Is EMF Dangerous?

by ScanTech Technical Consulting - CIH, CSP, BSEE, CHMM, CHP (Pending) · Published February 21, 2024 · Updated February 26, 2024

Q. What EMF levels are considered high, unsafe and dangerous ?

These are actually two questions with the first one (radiation safety) easier to answer and the second asks the question: “High compared to what?”

EMF levels are not easy to define as “low” unless they (AC magnetic field, electric field) are at quasi-zero (as low as can be detected with conventional meters) which is difficult to achieve unless you are in a remote area with no electrical infrastructure. Then you could say zero is LOW compared to urban and most suburban areas. There is always a DC magnetic field due to the Earth (~550 mG) and the only way to lower that is through re-sculpting of the field with shielding, certain ferrous metal configurations (such as in a large office building) and active field cancellation. But why be concerned about the Earth’s field since humans have lived with it throughout written history? For now, I will defer the subject of geopathic stress for another post. Due to the number of RF transmitters on Earth, GPS & communication satellites and background RF from lightning and cosmic sources, there is theoretically no zero as long as you have a receiver / antenna gain setup that is sensitive enough.

As for unsafe, I would say any level which could cause malfunction through interference of important equipment, (such as medical equipment or a biomedical implant) or due to a wiring error is cause for concern. The latter being because elevated AC magnetic fields from a wiring error almost invariably indicates that someone either did not know what they were doing on installation or purposely cut corners.

What radiated EMF levels are directly unsafe for humans? (aside from gross equipment malfunction such a downed electrical power line)

Any EMF field (typically RF or Radio Frequency) which could cause thermal tissue heating such as from a high powered microwave antenna
EMF fields (DC magnetic) which are strong enough to turn metal objects into projectiles (MRI rooms) or crush appendages by wedging force (ND 45 magnets)
EMF fields (Electric) which are strong enough to arc current through a human being to ground (lightning or very high voltage equipment found in substations) at close range
EMF fields which generate optical energy strong enough to cause eye damage such as laser beams (yes a laser beam is on the electromagnetic spectrum UV-VIS-IR range)
EMF fields which have enough photon energy to ionize tissue and cells (UV radiation, X-Rays, Secondary Cosmic Rays, etc.)
EMF photons of extremely high eV (electron Volt) energy from nuclear radiation sources such as gamma radiation which are capable of causing molecular and or cellular damage

Laser Radiation Can Damage The Human Eye and Skin

What is considered high and / or unsafe depends on who you ask or what safety organization’s guidelines you respect. In some cases such as radon gas or general radiation, the only really safe level is ZERO, but living on planet Earth means that there is always background radiation of some kind so you can never entirely get away from it; only minimize exposure. Here is are a set of pages devoted to the actual numbers given by a number of respected entities on EMF safety.

EMF Safety Levels & EMF Danger Levels Page 1

EMF Safety Levels & EMF Danger Levels Page 2

An ACGIH website which I respect which gives a brief list of common EMF safety levels

Q. What EMF levels are typical for a home / office environment?

A. These EMF level ranges are based on the AVERAGE of thousands of surveys in the normal ambient environment and does not include strong point sources such as breaker boxes, appliances, near a wireless router, etc.

AC Magnetic Field 1 – 10 milliGauss (urban area home or office space)

AC Magnetic Field 0.2 – 4 milliGauss (suburban area residence)

AC Magnetic Field 0.1 – 1.0 milliGauss (rural area)

AC Magnetic Field 3 – 15 milliGauss near strong secondary feeder powerline (12.5 kV 3 phase telephone pole or buried secondary feeders) influence

AC Magnetic Field 5 – 25 milliGauss near residential breaker boxes, appliances and other coil wound motor assemblies such as HVAC units

AC Magnetic Field 25 – 35 milliGauss near AVERAGE primary feeders which are typically 128 kV to 512 kV but I have EMF tested as low as 3 mg and peaks of 300 mG depending on phasing

AC Electric Field 0 – 10 V / m (Volts / meter) in most offices, factories and homes, but up to 120 V/m + near unshielded wiring in the wall

DC Magnetic Field 0.4 – 1.0 Gauss (primarily the Earth’s DC magnetic Field)

RF Fields 0.1 – 2.5 uW / cm^2 (microWatts per centimeter squared) but often somewhat elevated in the near field presence of cell phones, wireless routers, etc.

And here is another blog post on EMF safety levels:

EMF Testing Safety Levels in Homes and Residences – A Commentary

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