Background

During the past 20 to 30 years, society has become more dependent upon the use of technologies incorporating electromagnetic fields, and particularly telecommunications. These new and useful technologies have been embraced by the public but it has become increasingly important to be able to measure the emitted fields accurately and predict the amount of energy absorbed by biological tissue and cell cultures. Such issues were the impetus behind the development of the original Radiofrequency Radiation Dosimetry Handbooks (1976, 1978, 1980, 1986).

The original handbooks were written at a level that was easy to comprehend by the novice researcher and their contents have withstood the test-of-time. Specific absorption rate (SAR) values predicted by more recent computational approaches are in many instances quite comparable to those presented in the most recent dosimetry handbook. More than 2000 hardcopies of the Radiofrequency Radiation Dosimetry Handbook have been distributed and it is one of the cornerstone publications in bioelectromagnetics research.

Over the past few years, the explosive increased use in wireless communication devices has resulted in a flurry of meetings to develop or revise exposure standards. The ability to measure or predict energy absorption during exposure to radiofrequency EMFs is the basis of these standards. Recent advances in technologies utilised in dosimetry measurements permit better mapping of EMF absorption, and assessment of the biological responses to EMF exposure. Increased computer power permits the prediction of localised SAR values at higher resolutions. Reports produced by respected committees, such as the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, highlight the importance of scientific replication of experimental results. Such replications are possible only when accurate dosimetry has been conducted in the original report. One of the primary goals of the Dosimetry Handbook has been to provide instruction in such methodology. Accurate experimental dosimetry in conjunction with well-replicated experiments will provide the best possible scientific evidence on which to base public health policy.

The new applications of EMF technologies and the marked improvements in computational dosimetry since 1986 will require substantial additions to the Dosimetry Handbook. To be useful from an introductory level up to the advanced research level, the new dosimetry handbook must be user friendly and maintain the high quality of scientific data reported in the four previous versions. The content will be expanded to the entire frequency range used for communications and elated applications and will reflect the tremendous advances in computational and analytical dosimetry since 1986. The new handbook will include data for researchers conducting in vivo or in vitro experiments, epidemiologists, electrical engineering professionals, medical professionals, and those involved in compliance testing and establishing exposure standards.

Development of the handbook will employ the Internet as an open international forum. Technologies such as hypertext markup language (HTML), World Wide Web (WWW), virtual reality markup language (VRML), and JAVA TM will be incorporated to permit sharing of ideas and results on an international basis. This aspect of the new Handbook would allow it to be used as an on-line resource by researchers: standard, verified dosimetric models of animals or computational model of exposure facilities could be accessed remotely, removing the need for dedicated dosimetric effort whilst ensuring good quality dosimetry. As an international group, contributors to International EMF dosimetry project could also facilitate efforts to harmonise the EMF exposure standards that are currently unique to each country .

The need for a new version of the dosimetry handbook is evident. Questions will continue to be raised concerning the way in which the emitted energy from new and emerging devices interacts with biological systems. Furthermore, the evaluation of a system's effectiveness and operational safety will continue to be a challenge to those developing and operating this new technology The new version of the Handbook must not only be up to date, it must be able to evolve at a rate that matches the development of EMF technology and devices.