Effects of electromagnetic fields on biological systems

The contemporary life is characterized by an exponentially increasing dependence on electromagnetic fields. In addition to the naturally existing geomagnetic magnetic field, more and more man-made electromagnetic fields with different frequency and spectral characteristics are surrounding every living creature. During the last three decades, the biosphere has been immersed in a constant and increasing influence of microwave radiation from satellite, TV, radio and mobile phone communications. Usually, scientific papers discuss the problems of hazard from electromagnetic fields and little attention is paid to the benefit of using electromagnetic fields for therapeutic purposes.

The scientific community understands the necessity to assess the impact of these factors on human life. However, the publications in the scientific literature are sporadic and in most cases isolated by geographic and political reasons. For example, the funding of research on mobile communications is mainly provided from the industry, which immediately leads to potential bias in publication and interpretation of data.

This issue is a collection of selected papers presented at the Seventh International Workshop on Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields. Let me explain the occurrence and history of these meetings. In October 2000, I had the chance to attend the Millennium Workshop of the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, which took place at the Greek Island of Crete. It turned to be a relatively small, but with high level of presentations, meeting organized by Prof. Panos Kostarakis and Ketty Apostolou. Two years later, we were again in this area – in the famous island of Rhodes, in 2004, in the island of Kos and closed the “Greek circle” in 2006 in Crete. The later meeting attracted 438 participants from 44 countries.

Prof. Kostarakis, the brain and spirit of these meetings, suggested to keep the meeting in the Mediterranean area and the fifth meeting took place at Sicily, followed by the sixth one at Bodrum, Turkey.

The seventh International Workshop took place in another Mediterranean island – Malta. The scientific programme included invited lectures, platform presentations and two poster sessions. It should be noted that unlike most of the meetings, organizers provided plenty of time for discussions around poster presentations. Participants from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, most of whom were members of Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and European Bioelectromagnetics Association (EBEA), presented their recent research.

This special issue of Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine is a compilation of selected papers presented at the Workshop. Starting with general problems of design and dosimetry of electromagnetic field generating systems, papers on clinical applications of electromagnetic fields and thermal versus non-thermal effects are discussed in the papers included in this issue.

Probably, for the first time, a number of papers presented at the workshop discussed the safety of operators of MRI units and the personnel of the physical therapy units. For this reason, several papers are included in this issue. Numerical models of electromagnetic field distribution and phantom assessment are followed with studies of dielectric properties of human organs.

General and specific aspects of the effects of electromagnetic fields from mobile phone and Wi-Fi technology on human health and especially on the health of children complete the list of the subject of investigations.

The readers of this journal might be interested to know that selected presentations of the previous four meetings have been published in the journal The Environmentalist.