'We are the canary in a coal mine': Establishing a disease category and a new health risk

Health, Risk and Society

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 129-147

  de Graaff, M B ^a   Bröer, Christian ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

categorisation; electromagnetic fields; health; medically unexplained symptoms; risk

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CANCER RISK; CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM; COAL MINING; ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD; FATIGUE; HEADACHE; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH HAZARD; HUMAN; HYPERSENSITIVITY; ILLEGITIMACY; IMMUNE SYSTEM; INTERVIEW; MOBILE PHONE; NEUROPSYCHOLOGY; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; PATIENT ATTITUDE; PERCEPTION; PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDER; RADIATION EXPOSURE; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL (TOPIC); RISK ASSESSMENT; RISK FACTOR; SAFETY; SCHOOL; SENSORY SYSTEM; SKIN; URBAN AREA;

EID: 84859412378     PISSN: 13698575     EISSN: 14698331     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13698575.2012.661040     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Ahlbom, A. 2000. A pooled analysis of magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia. British Journal of Cancer, 83(5): 692-698.
2. Barnett, J. 2007. Public responses to precautionary information from the Department of Health (UK) about possible health risks from mobile phones. Health Policy, 82: 240-250.
3. Becker, G. and Nachtigall, R. D. 1992. Eager for medicalisation: The social production of infertility as a disease. Sociology of Health and Illness, 14(4): 456-471.
4. Bröer, C. 2006. Beleid vormt overlast, hoe beleidsdiscoursen de beleving van geluid bepalen, Amsterdam: Aksant.
5. Bröer, C. 2007. Aircraft noise and risk politics. Health, Risk and Society, 9(1): 37-52.
6. Bröer, C. and Duyvendak, J. W. 2009. Discursive opportunities, feeling rules, and the rise of protests against aircraft noise. Mobilization, 14(3): 337-356.
7. Brown, P. and Zavestoski, S. 2004. Social movements in health: An introduction. Sociology of Health and Illness, 26(6): 679-694.
8. Brown, P. 2002. Policy issues in environmental health disputes. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 584: 175-202.
9. Burgess, A. 2002. Comparing national responses to perceived health risks from mobile phone masts. Health, Risk and Society, 4(2): 175-188.
10. Conrad, P. 2005. The shifting engines of medicalization. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 46 (March): 3-14.
11. Cooper, L. 1997. Myalgic encephalomyelitis and the medical encounter. Sociology of Health and Illness, 19(2): 186-207.
12. Danforth, S. and Navarro, V. 2001. Hyper talk: Sampling the social construction of ADHD in everyday language. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 32(2): 167-190.
13. Dirkzwager, A. J.E. and Verhaak, P. F.M. 2006. Characteristics of patients with persistent medically unexplained symptoms. Journal of psychosomatic research, 61(3): 397-398.
14. Dirkzwager, A. J.E. and Verhaak, P. F.M. 2007. Patients with persistent medically unexplained symptoms in general practice: Characteristics and quality of care. BMC Family Practice, 8: 33-42.
15. Drake, F. 2006. Mobile phone masts: Protesting the scientific evidence. Public Understanding of Science, 15(4): 387-410.
16. Dumit, J. 2006. Illnesses you have to fight to get: Facts as forces in uncertain, emergent illnesses. Social Science and Medicine, 62(3): 577-590.
17. Duyvendak, J. W. and Nederland, T. 2007. New frontiers for identity politics? The potential and pitfalls of patient and civic identity in the Dutch patients' health movement. Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change, 27: 261-282.
18. Eltiti, S. 2007. Development and evaluation of the electromagnetic hypersensitivity questionnaire. Bioelectromagnetics, 28(2): 137-151.
19. Ettore, E. 2000. Please, doctor, may I have a normal baby?. Sociology, 34(3): 403-417.
20. European Parliament. 2009. Health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields-European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields (2008/2211(INI) Available from: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2009-0216+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN [Accessed 16 November 2011]
21. Gezondheidsraad. 2009. Elektromagnetische velden jaarbericht 2008 Available from: http://www.gezondheidsraad.nl/sites/default/files/200902.pdf [Accessed 24 November 2009]
22. Hajer, M. 2005. "Coalitions, practices and meaning in environmental politics: From acid rain to BSE". In Discourse theory in European politics: Identity, policy, and governance, Edited by: Howarth, D.R. and Torfing, J. 297-315. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
23. Hardell, L. 2008. Meta-analysis of long-term mobile phone use and the association with brain tumours. International Journal of Oncology, 32: 1097-1103.
24. Heyman, B. 2010. Risk, safety and clinical practice: Health care through the lens of risk, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25. Hiller, W., Rief, W. and Brahler, E. 2006. Somatization in the population: From mild bodily misperceptions to disabling symptoms. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(9): 704-712.
