Designing EMF experiments: What is required to characterize “exposure”?

Anyone who has attempted to organize and synthesize the results of research on biological effects of electric and magnetic fields (EMF) has experienced frustration when trying to evaluate the comparability of EMF exposures among separate studies. Reporting of exposure characteristics is often incomplete, and some investigators focus on particular nuances of exposure, which in other laboratories go unrecorded because they are not regarded as important. The obstacles encountered when comparing studies, when designing replication studies, and when evaluating research proposals could be reduced were a more standardized approach taken in describing “EMF exposure.” To this end, a numerical listing of 18 separate parameters important to EMF exposure characterization is proposed. Although the goal of this list is primarily to expedite the description of EMF exposure, references are provided to examples of EMF exposures and to detailed discussions of EMF exposure systems. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.