蜂巢式行動電話微波輻射之健康效應－文獻探討

Health Effects of Microwave Radiation From Cellular Phones-A Review of the Issue

王建楠(Jian-Nan Wang)

《中華職業醫學雜誌》 7卷3期 (2000/07) Pp. 109-122

https://doi.org/10.30027/CJOM.200007.0002

摘要

1872年美國貝爾(Bell)年發明了傳聲電話，它是一種遠距離傳送語音的裝置，1876年該項發明獲得專利，開啟了有電話(wire telephone)的世紀，人類文明邁入一個新的里程碑。1895年義大利馬可尼(Marconi)在家後院試驗無線電報成功，1901年成功地發送信號橫跨大西洋，接著在1915年真空管的發明與應用，無線通訊開始步入實用階段。現代行動通訊系統諸如民用波段無線電(citizens’ band radio)、無線電呼叫器(pager)及蜂巢式(cellular)通訊系統(車載式或袋裝式)等，使得吾人搭乘交通工具時(汔車、火車等)、國外旅行或遠離家、辦公室時能和家人、朋友或同事保持接觸。自從政府開放部份無線電通訊業務如蜂巢式行動電話(cellular mobile phone，俗稱大哥大)、呼叫器等，由民間企業申請執照經營，從此呼叫器和行動電話的用戶呈幾何倍數成長，早期第一代類比式(analog)行動電話已漸遭淘汰，臺灣目前市面上使用之數位式(digital)行動電話，以歐洲全球行動通訊系統(Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM)為主。由不斷有新技術的引入，如今的行動電話輕薄短小，可放置於口袋中或繫在腰帶間，目前上市的最輕型手機重約70-80公克，體積只有巴掌大小。所謂蜂巢式行動電話簡單的說即是指利用地面上架設的許多基地台，連接行動台(即用戶手機)與固定式網路(如公眾交換式電話網路)間的通訊，再經由固定網路與其他終端機或行動台的連繫而達成通訊的目的。由於基地台天線設是以六邊形方式構成一個細胞(cell)，而由不同的細胞組合成一蜂巢狀的無線電波涵蓋範圍，因此稱為蜂巢式行動電話，吾人藉著小型電話裝置可從汔車上、列車上或飛機上進行直撥通話，國際漫遊通行無阻。

並列摘要

Due to the wide and growing use of cellular phones, there is increasing concern about the interactions of microwave (300MHz-300GHz) radiation with human organism, in particular with the brain. It is estimated there will be 210 million users of wireless phones worldwide by 2000. So far, there are about 10 million users in Taiwan. In the past 20 years, many studies focused on public and occupational exposures to microwave, the exposures are those connected with military and industrial users and to some extent broadcast tower nearby. Some biological effects induced by high-level microwave radiation wee originally reported in multiple studies: increased spontaneous abortion, shifts in red and white cell counts, increased somatic mutation rates in lymphocytes, and increased childhood testicular cancer and other cancers. However, at the present state of knowledge, one can conclude that the evidence for any proven health effects of low-level microwave exposure is minimal to non-existent. Most cellular phones and their corresponding base stations operate at a very low power output (average power less than one watt) and in the radiofrequency range of 800 to 2000 megahertz. Current international guidelines protect against thermal biological effects in terms of the local or whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR). On the basis of studies reported in the past several years, there is equivocal evidence from labortatory studies, and a lack of evidence from epidemiological studies that microwave radiation emitted from cellular phones is associated with adverse health effects. So far, there are only few epidemiological studies of potential health effects due to microwave exposure of cellular phones, but are expected to emerge in the near future. Laboratory (in vitro or in vivo) studies have shown conflicting results, so the future experimental studies, involving strict positive and negative control conditions will be required in the future.

並列關鍵字

microwave ； cellular phones ； radiofrequency ； specific absorption rate ； GSM system