Newsletter 01/2026: Our survey on meaningful criteria for studies with electrosensitive people

Dear friends and supporters of safe connections,
In this newsletter, we would like to introduce our survey on
meaningful criteria for studies evaluating a possible causality between exposure and symptoms of electrosensitive people.

We are seeking your support to improve future study methodologies in this field. We would like to ask EHS sufferers to participate and share this survey. The survey is available in three languages. It will be online until 15 February 2026 and takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Link to the survey:
https://www.soscisurvey.de/auswahlkriterien-ehs/

With this survey, gesund verNETZt e.V. aims to pool the experiences of electrosensitive people in order to make it clear to political decision-makers that a considerable number of electrosensitive people have probably been overlooked research so far.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently reassessing the effects of electromagnetic fields on health. This is based on commissioned systematic reviews (SR) that have lately been published. Our association was able to submit a statement
on two systematic reviews [1, 2] to the Round Table on Electromagnetic Fields (RTEMF) of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). These reviews deal with idiopathic environmental intolerance to EMF (IEI-EMF)/EHS.
We have now been invited to the RTEMF, where the results of the reviews will be discussed.

In our view, a key problem lies in the selection criteria for the studies included in the reviews. Essential requirements that we believe to be necessary to prove or rule out causality between exposure and IEI-EMF/EHS symptoms (e.g. through provocation studies) were not taken into account. As a result, it was to be expected that the studies would not be able to show causality between exposure and EHS symptoms.

The selection criteria we consider necessary are based both on existing hypotheses about biological mechanisms of action and on empirical knowledge gained from exchanges among those affected.

In our opinion, the results of the SRs cannot therefore be used. But of course, it is possible that we are mistaken in our assessment of ‘empirical knowledge’. That is why we are turning to our network and asking electrosensitive people to complete the survey.

The results of this survey will strengthen our position in discussions at the RTEMF, allowing us to demonstrate that ‘subgroups’ are not adequately represented in research and that the individual reaction patterns of those affected are not or insufficiently recorded. This explains why, in our view, no adequate recommendations for action could be derived from the studies.

Beyond this very important specific occasion, we have the overarching goal of presenting the deficits and gaps in study designs on the biological effects of exposure, in general as well as specifically in EHS provocation studies, to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the relevant ministries and political decision-makers.

We have the impression that the responsible authorities view EHS sufferers as too homogeneous a group, and as a result, many sufferers have been overlooked by research.

If the results of this survey support our hypotheses, we would like to pool this empirical data in order to propose better study designs and initiate a reassessment of the results obtained to date. In addition, we would like to advocate at the relevant ministries and authorities for the implementation of protection zones for those affected.

For a safer digitisation
Warm regards
Thomas Warmbold
1st Chairman gesund verNETZt e.V.

Interested?

If you became interested in our topics and approaches, we would be happy to invite you to a gesund verNETZt meeting as a guest. Simply send an email to .
The meeting is in German and usually takes place on the last Monday of every month.

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