Radiofrequency-electromagnetic field exposures in kindergarten children

The aim of this study was to assess environmental and personal radiofrequency-electromagnetic field (rf-emf) exposures in kindergarten children. ten children and 20 kindergartens in melbourne, australia participated in personal and environmental exposure measurements, respectively. order statistics of rf-emf exposures were computed for 16 frequency bands between 88 mhz and 5.8 ghz. of the 16 bands, the three highest sources of environmental rf-emf exposures were: global system for mobile communications (gsm) 900 mhz downlink (82 mv/m); universal mobile telecommunications system (umts) 2100mhz downlink (51 mv/m); and gsm 900 mhz uplink (45 mv/m). similarly, the three highest personal exposure sources were: gsm 900 mhz downlink (50 mv/m); umts 2100 mhz downlink, gsm 900 mhz uplink and gsm 1800 mhz downlink (20 mv/m); and frequency modulation radio, wi-fi 2.4 ghz and digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (10 mv/m). the median environmental exposures were: 179 mv/m (total all bands), 123 mv/m (total mobile phone base station downlinks), 46 mv/m (total mobile phone base station uplinks), and 16 mv/m (wi-fi 2.4 ghz). similarly, the median personal exposures were: 81 mv/m (total all bands), 62 mv/m (total mobile phone base station downlinks), 21 mv/m (total mobile phone base station uplinks), and 9 mv/m (wi-fi 2.4 ghz). the measurements showed that environmental rf-emf exposure levels exceeded the personal rf-emf exposure levels at kindergartens.