A pilot study on the reproductive risks of maternal exposure to magnetic fields from electronic article surveillance systems

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the feasibility of a large-scale epidemiological study on reproductive effects of intermediate frequency (IF) magnetic field (MF) exposure among cashiers working near electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems.

Materials and methods: The study cohort included 4157 women who had worked as cashiers in supermarkets with EAS devices (considered as exposed) or grocery stores without EAS devices (considered as unexposed) between 2008 and 2015. 536 births and 38 miscarriages occurred among these women during the study period, based on information from nationwide health registries. Measurements were also performed to characterize the MF exposure of cashiers.

Results: Cashiers were found to be exposed to 8.2 MHz MFs only when passing by the gates at short distance. Static fields of about 0.1 mT were observed at cashier’s seat. Extremely low frequency MFs were higher at stores without EAS devices. No differences on the risk of miscarriage, reduced birth weight or preterm birth were observed between cashiers in different store types.

Conclusions: Any further studies should attempt to include study subjects working near EAS systems that produce stronger IF MFs at kHz frequencies. Exposure to ELF MFs should be assessed as a possible confounding factor.

Keywords:

• Intermediate frequency magnetic fields
• electronic article surveillance
• maternal exposure
• miscarriage
• birth weight
• gestational age

Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Matti Leikas from Finnish Institute of Occupational Health for conducting the MF measurements of this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under grant agreement no [603794] – the GERoNiMO project.

Notes on contributors

Muhammad Waseem Khan

Muhammad Waseem Khan, MSc, PhD student, at Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland. Research interests include health effects of non-ionizing radiation and other environmental stressors.

Päivi Roivainen

Päivi Roivainen, PhD at Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland. Research interest include health effects of both non-ionizing and ionizing radiation, focusing on exposure assessment and epidemiology.

Mikko Herrala

Mikko Herrala, MSc, PhD student, Early Stage Researcher, at Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland. Research interest include biological effects of electromagnetic fields and evaluation of health effects.

Maria Tiikkaja

Maria Tiikkaja, PhD, Research Scientist, at Research and Service Centre of Occupational Safety, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Research interest include non-ionizing radiation and evaluation of health effects and risk assessment as well as occupational safety and safety culture. Chair of The Ethical Committee which is an institutional review board.

Markku Sallmén

Markku Sallmén, PhD, Senior Research Scientist at Research and Service Centre of Occupational Safety, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Research interest include the effects of occupational exposures on reproductive health, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. His particular interest include register-based epidemiological studies and research methods in studies of time to pregnancy.

Maila Hietanen

Maila Hietanen, PhD, retired Research Professor, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Adjunct Professor of the University of Helsinki. Previous Member and Vice-Chairman of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Her research interests include exposure evaluation and studies of possible health effects of electromagnetic fields.

Jukka Juutilainen

Jukka Juutilainen, PhD, is Professor of Radiation Biology and Radiation Epidemiology at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests include biological and health effects of non-ionizing and ionizing radiation using both experimental and epidemiological approaches.