26. Hillert, L., Leitgeb, N. and Meara, J. Working group report. Electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Proceedings: International workshop on electromagnetic fields hypersensitivity. Edited by: Hansson Mild, K. pp.15-26. Prague: World Health Organization.
27. Hsieh, H. F. and Shannon, S. E. 2005. Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9): 1277-1288.
28. Huss, J. 2011. The potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Doc. 12608, 6 May 2011
29. Jacobson, N. 2000. Cleavage: Technology, controversy, and the ironies of the man-made breast, New Brunswick: Rutgers.
30. Johansson, O. 2006. Electrohypersensitivity: State-of-the-art of a functional impairment. Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 25(4): 245-258.
31. Jutel, A. 2009. Sociology of diagnosis: A preliminary review. Sociology of Health and Illness, 31(2): 278-299.
32. Kan, P. 2008. Cellular phone use and brain tumor: A meta-analysis. Journal of Neurooncology, 86: 71-78.
33. Kheifets, L. 2010. Risk governance for mobile phones, power lines, and other electromagnetic fields technologies. Risk Analysis, 30(10): 1481-1494.
34. Kipen, H. M. and Fiedler, N. 2002. Environmental factors in MUS and related syndromes: The evidence and the challenge. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110(S4): 597-599.
35. May, C. 2006. Technogovernance: Evidence, subjectivity, and the clinical encounter in primary care medicine. Social Science and Medicine, 62: 1022-1030.
36. Mayring, P. 2000. Qualitative content analysis. Forum Qualitative Social Research, 1(2) Art. 20. Available from: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0002204 [Accessed 9 February 2012]
37. Nettleton, S. 2006. 'I just want permission to be ill': Towards a sociology of medically unexplained symptoms. Social Science and Medicine, 62(5): 1167-1178.
38. Nettleton, S. 2005a. Understanding the narratives of people who live with medically unexplained illness. Patient Education and Counselling, 56: 205-210.
39. Nettleton, S., Burrows, R. and O'Malley, L. 2005b. The mundane realities of the everyday lay use of the internet for health and their consequences for media convergence. Sociology of Health and Illness, 27(7): 972-992.
40. Nimnuan, C., Hotopf, M. and Wessely, S. 2001. Medically unexplained symptoms: An epidemiological study in seven specialities. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 51(1): 361-367.
41. Parsons, T. 1975. The sick role and the role of the physician reconsidered. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society, 53(3): 257-278.
42. Regel, S. J. 2006. UMTS base station-like exposure, well-being, and cognitive performance. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(8): 1270-1275.
43. Rhodes, L. A. 1999. The power of the visible: The meaning of diagnostic tests in chronic back pain. Social Science and Medicine, 48(9): 1189-1203.
44. Röösli, M. 2007. Mortality from neurodegenerative disease and exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields: 31 years of observations on Swiss railway employees. Neuroepidemiology, 28: 197-206.
45. Rubin, G. J., Nieto-Hernandez, R. and Wessely, S. 2010. Review: Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (formerly 'electromagnetic hypersensitivity'). An updated systematic review of provocation studies. Bioelectromagnetics, 31: 1-11.
46. Sage, C. and Carpenter, D. O. 2007. BioInitiative report: A rationale for a biologically-based public exposure standard for electromagnetic fields (ELF and RF) Available from: http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/index.htm [Accessed 2 June 2009]
47. Schooneveld, H. and Arends-Zimmerman, G. 2006. Elektromagnetische velden en elektrohypersensitiviteit. Nederlandse vereniging voor stralingshygiëne, 3: 27-31.
48. Schooneveld, H. and Kuiper, J. 2008. Electrohypersensitivity in the Netherlands: A questionnaire survey Available from: http://www.stichtingehs.nl/images/stories/EHS/Epublicaties/schooneveld%20kuiper%202008.pdf [Accessed 16 November 2011]
49. Shildrick, M. 2002. Embodying the monster: Encounters with the vulnerable self, London: Sage.
50. Shilling, C. 2002. Culture, the 'sick role' and the consumption of health. British Journal of Sociology, 53(4): 621-638.
51. Siegrist, M. 2005. Perception of mobile phone and base station risks. Risk Analysis, 25(5): 1253-1264.
52. Stilgoe, J. 2007. The (co-)production of public uncertainty: UK scientific advice on mobile phone health risks. Public Understanding of Science, 16(1): 45-61.
53. Wetherell, M., Taylor, S. and Yates, S. 2001. Discourse as data: A guide for analysis, London: Sage.
54. WHO. 2011. IARC classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans World Health Organisation, International Agency for Research on Cancer: Press Release Nr. 208, 31 May 2011
55. Wynne, B. 2008. Elephants in the room where publics encounter 'science'? A response to Darrin Durant, 'Accounting for expertise: Wynne and the autonomy of the lay public'. Public Understanding of Science, 17: 21-33.
56. Yanow, D. 2000. Conducting interpretive policy analysis, London: Sage.