A definition of biological harmful interference proposed by the EMR Policy Institute in its September, 2013 Comment to the FCC:

Harmful interference includes acute, chronic or prolonged exposure to RF signals and emissions that endanger, degrade, obstruct or repeatedly interrupt biological functioning of a person, plant, animal or ecosystem, or that result in adverse health effects or malfunctioning of medical devices or equipment.

Biological harmful interference shall be defined as any negative change in a measurable biological, physiological or ecological parameter (outside the range within which it is regulated in normal circumstances with no exposure to the influence in question).

Examples of parameters that demonstrate biological effects caused by exposure to magnetic fields or RF fields include:
a. the EEG spindle frequency during sleep (reproducible within a person, not necessarily across a population);
b. the brain metabolic rate based on brain scans of glucose metabolism;
c. the rate of DNA breakage in healthy cells;
d. disruption of the rate of calcium efflux through a cell’s membrane;
e. melatonin production and metabolism;
f. insulin production and metabolism;
g. heart rate and blood pressure variability;
h. temperature. (Note that a temporary temperature change of 0.2 degrees
Fahrenheit shall be considered a biological effect, because a healthy body
normally regulates temperature within a range smaller than this.)

Examples of parameters that demonstrate harmful biological effects caused by magnetic and/or RF fields exposed to the environment include:
i. the mortality rate of plants or animals;
j. the incidence of deformed offspring of plants or animals;
k. altered growth or morphology in plants or animals;
l. behavioral changes (such as nesting, increased piping signaling of bees or altered feeding habits by any animal).

Download the EMR Policy Institute’s complete September 2013 Comment to the FCC