Research Outline

RF Radiation Research Biases

Goals

To explore whether conflict of interest or bias have played a role in RF health risk research.

Early Findings

Bias and Conflict of Interest

  • Several analyses of RF health risk studies suggest that recall bias since many of these studies rely on self reporting or long-term memory, which can be faulty.
  • There are concerns when research is conducted by the mobile phone industry that a conflict of interest may exist. However, those conducted with a firewall principle in place, which ensures the research is "managed independently from the industry under strict protocols to ensure there is no industry influence."
  • The National Cancer Institute also notes the inherent biases present in studies of RF health risks, noting recall bias (self-reporting of past habits) and participation bias (those diagnosed with brain tumors being more likely to enroll in studies than the healthy people who would make up a control group).
  • An august 2019 article in Frontiers in Public Health notes the inherent biases in past studies, and it recommends that "IARC re-evaluate its 2011 classification of the human carcinogenicity of RFR, and that WHO complete a systematic review of multiple other health effects such as sperm damage."