In short
The NextGEM project aims to ensure the safety of European citizens when using existing and future telecommunications technologies based on electromagnetic fields (EMF). We achieve this by generating relevant knowledge to identify appropriate control measures for EMF exposure in residential, public and professional environments and by conducting a risk analysis based on laboratory experiments.
Project description
Emerging technologies based on radio frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF, 100 kHz-300 GHz), especially in telecommunications, are of great importance to the European way of life, and there is growing interest in their possible negative effects on human health and the environment, which may be potentially exacerbated by the aggregation of different types of EMF signals. This is the context in which NextGEM and three other consortia, supported under Horizon Europe, are collaborating with the aims of ensuring the safety of European citizens when using existing and future telecommunications technologies based on electromagnetic fields.
The NextGEM project consists in a consortium of 20 partners from Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Israel and Belgium. NextGEM research objectives are:
- Measurement and modelling of RF-EMFs under suitable exposure schemes;
- Assessment of health effects through in vitro and human studies;
- Risk assessment, combining the results of the investigations.
In the framework of NextGEM, Sciensano performs in vitro and human studies on EMF exposures and co-exposures using different cellular and molecular techniques. The quality of the experiments is ensured by the joint development of validated standard operating procedures (SOPs) between the partner teams and by the independent replication of the experiments.
Results