Health group

1. Working Group Objectives

The primary mission of this group is to work for recognition of Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) within the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This objective is fundamental in order to:

• Guarantee healthcare rights: Allowing patients to access adequate diagnosis, therapy, and medical support.
• Provide social and legal protection: Providing a legal basis for disability recognition and obtaining reasonable accommodations in the workplace and at home.
• “Bottom-Up” Strategy: Rather than aiming solely for “top-down” recognition, our strategy aims to insert “child-codes” linked to specific symptoms related to exposure to electromagnetic fields into the digital ICD-11 system.

2. Achievements (2022 – 2026)

Over the past years, this WG has worked intensely to build a European network related to WHO:

• Submission of the first proposal: In May 2022, a “child-code” proposal was submitted within the category “Other specified disorders of the nervous system” (code 8E4Y).
  The link to the proposal is visible after login. It was rejected by the WHO Secretariat.
• Secondary Headache Proposal: In November 2025, a child-code was proposed under the Secondary Headache classification. The reception of this request is currently being followed, with the subsequent expected “audit” by two appointed researchers.
  The link to the proposal is visible after login. You can support it by clicking an Agree button.
• More proposals submitted to ICD11:
  • Headache Attributed to Electromagnetic Field Exposure
  • EMF-Induced Tinnitus.
  • EMF-associated auditory syndrome
  • EMF-Associated Cognitive Impairment
  • Adverse cutaneous effects of therapeutic non-ionizing irradiation
  • Dermatoses due to non-ionizing radiation
  • Sleep-wake disorders due to environmental physical agents

3. Challenges and Lessons Learned

In April 2024, we received notification that our initial proposal was rejected by WHO reviewers (Professors Treede and Woolf). Analyzing this rejection allowed us to understand that:

• The reviewers’ focus was excessively placed on the term “EHS” rather than on the direct causal link between electromagnetic fields and the nervous system that we had documented.
• Our next submissions were supported by more strigent scientific documentation.

4. Future Program and Next Steps

The WG continues its efforts with the following actions planned for the near future:

• To answer to arguments that will come from ICD technical auditors.
• Preparation of new cases: We are working to build more robust proposals, precisely identifying symptoms that warrant a dedicated code.
• Multi-level Collaboration: We will continue lobbying the WHO in parallel with national actions for the recognition of the EHS condition.