GUIDELINES AND POLICIES FOR EXPOSURE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

GUIDELINES AND POLICIES FOR EXPOSURE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

The establishment of exposure limits for E / M radiation by countries and international organizations has now become a necessary and integral part for the protection of the population. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), has issued exposure guidelines used by most European countries. ICNIRP proposed in 1998 guidelines for the drafting of the current standard which were adopted by the European Commission for Standardization CENELEC (Commission European de Normalisation Electrotechnique) and the European Council. In 2018, ICNIRP - based on existing studies - announced a draft of new guidelines, in which the exposure limits at the current frequencies of the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G systems are almost the same as in 1998. Greek legislation is based on ICNIRP guidelines. Exposure limits are based on published scientific literature, as well as results on short-term exposure.

International levels established for protection against electromagnetic radiation

According to the ICNIRP guidelines, a two-tier system of permissible exposure limits is proposed: lower levels for the general population and higher levels for professionals in electromagnetic exposure areas, as the latter are aware of the hazards and can take the appropriate protection measures. In addition, basic limitations on dosimetric values ​​are defined, as well as corresponding reference levels for electromagnetic fields that can be easily measured. It is pointed out that a safety factor (10 to 50) has been used to formulate the basic restrictions, which represents the uncertainty of estimating the limit of occurrence of harmful effects on health.

Levels for the general public

The European Union has established levels and rules for general public exprosure, in accordance with the following recommendation:

  • Council Recommendation 1999/519/EC, “On the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz),” Jul. 1999.

General population (or generally "general") means all people except those professionally employed on the premises of a particular station. The above recommendation aims to protect the health of the general public and therefore has scope in relevant areas where members of the general population are exposed for a long time in the Electromagnetic fields.

Levels for employees

Accordingly, for the exposure of persons working near occupational exposure sources, the European Union has set levels as described in the Directive:

  • Directive 2004/40/EC, “On the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields)”, Apr. 2004.

SAR Specific Absorption Rate

The Specific Abrorption Rate (SAR) is the measure used to measure the amount of radio wave energy absorbed by the human body. The committees, as well as CENELEC, for the establishment of the E / M radiation levels were based on behavioral disorders during their exposure to radiation. If we refer to malfunctions, such as not performing a cognitive function, then the calculated SAR is equal to 4 W / kg body weight.

Frequency Band

Electric Field Strength

Ε (V/m) (Algebraic Expression)

Magnetic Field Strength

Η (Α/m) (Algebraic Expression)

Plane Wave Power Density

S (W/m²) (Algebraic Expression)
0 – 1 Hz – 32000 –
1 – 8 Hz 10000 32000 to 500 ( 32000/f² ) –
8 – 25 Hz 10000 500 to 160 ( 4000/f ) –
0,0025 – 0,8 KHz 10000 to 312,5 ( 250/f ) 160 to 5 ( 4/√f ) –
0,8 – 3 KHz 312,5 to 83,33 ( 250/f ) 5 –
3 – 150 KHz 87 5 –
0,15 – 1 MHz 87 4,87 to 0,73 ( 0,73/f ) –
1 – 10 MHz 87 to 27,51 ( 87/√f ) 0,73 έως 0,073 ( 0,0073/f ) –
10 – 400 MHz 28 0,073 2
400 – 2000 MHz 27,5 to 61,49 ( 1,375 · √f ) 0,074 to 0,165 ( 0,0037 · √f ) 2 to 10 ( f/200 )
2 – 300 GHz 61 0,16 10

Reference levels for electric and magnetic fields from 0 Hz - 300 GHz, according to the 1998 version of ICNIRP.

Frequency Band SAR (whole body) (W / Kg) SAR (head and trunk) (W / Kg) SAR (extremities) (W / Kg)
100 KHz – 10 GHz 0,08 2 4

The table refers to the frequency bands from 100 kHz - 10 GHz as defined by ICNIRP regarding the power absorbed by the masts. For the other frequency bands the Special Absorption Rate is considered negligible.