Over the past few decades, bioelectromagnetic research has increased worldwide due to the ever-present and ever-increasing growth of electromagnetic fields in our natural environment. Commission K promotes research and development in the following domains: physical interactions of electromagnetic fields with biological systems; biological effects of electromagnetic fields; interaction mechanisms; human exposure assessment; experimental exposure systems; medical applications.

In the past triennium, the Commission continued the successful policy of promoting research initiatives through its member committees by sponsoring various conferences, symposia, and meetings, and by striving to cooperate with other scientific, health, and engineering organizations including BEMS, EBEA, and IEEE. URSI and Commission K have provided the platform for communicating and disseminating new results and developments with the international scientific community.

During the past triennium, Commission K has been active through sponsored symposia, conferences, and workshops.

The 4th International Symposium on Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine was held at the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan from 2-4 April 2001. In the tradition of past meetings, the current Chair of Commission K, Shoogo Ueno, organized this symposium. About 100 scientists and 4 Young Scientist Awardees representing Japan, USA, Canada, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Finland, United Kingdom, Germany, and South Korea attended this 3-day all invited symposium. Each day of the symposium was devoted to one particular topic, Imaging and Measurement of the Human Brain, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Medical Applications, and the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, to provide a high quality, comprehensive, well-balanced scientific program.

Information about this symposium was found on the follwing website: http://members.tripod.com/isebm/Symposium.htm

• 15^th International Wroclaw Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Wroclaw 2000)

• Electromagnetic Aspects of Self-organization in Biology, Prague, Czech Republic, 9-12 July 2000

• MMET’2000, Kharkov, Ukraine, 12-15 September 2000

• 3^rd International Conference on Bioelectromagnetism (ICBEM), Bled, Slovenia, 8-12 October 2000

• 2001 International Symposium on Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, 2-4 April 2001

• MSMW 2001, Kharkov, Ukraine, 4-9 June 2001

• 2001 Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference (APRASC01), Tokyo, Japan, 1-4 August 2001

• 16^th International Wroclaw Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, EMC Wroclaw 2002, Wroclaw, Poland, 27-30 June 2002

• EMC Europe 2002, Sorrento, Italy, 9-13 September 2002

• AMEREM 2002, Anápolis, MD, 3-7 June 2002

• Endogenous Physical Fields in Biology, Prague, Czech Republic, 1-3 July 2002

• JINA 2002, Nice, France, 12-14 November 2002

• EMF and Cardiac Pacemakers and Defibrillators, French Radio Protection Society, Paris, France, 25 October 2002

• APMC’02: Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference, Kyoto, Japan, 19-22 November 2002

Commission K is actively cooperating with other scientific, health, and engineering organizations including BEMS, EBEA, and IEEE. Commission K and the World Health Organization (WHO) have for many years had joint interests in determining the health effects of EM exposure, but recent proposals have been to see whether closer association might be beneficial to both parties. Dr. Micheal Repacholi, Coordinator, Radiation and Environmental Health Protection of the Human Environment, WHO, will introduce and discuss the WHO's International EMF Project at the second general lecture during the 2002 General Assembly. With the continued efforts of the Chair of the URSI Scientific Committee for Telecommunications (SCT), Mr. Martin Hall, and the incoming Commission K Chair, Professor Bernard Veyret, we hope to promote better interaction with the WHO through Dr. Michael Repacholi and Dr. Leeka Kheifets, particularly through a possible joint effort of the 5^th International Symposium of Electromagnetic Fields in Biology and Medicine, which is planned for the spring of 2004 in Bordeaux, France.

The Review of Radio Science is a compilation of reviews and tutorials on the advances and research in radio science that have been of significant importance over the last three years. In keeping with past tradition, the Vice-Chair, Professor Bernard Veyret, edited the Commission K chapters. We thank the following authors for their contributions in the 1999-2002 Review of Radio Science.

1. "Possible Exposures from Future Mobile Communications Systems" by J. Bach Andersen, P. Morgensen, and G.F. Pedersen
2. "Biological Effects of Microwaves: Animal Studies" by Zenon Sienkiewicz

General Lecture II: WHO’s assessment of the health effects of EMF exposure

Dr. Michael Repacholi

K-Tutorial: High field human MRI: Clinical applications and safety aspects

Professor Alayar Kangarlu

The technical areas of interest to Commission K are well represented with 70 oral presentations and 39 poster presentations in the following sessions.

K1: Mechanisms & Modeling of Electromagnetic Interaction with Biological Systems

K2: Biological Effects of Electroamgnetic Fields

K3: Hazard Assessment for Wireless Communication

K4: Biomedical Applications of Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

K5: Epidemiology of Exposure to Environmental Electromagnetic Fields

K6: Topics in Bioelectromagnetics

KA: Exposure Assessment for Cellular and Personal Telecommunications

KB: Computation of Electromagnetic Fields in the Human Body

KC: Health Effects of Mobile Phones

KE: Electromagnetic Interference with Medical Devices

Shoogo Ueno

Chair, Commission K