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This retrospective cohort study deals with the causes of death among 57,000 military personnel who served in the French Navy surface vessels and were observed over the period 1975–2000. We successively compared the mortality rate and the specific causes of death between two groups differing in their potential exposure levels to radar. Occupational exposure was defined according to the on-board workplace (radar and control groups). The age-adjusted death ratios of the navy personnel were compared. For all causes of death, the results showed that 885 deaths in the radar group and 299 in the control group occurred (RR = 1.00 (95 % CI: 0.88–1.14)). RRs were 0.92 (95 % CI: 0.69–1.24) for neoplasms. For the duration of follow-up, the results did not show an increased health risk for military personnel exposed to higher levels of radio frequencies in the radar group, but the number of deaths was very small for some cancer sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LASIK eye surgery has become a very common practice for myopic people, especially those in the military. Sometimes undertaken by people who need to keep a specific medical aptitude, this surgery could be performed in secret from the hierarchy and from the institute medical staff. However, even though the eyes have been previously described as one of the most sensitive organs to electromagnetic fields in the human body, no data exist on the potential deleterious effects of electromagnetic fields on the healing eye. The consequences of chronic long-lasting radar exposures at power density, in accordance with the occupational safety standards (9.71 GHz, 50 W/m²), were investigated on cornea healing. The metabolic and clinical statuses after experimental LASIK keratotomy were assessed on the different eye segments in a New Zealand rabbit model. The analysis methods were performed after 5 months of exposure (1 hour/day, 3 times/week). Neither clinical or histological examinations, nor experimental data, such as light scattering, ¹H-NMR HRMAS metabolomics, 13C-NMR spectra of lipidic extracts, and antioxidant status, evidenced significant modifications. It was concluded that withdrawing the medical aptitude of people working in electromagnetic field environments (i.e., radar operators in the navy) after eye surgery was not justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We investigated the effect of a 1800 MHz radiofrequency GSM signal combined with a known chemical mutagen (4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide: 4NQO) on human THP1 cells. Comet and γ-H2AX assays were used to assess DNA damage. No heating of the cell cultures was noted during exposure (2 h). The exposure of cells to electromagnetic fields with SARs of 2 to 16 W/kg did not increase the DNA damage induced by 4NQO, whereas the number of DNA strand breaks increased with a temperature increase of at least 4 °C. In conclusion, no co-genotoxic effect of radiofrequency was found at levels of exposure that did not induce heating. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]