Temporal change of outdoor RF-EMF levels in four European countries: a microenvironmental measurement study

Beláčková, Lea; Fernandes Veludo, Adriana; Aminzadeh, Reza; Van Bladel, Han; Griffon, Vincent; Cardis, Elisabeth; Dongus, Stefan; Eeftens, Marloes; Guxens Junyent, Mònica; Joseph, Wout; Llobet, Patricia de; Mazet, Paul; Van Torre, Patrick; Thielens, Arno; Vermeulen, Roel; Wiart, Joe; Röösli, Martin; Huss, Anke

Temporal change of outdoor RF-EMF levels in four European countries: a microenvironmental measurement study

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dc.contributor.author Beláčková, Lea
dc.contributor.author Fernandes Veludo, Adriana
dc.contributor.author Aminzadeh, Reza
dc.contributor.author Van Bladel, Han
dc.contributor.author Griffon, Vincent
dc.contributor.author Cardis, Elisabeth
dc.contributor.author Dongus, Stefan
dc.contributor.author Eeftens, Marloes
dc.contributor.author Guxens Junyent, Mònica
dc.contributor.author Joseph, Wout
dc.contributor.author Llobet, Patricia de
dc.contributor.author Mazet, Paul
dc.contributor.author Van Torre, Patrick
dc.contributor.author Thielens, Arno
dc.contributor.author Vermeulen, Roel
dc.contributor.author Wiart, Joe
dc.contributor.author Röösli, Martin
dc.contributor.author Huss, Anke
dc.date.accessioned 2025-09-18T06:18:15Z
dc.date.available 2025-09-18T06:18:15Z
dc.date.issued 2025
dc.description.abstract Introduction: Over the past two decades, the amount of transmitted mobile data has increased rapidly. It is unknown whether the implementation of the new technologies enabling this has resulted in changes of outdoor radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) exposure. Therefore, microenvironmental measurements were used to investigate temporal trends in RF-EMF exposure between 2016 and 2023, in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain, following a similar protocol across campaigns. Microenvironmental measurements refer to exposure measurements performed at predefined small areas that have been differentiated with a specific function in that particular area. This allowed us to compare exposure trends between countries and years. Methods: The data was collected as part of the ACCEDERA (2016-2018), ETAIN (2023), and GOLIAT (2023) projects, walking repeatedly the same routes with RF-EMF exposimeters. Identical microenvironments were identified in each country and measurements of the exposure from mobile base stations, mobile phones and the total exposure were compared across years. Results: Comparing measurements between 6 and 14 unique microenvironments in each country, our data did not suggest significant changes in the exposure from the mobile base station origin (total downlink exposure) between baseline measurements in 2016 to follow up and 2023 for the four countries. Across all countries and years the median values of the mobile base station exposure ranged from 0.11 mW/m2 (Switzerland, 2023) to 0.62 mW/m2 (Netherlands, 2018). There was no consistent trend in the individual microenvironments across the countries. Conclusions: Our measurements of RF-EMF outdoor exposure levels across included microenvironment groups do not indicate change in exposure levels between 2016 and 2023 despite an increase in mobile data traffic by a factor of 8 in Western Europe1.
dc.description.sponsorship This project has received funding from the ETAIN project that is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and Innovation program under grant agreement No. 101057216. This project has received funding from the GOLIAT project that is funded by from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101057262. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Health and Digital Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. We acknowledge support from the grant CEX2023-0001290-S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. The Accedera project was funded by the National Research Program of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), grant No 2015-2-RF-07. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation Beláčková L, Veludo AF, Aminzadeh R, Van Bladel H, Griffon V, Cardis E, et al. Temporal change of outdoor RF-EMF levels in four European countries: a microenvironmental measurement study. Environ Res. 2025 Jul 11;285(Pt 1):122315. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.122315
dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.122315
dc.identifier.issn 0013-9351
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/71220
dc.language.iso eng
dc.publisher Elsevier
dc.relation.ispartof Environ Res. 2025 Jul 11;285(Pt 1):122315
dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/HE/101057216
dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/HE/101057262
dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PE/CEX2023-0001290-S
dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject.keyword Microenvironmental study
dc.subject.keyword Non-ionizing radiation
dc.subject.keyword RF-EMF exposure
dc.subject.keyword Temporal exposure assessment
dc.subject.keyword Time trends
dc.title Temporal change of outdoor RF-EMF levels in four European countries: a microenvironmental measurement study
dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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