Between April and November, 2004, we completed environmental ELF measurements in 14 exposed campuses and 18 control campuses. A total of 101 students from exposed campuses and 123 students of control campuses completed continuous personal dosimetry for 24 hours. Measurements of RF were also completed in 6 exposed campuses and 9 control campuses. Besides, parents of 1,117 students from exposed campuses and 2,204 students of control campuses returned to us the information regarding the health status of their children. The main findings of this study are listed below. The EFL and RF regulation guidelines proposed by Taiwan EPA has been consistent to the exposure guidelines adopted by most of the countries in the world. To the best of our knowledge, there are no national guidelines in the world specifically set for regulating EMF exposure in certain sensitive areas, such as kindergarden and elementary school campus. The ELF magnetic field intensity was observed to be higher in certain areas inside the exposed campuses, but it is not as high as the EPA criteria (833 mG). Generally, there are no significant differences in ELF between the two groups of campuses. There is no signiffiecnt difference in personal dosimetry betweem the two groups of campuses, irrespective of the dosimetry was performed inside campus or outside campus. The RF exposure is higher in exposed campuses than in control campuses, but it is still much lower than the exposure criteria set by Taiwan EPA (0.45-0.90 mW/cm2). The students from control campuses had higher incidence of clinical visits than those of exposed campuses. A majority of parents have no idea about whether or not the schools attended by their children are close to HVTL or substations, but many of them believe that there would be potential adverse health effects from such exposure. Additionally, compared to parents of exposed campuses, parents of control groups are even more worrying about the adverse effects of their children from such exposure.

extreme-low-frequency electromagnetic fields,radiofrequency,measurement,epidemiology,exposure assessment