by media, personality and psychology. Statistics shows that public knowledge with regard to RF-EMF and its risk are still low, hence, their views are easily manipulated by media.[UM]
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University of Malaysia Perlis

2013

  • Effects of Short-term GSM and UMTS Base Station Signal Exposure on Cognitive Performance, Well-being and Physiological Parameters of the Malaysian People
There were no significant effects of Short-term GSM and UMTS base station signal exposure on cognitive performance, well-being and physiological parameters of the Malaysian people. [UniMAP]

Tips on Using the Mobile Phones Safely