Olle Johansson, associate professor at the Karolinska Institute (retired Nov 2017, still active), Department of Neuroscience, and head of The Experimental Dermatology Unit, has a long background in the neurosciences and has coauthored – together with his supervisor professor Tomas Hökfelt and many others, including Nobel Laureates – up to the presentation of his doctoral thesis 143 original papers, reviews, book chapters and conference abstracts, a publication record hard to beat! His doctoral thesis at the Karolinska Institute was entitled ”Peptide Neurons in the Central and Peripheral Nervous System. Light and Electron Microscopic Studies”.

Olle Johansson has participated in more than 300 congresses, symposia and meetings as an invited speaker, and with free contributions and as an invited ’observer’ at an additional 200. His studies have been widely recognized in the public media, including newspapers, radio and TV as well as on the Internet, both nationally as well as internationally, and he is a regular interview guest in magazines, journals, tabloids and newspapers, as well as in radio shows, TV programmes and in the Internet-based news blogs and websites.

Olle Johansson is a world-leading authority in the field of EMF radiation and health effects. Among many achievements he coined the term ”screen dermatitis” which later on was developed into the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity which recognition mainly is due to his work. He has also been a guest professor as well as adjunct professor in basic and clinical neuroscience at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

His research group continues to investigate adverse health effects of modern, man-made, artificial electromagnetic fields as well as the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity. The very early introduction of the clinical term “screen dermatitis” was done to explain the cutaneous damages that developed in the late 1970s when office workers, first mostly women, began to be placed in front of computer monitors. Olle Johansson then called for action along lines of occupational medicine, biophysics and biochemistry, as well as neuroscience and experimental dermatology. The working hypothesis early became that persons with the impairment electrohypersensitivity react in a cellularly correct way to the electromagnetic radiation, maybe in concert with chemical emissions such as plastic components, flame retardants, etc., in a highly specific way and with a completely correct avoidance reaction — just as you would do if you had been exposed to e.g. sun rays, X-rays, radioactivity or chemical odors.

Nowadays, electrohypersensitivity (EHS) is in Sweden an officially fully recognized functional impairment (i.e., it is not regarded as a disease). Survey studies show that somewhere between 230,000-290,000 Swedish men and women—out of a population of 10,000,000—report a variety of symtoms when being in contact with electromagnetic field sources. To this, one should also add all the current issues regarding the bigger picture: the health effects of electromagnetic fields on the general population, including memory, concentration and learning difficulties, neurological damage and cancer, immune system impairments, fertility issues, as well as impacts on other animals, plants and bacteria.

Olle Johansson and his collaborators have, in addition, worked in great depth in areas such as skin diseases, cancer, child delivery, female urine incontinence, oral mucosa diseases, brain and spinal cord morphology, synaptology and chemical transmission, peripheral nervous system-related issues, cardiac function, skeletal muscle function and disease, and connective tissue ripening phenomena.
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He has published more than 600 original articles, reviews, book chapters and conference reports within the fields of basic and applied neuroscience, dermatoscience, epidemiology, and biophysiology. He has received a number of awards, including the Nokia Consumer Electronics Award, The Grand Environment Award of the Cancer and Allergy Foundation, the SIF Award, Tandvårdsskadeförbundets Pris, and many more.

Olle Johansson is – or has been – a member of, i.a., The European Neuroscience Association (ENA), The European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR), IBAS Users of Scandinavia (IBUS), The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), The International Society for Stereology (ISS), The New York Academy of Sciences, The Royal Microscopical Society (RMS), Scandinavian Society for Electron Microscopy (SCANDEM), The Skin Pharmacology Society (SPS), Society for Neuroscience, Svenska Fysiologföreningen, Svenska Intressegruppen för Grafisk Databehandling (SIGRAD), Svenska Läkaresällskapet, and the Svenska Sällskapet för Automatiserad Bildanalys (SSAB).

Olle Johansson has on-going international scientific collaborations with, i.a., Japan, Belgium, Australia, Brasil, India, Uruguay, Serbia, Germany and USA.

It is widely recognized that radiation exposures such as X-rays and gamma radiation can increase the risk of cancer in humans and animals. These types of radiation are referred to as ionizing radiation (Ionization energy is defined as the minimum amount of energy required to remove an electron from an atom or molecule in the gaseous state). This is different from nonionizing radiation, which includes ultraviolet (UV), visible light, extremely low frequency radiation (ELF), and radiofrequency or microwave (RF) radiation. Conventionally, researchers believed that nonionizing radiation is not harmful or carcinogenic, despite evidence surfacing regarding the relationship between UV radiation and skin cancer.

Research evaluating the exposure to RF radiation was conducted primarily by military agencies. Due to the advent and use of cellular telephone systems, which involve widespread public exposures, reevaluation of exposure risk has become urgent.

Four types of physiological effects has been observed by researched in multiple studies:

1. Increased spontaneous abortion,
2. Shifts in red blood cell and white blood cell count,
3. Increased somatic mutation rates in lymphocytes, and
4. Increased childhood, testicular, and other cancers.

These findings suggest that exposure to RF radiation, including from devices such as microwave ovens, are potentially carcinogenic and have other health effects. An important point to consider is that low dose radiation exposure over time has damaging effects, rather than one large exposure to radiation.

Rather than using a microwave, consider using a stove or convection oven. These methods take a bit more time, but it is well worth it! Consider using headphones to talk on cell phones rather than placing the device directly to your head. If possible, request to avoid airport scanners by opting for a pat-down. Lastly, try to reduce overall radiation exposure over time.

Goldsmith, J. (1997). Epidemiologic Evidence Relevant to Radar (Microwave) Effects. Environmental Health Perspectives, 105, 1579. https://doi.org/10.2307/3433674