What EMF Levels are Dangerous?

“What EMF levels are dangerous?”

This is a question we encounter frequently.

Unfortunately, the answer is that we can’t tell you definitively what levels of EMF are dangerous to you and your family.

We really wish we could.

Realistically, we can only show you guidelines produced by national and international organizations and have you make an informed risk assessment for you and your family.

Sometimes this is easy, such as when there are massive magnetic fields originating from an overhead transmission power line.  Other times it can be more difficult to make a determination (think cell towers several blocks away).

When discussing this, smoking cigarettes is a parallel we draw with clients.

It’s been shown that habitual smoking can lead to catastrophic health outcomes (15-17% of smokers develop lung cancer) and this assuredly is a big reason that less than 1 in 5 people in the US smoke today.

I would also argue that the lesser effects of smoking have played a huge role, as well.  A smoker need not have a fatal or incapacitating outcome to have their health seriously affected.

Diminished lung capacity, osteoporosis, premature aging, yellowing teeth are but a few of the lesser, negative health effects.

In the same vein, it is our opinion that EMFs have the potential to negatively impact your life.  You may not have catastrophic outcomes (like some of the rats in the recent NTP study), but it may be messing with your sleep, your concentration and your energy levels.

I think we can all agree that those are all sub-optimal outcomes.

We sincerely hope that EMFs are ultimately proven to be completely safe and that we have to eat crow on the matter. 

Truly.

Until then, we try (and advise others to, as well) to minimize exposure levels.

As we’ve mentioned before, this doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t use the technology at times.

It simply means be conscious and informed of what the technology is and how it can effect you and your family. Start small and build up. 

Simple changes really can lower your overall exposure.

The Guidelines

Below we list the current (as of this printing) Building Biology Recommended Guidelines for sleeping areas and provide some PDFs you can download that show international guidelines.

For dirty electricity or EMI, we provide the manufacturers recommended levels.

The Building Biology Institute has been on the forefront of warning about the potential dangers of EMFs, so it won’t come as a surprise that these are some of the more conservative guidelines among the ones presented.

Ultimately, the lower the man-made EMF levels the better, especially in sleeping areas where the body needs to recuperate from the multitude of other stressors that it has dealt with during an average day.

Download links for PDF versions put together by the good folks at Safe Living Technologies:

– Building Biology Guidelines for EMFs (pdf)

– International EMF Exposure Guidelines (pdf)

– International RF Exposure Guidelines (pdf)