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Bioelectromagnetism

recommended with high priority for evaluation. Tis priority was assigned on the basis of evidence of

human exposure and the extent of available evidence for evaluating carcinogenicity (IARC, 2019).

As the defnition of ICNIRP, RF felds are in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 300 GHz (ICNIRP,

2009). Te future technologies of wireless telecommunications, the development of 5 G mobile net­

works, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others are included in this frequency range. Wireless connectivity through

the internet (Internet of things) has also become increased. With the development and the application

of these new technologies, exposure to RF felds of the general population will become increased. It is

important that in the future the health assessment of the efects of exposure to RF felds should be more

systematically reviewed and evaluated (Karipidis et al., 2021: Wood et al., 2021). Te health outcomes

include cancer, adverse birth and pregnancy outcomes, cognitive impairment, electromagnetic hyper­

sensitivity, etc. As mentioned above, recent laboratory and epidemiological studies led to the conclusion

that RF felds should be re-evaluated and re-categorized as a human carcinogen. In future, there is a

need for more multidisciplinary studies.

2.7 Conclusion

Since ancient times, electricity and magnetism have been considered to be separate. In 1820, Oersted

showed that electricity and magnetism are common mechanical phenomena. To explain this phenom­

ena, he used for the frst time the term “electromagnetism” in his paper (Oersted, 1820). Aferwards,

Faraday immediately gave the explanation and meaning to this phenomena, and actively used the term

“electromagnetism,” which became established as a scientifc term within a year (Faraday, 1821, 1822).

Afer Oersted’s discovery, the scientifc knowledge in electromagnetism was improved. Tis improve­

ment led to a better understanding of the basic electromagnetic phenomena in bioelectromagnetism.

While looking at the history of electromagnetism, the long history of bioelectromagnetism and its

development from basic research to advanced technology was chronologically reviewed. It covered

mainly from the consideration of the generation and detection of electromagnetic felds within biologi­

cal systems, through the various applications of electromagnetic phenomena, to the debate about pos­

sible health hazards associated with exposure to static electric and magnetic felds, ELF-EMF, and RF

felds. Research developments in electromagnetism provide a better understanding of the basic interac­

tions between electromagnetic felds and biological systems in bioelectromagnetism. Although bioelec­

tromagnetism has a long research history, the term “bioelectromagnetism” gained popularity around

1980. Te time around 1980 was the time when the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) was founded

and the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics was frst published (BEMS, 2005). Tis Society covers research

related to electromagnetic phenomena ranging from static felds through RF feld to terahertz frequen­

cies and acoustic energy with biological systems. It has passed over 40 years since the establishment of

the BEMS. In 2021, from the merger between the BEMS and the EBEA (European Bioelectromagnetics

Association), a new Society called the BioEM will arise and will expand the research and activity of

bioelectromagnetism more internationally.

As mentioned in this chapter, the understanding of the nature of the electromagnetic phenomena

in modern science was made gradually through the experiments made by Oersted, Faraday, Ampère,

Maxwell, Hertz, and others. In particular, Maxwell proposed and unifed the mathematical description

of the electromagnetic wave with a set of equations, which was formulated by Oliver Heaviside (1850–

1925), an English mathematician and physicist, later called the Maxwell equation, from which it is clear

that the electromagnetic waves travel in free space with the speed of light. Tis theory was later confrmed

experimentally by Hertz. Afer these scientifc developments, we began to understand the character of

the electromagnetic waves (radiation). Most importantly, the electromagnetic radiation behaves as both

particles (photons) and waves, and that it is divided into several bands depending on wavelengths.

Te electromagnetic radiation are of two types: non-ionizing radiation such as electric and magnetic

felds, RF felds including microwaves, infrared, UV, and visible radiations. Te other is ionizing radia­

tion such as part of the UV radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays. Non-ionizing radiations are ubiquitous