radiations

The miscarriage rate is higher in women who have had a computed tomography scan before pregnancy than in those who have not been exposed before conception, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The research includes data on more than five million pregnant women in Canada between 1992 and 2023. According to the study, the miscarriage rate increases with the number of scans: from 117 miscarriages per 1,000 pregnancies in women who have had a single test, to 142 in those who have had three or more – compared with 101 miscarriages per 1,000 pregnancies in women who have not had a previous scan.

A model designed by a team of US researchers estimates that around 93 million computed tomography (CT) scans will be performed in the United States in 2023. The research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, estimates that radiation from these scans could lead to 103,000 future cancers. If the same trend continues, cancers associated with these scans would account for 5% of all new cancer diagnoses per year in the US.

The Saharan dust intrusion that reached Spain and other European countries in March 2022 posed no risk to human health in terms of exposure to radioactivity, according to an analysis of samples collected by citizens in Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. The dust came from southern Algeria, says the analysis published in Science Advances, and contained plutonium isotopes characteristic of nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. and the Soviet Union - not from French tests in the Reggane area in the 1960s.

The radiation exposure from mobile phone use does not increase the risk of brain cancer, with evidence of “moderate” certainty, according to a systematic review, funded in part by the WHO and published in Environmental International. Exposure from fixed-site transmitters (like broadcast antennas) is also not associated with childhood leukaemia.

France has temporarily halted the sale of the iPhone 12 phone because it does not comply with European radiation regulations. In a press release, French regulator ANFR (the National Frequency Agency) has asked Apple to withdraw the iPhone 12 from the French market from 12 September 2023, after its tests showed that the device exceeded EU limits for a measure known as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). The SAR measure looks at the levels of electromagnetic radiation that could be received by the body if the phone were held in the hand or trouser pocket, and should be below 4W/kg. The ANFR says the test measured the SAR at 5.74 W/kg.