Monday, 27th October 2008
There is still no evidence of health risk from exposure to wireless networks
I refer to the letter Mobile Base Stations And Health, and wish to clarify some points. The GSM Association understands that people may be concerned by claims of possible risks, however, such claims are based on selective reviews of existing research and do not present a balanced analysis considering the relative scientific quality of different studies.
The BioInitiative report has been criticised for lack of scientific rigour by the Danish government's Sundhedsstyrelsens (National Board of Health) and the German Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS - Federal Office for Radiation Protection). The Dutch Health Council specialist committee on electromagnetic fields also reviewed the BioInitiative report and concluded:
"In view of the way the BioInitiative report was compiled, the selective use of scientific data and the other shortcomings mentioned above, the committee concludes that the BioInitiative report is not an objective and balanced reflection of the current state of scientific knowledge. Therefore, the report does not provide any grounds for revising the current views as to the risks of exposure to electromagnetic fields."
Unfortunately, the European Parliament committee was influenced too much by one unreliable source.
The European Commission continues to monitor this subject and has issued a report on implementation of the present safety standards on September 1. In March 2007, the Commission's scientific advisory committee concluded that no health hazard had been consistently demonstrated at exposure levels below the present standards but that research should continue. This committee has been asked to provide an updated opinion on the adequacy of those standards next month. There have been many independent scientific and public health authority reviews and the consensus position, as summarised by the World Health Organisation, is that current international recommendations incorporate large safety factors and are protective of all persons.
Specifically for wireless networks, WHO fact sheet 304 from May 2006 concluded: "Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects."
More details and links to many sources can be found at www.gsmworld.com/health
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Comments
How do you expect me to take the advise of anyone that has anything to do with a mobile phone company! That would be like asking a tobacco company for advise on lung cancer.
The source material from the WHO you allude to is for short-term heating irradiation of adults only. It is not – and never has been – for lifetime microwave irradiation of adults or children. In fact, they have no research at all on any sort of safety level for children or infants – because there isn’t one.
The same can be said about thalidomide, asbestos and other materials before the evidence manifested itself so disastrously to those affected.
If Jack is so convinced, why doesn't he tell the local mobile operators to publish what power they use, antenna patterns and gain, whether they use beam tilt and if so by how many degrees so that INDEPENDENT analysis can be made?
Why are they hiding this information?
What do they have to hide?
Why was there need for the GSM Association to write regarding the situation in Malta?
Are the local mobile operators not competent enough to answer themselves and they needed daddy's help just to make it look better?
After all, what would you expect from someone EMPLOYED by the GSM Association?
'there is NO evidence that such exposure DOES NOT entail health risk'
so in the meantime, organsiations with vested interest assume it is OK to leave things as is.
If eventually the risks are confirmed - I'm sure Mr. Rowley will not be the first one to sign open cheques to compensate for the unquantifiable damage that such exposure would have left!