Answer to Question #12909 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Cell Phones, Radiofrequency Radiation, and Powerline Fields

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

Q

I have worked for years in an office two floors below Telemundo Television (used to be CNBC studios). In a small office of two men and seven women, three of us have gotten breast cancer. I noticed an antenna on the roof directly above my office. Are there any studies about causal relationships regarding the studio equipment and breast cancer?

A

There are a few occupational epidemiology studies that suggest associations between jobs with presumed exposure to radiofrequency (RF) energy and breast cancer (for example Tynes, Tore, et al. "Incidence of breast cancer in Norwegian female radio and telegraph operators.") However, these associations are weak and causation is not clear—the Tynes study was focused on hormonal effects due to night work by the women.

To my knowledge no health agency has raised concerns about exposure to RF energy and breast cancer. There has been a long-standing issue about long-term use of cell phones and brain cancer, but health agencies consider the evidence so far to be sufficient to raise suspicions that a link may exist, but not sufficient to establish that RF fields actually, or probably, do cause cancer. The exposure circumstances are very different from those you describe in any event.

Breast cancer (and indeed any form of cancer) is a terrible disease. However, the cause of any person's cancer is usually impossible to determine unless there is some risk factor that is very strongly associated with cancer, such as the BRCA gene mutation and breast cancer, smoking and lung cancer, etc. Since breast cancer is regrettably rather common among women, there will be "clusters" such as you describe due to ordinary statistical fluctuations and there may be no common factor responsible for the health problems you and your coworkers experience.

That said, if you have any concerns that your exposure to RF energy is above safety limits (which I consider unlikely from your description) you should ask for a survey of your work spaces to establish that your exposure is within safety limits.

Kenneth R. Foster, PhD
Professor, Department of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania

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