ID Number		1800
Study Type		Epidemiology
Model		RF exposure from telecommunications, radar, and sonar in Norwegian Naval personnel and evaluation of reproductive effects and general health.
Details		Navy personnel in Norway (n = 2265) that had worked in telecommunications or radar / sonar responded to a questionnaire on job exposure classification and infertility experiences. Eighteen diferent job categories were identified and classified based upon predicted RF and ELF exposure. The authors report higher food and drug allergies, testicular cancer, cardiac infarction, and skin cancer with occupations having significant exposure to RF. In addition, service aboard a missile torpedo boat, with HF, VHF and UHF transmitters was associated with an increase in congenital malformations (n = 8; OR = 4.0, 95% CI 1.9-8.6) and still born and perinatal deaths (n = 6; OR = 4.1, 95% CI 1.7-8.9) but the data were based on very small numbers. In another study, the authors reported an increased infertility (OR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.04-2.85 for telecommunications and OR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.27-4.09 for radar / sonar. This time, however, there was no effect of RF on number of children, paternal age at birth, occurence of congenital anomalies or chromosome errors, stillbirths, or infant deaths. In a follow-up study, a total of 10,497 service personnel were evaluated by questionnaire regarding exposure history and fertility. The authors report a dose dependent correlation with RF exposure. In addition, heavily exposed men had less male than female offspring. See RELATED STUDY: Baste et al. 2010 (IEEE #4819): Measurement of RF emissions on Norwegian patrol boats. AUTHORS' ABSTRACT: Moen et al. 2013 (IEEE #5427): Part of a crew on a Norwegian naval ship was exposed to the radar waves for approximately 7 min from an American destroyer during an incident at sea in August 2012. Information about the exposure was not given by the navy. This is a description of what happened with the crew on board after this event. 14 persons had been on the ship bridge or outside on the deck during the exposure and the rest of the crew had been inside the ship. 27 persons were examined at a hospital 68 months after the event, as they had developed a large number of symptoms from different organ systems. They were very worried about all types of possible adverse health effects due to the incident. All were examined by an occupational physician and an ophthalmologist, by an interview, clinical examinations and blood tests at the hospital. The interview of the personnel revealed that they had not experienced any major heating during the episode. Their symptoms developed days or weeks after the radar exposure. They had no objective signs of adverse health effects at the examination related to the incident. Long-term health effect from the exposure is highly unlikely. The development of different symptoms after the incident was probably due to the fear of possible health consequences. Better routines for such incidents at sea should be developed to avoid this type of anxiety.
Findings		Effects
Status		Completed With Publication
Principal Investigator		University of Bergen, Norway
Funding Agency		Navy, Norway
Country		NORWAY
References		Baste, V et al. Eur J Epidemiol, (2008) 23:369-377 Mollerlokken, OJ et al. Bioelectromagnetics, (2008) 29:345-352 Mageroy, N et al. Occup Environ Med, (2006) 63:92-97 Baste , V et al. J Occup Environ Med., (2012) 54:431-438 Moen, BE et al. Int Marit Health., (2013) 64:177-182
Comments		If the questionnaire was not blinded, it is open to significant bias