Wireless radiation and health: making the case for proteomics research of individual sensitivity

The current deployment of the fifth generation of wireless communication technology Q13 (5G) has reignited the long-standing debate around the possibility of health effects from the radiation emitted by the existing wireless communication devices and networks and the new ones introduced by the 5G. The opposition of the part of society toward wireless communication technologies is caused by the uncertainty of whether this radiation affects humans as well as fauna and flora.Some of the population considers themselves sensitive to wireless radiation, the socalled electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Currently, the existence of EHS has not yet been proven scientifically. However, according to the definition of health of the World Health Organization (1) where “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”, any person believing his/her health is affected or sensitive to wireless radiation experiences a health effect caused by the wireless radiation. According to the WHO definition of health, just a belief in having EHS and experiencing non-specific symptoms, physiological and/or psychological, is experiencing the health effects of wireless technology. Hence, it is correct to claim that wireless radiation causes health effects.The existence of individual sensitivity to wireless radiation has not been proven yet, or disproven because to date performed research is inadequate. Of course, it is challenging to prove things with science as an infinite number of potential confounders and covariates need to be considered. However, science should be used to evaluate the balance of probability whether a hypothesis is plausible. Hence, providing an absolute proof might be elusive. Most of the research on EHS was conducted using psychology methods, asking a person, who is concerned that wireless exposure might affect health of the wireless radiation exposure, how the person feels during the real or the sham exposure. Puzzlingly, the frequent observation that the self-declared EHS person can’t feel the wireless radiation and can’t recognize when the wireless transmitter emits radiation and when it is not transmitting, is considered ultimate proof that the form of individual sensitivity to wireless radiation called EHS is not caused by wireless radiation exposures. This is questionable as no person, sensitive or not, could feel the ionizing radiation or other non-ionizing radiation like ultraviolet in their environment. Thus, research on EHS and individual sensitivity to wireless radiation, in general, has generated scientifically subjective data, unreliable for public health recommendations or radiation safety limits. On the contrary, logically and per analogiam with other environmental factors, individual sensitivity to wireless radiation, which includes EHS, exists as indicated below, and should be studied using biochemical methods.