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Radio operator exposure to RF/microwave radiation and the risk of brain tumors (2006)
- arcticbull 3y agoSummary appears to be once again nothing particularly conclusive. > No significant association between occupational exposure to RF/MW-EMF and brain tumors was found. > For glioma, the adjusted odds ratio for highly exposed persons compared with persons not highly exposed was 1.21 (95% confidence interval: 0.69, 2.13); for meningioma, it was 1.34 (95% confidence interval: 0.64, 2.81). They found a very small dose-response relationship for gliomas and meningiomas and think it merits further investigation. > However, the slight increase in risk observed with increasing duration of exposure merits further research with larger sample sizes. This continues to feel like aspartame.
- postmodest 3y agoEvery ham I know has huffed so much vaporized lead and rosin in their day that I wouldn't blame their cancers on RF.
- iraqmtpizza 3y agoDose-response is a big deal. But it could easily be p-hacking or something.
- henearkr 3y agoIf the cancer is in the brain, it is less likely caused by rosin and more likely caused by radiations emitted near their head (if any). I would more naturally link rosin to respiratory system cancers, for example.
- korse 3y agoIs huffing rosin vapor during soldering carcinogenic? I understand the lead is problematic but I never considered the flux.
- leetbulb 3y agoI don't know about carcinogenic, some sources say yes, but I think in general, rosins vapors and its pyrolysis products are not great to inhale as it can contain some pretty nasty chemicals. Lead on the other hand vaporizes well above soldering temperatures... Can / does rosin vapor can carry lead?
- NikkiA 3y agoThe boiling point of lead is too high (1700 deg C) for it to be vapourised during soldering. Rosin has a complex molecular structure that is too big to cross the blood-brain barrier. It is a lung irritant and has an associated lung disease risk of the form of adult-onset asthma but it cannot cause brain cancer; there is no known link between rosin and any form lung cancer. Most of us don't use rosin anymore, as it's an absolutely awful flux, synthetic fluxes are more effective and don't have the same risks - although it's probably too early to say on carcinogenic risks, but needless to say with many of us gen Xers having spent our lives using synthetic flux, we'd have expected to see cancer clusters by now.
- Doxin 3y ago> The boiling point of lead is too high (1700 deg C) for it to be vapourised during soldering. You will definitely be getting lead dust on your hands when working with lead solder though. Hopefully most people are smart enough to wash their hands after soldering, regardless of lead content, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of hobbyists were eating lead without noticing.
- NikkiA 3y agoSoldering is best done with nitrite gloves anyway, so you don't get corrosive finger oils on everything.
- zug_zug 3y agoLet me clarify what a confidence interval is. When they say odds ratio was "1.21 (95% confidence interval: 0.69, 2.13);" they aren't saying "It's slightly higher." They are saying "We have no idea what the odds are, radio could LOWER your odds down to 69% or raise them up to 213%." Scientists treat this as a non-result, try the study again with more data. A confidence interval that IS statistically significant will have an upper-bound below one, or a lower bound above one i.e. (95% confidence interval 1.10, 3.31) meaning we can be 95% sure that this increases your odds by 10% or more [up to 331%]
- aidenn0 3y agoSo we can be pretty sure it doesn't more-than-double the chances of glioma?
- dvh 3y agoHow about myth that radar operators only have daughters?
- Arrath 3y agoWhether or not it's true, it also persists amongst reactor operators in navy subs, according to my cousin (said reactor operator for a navy sub during his time).
- fluidcruft 3y agoThey say the same thing about working around NMR/MRI. Can confirm (three daughters).
- atonse 3y agoAren't radio and microwaves non-ionizing radiation? Isn't it typically that binary? (that non-ionizing radiation doesn't affect our DNA etc and cause issues). Or is it more complex than that? Because I've always thought microwave radiation is safe since it's non-ionizing.
- arcticbull 3y agoNon-ionizing radiation can affect your DNA, for instance UV can cause DNA damage in skin cells. [1] In my opinion this kind of study continues to try and prove a negative, which is very difficult. [1] https://bitesizebio.com/36762/how-uv-light-damages-dna/ https://bitesizebio.com/36762/how-uv-light-damages-dna/
- atonse 3y agoTo further complicate things, UV only causes damage at certain wavelengths right? So maybe part of the issue is that "UV" or "Microwave" are too broad as categories to make a statement like "Microwaves are totally safe"
- jjoonathan 3y agoUVA and UVC are separated by 5x. UV and RF are separated by 1000000x.
- SigmundA 3y agoPretty simple the higher the wavelength the higher the photon energy and the more likely to cause non-thermal effects. Microwaves have very low photon energy far below any mechanism known to cause non-thermal effects. RF can heat you based on power absorption that is all.
- tasty_freeze 3y ago> Non-ionizing radiation can affect your DNA, for instance UV can cause DNA damage in skin cells. But UV is ionizing. The article you linked to says: > UV-B and UV-A rays are two forms of high-energy radiation that ionize (i.e., remove electrons from) molecules in a photochemical reaction that generates new molecular products.
- gumby 3y agoMy immediate reaction to the abstract is: of all tumors, I'd MUUUCH rather have a meningioma, especially when the alternative is a glioma! Germans seem to have a particular concern about EM radiation when compared to other countries. I don't really understand why.
- fluidcruft 3y agoThis is an ancient article from 2006.
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