The Radiation Research Trust has welcomed a new report by a group of international scientists published in the scientific journal, Reviews on Environmental Health http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21268443, that has called for greatly reduced exposure limits for electromagnetic radiation from power line and telecommunication technologies, including cell phones and wireless technologies.
The statement called the Seletun Scientific Statement represents the consensus conclusions of a scientific panel which meet in November 2009 in Seletun, Norway for intensive discussions on existing scientific evidence and potential public health implications of exposure to artificial electromagnetic fieldfs(EMF) from telecommunications and electric power technologies.
The statement outlines ten recommendations to help protect public health including adopting traditional public health principles and reducing EMF exposures now rather than waiting for proof or understanding of mechanisms; the establishment of an international registry to track time trends in incidence and mortality for cancers and neurological and immune diseases and also proposes that there should be mandatory pre-market assessments of emissions and risks before deployment of new wireless technologies. The Panel also sets out its recommendations for new global exposure guidelines.
1. The global Populations are insufficiently protected, thus currently at Risk.
2. Sensitive Populations are extra vulnerable.
3. Government Actions are urgently warranted now, based on Evidence of serious Disruption to Biological Systems.
4. The Burden of Proof for the Safety of radiation-emitting Technologies should fall on Producers and Providers, not Consumers.
5. EMF Exposures should be reduced in advance of complete Understanding of Mechanisms of Action.
6. The current operative measure of Radiation Risk – the specific absorption rate (SAR) – is inadequate, and misguides on Safety and Health Risks.
7. An international Disease Registry is needed to track Time Trends of the incidence of Illnesses to correlate the Illnesses with Exposures.
8. Pre-market health Testing and Safety Demonstration is needed for all radiation-emitting Technologies.
9. Parity is needed for occupational Exposure Standards, compared to those for the General Public.
10. Persons with Electrohypersensitivity need the classification Functionally Impaired.
RRT Chairman Brian Stein commented; “ The RRT was closely involved in the development of this scientific panel and the facilitation of the Seletun meeting. The report is a valuable contribution to the debate. We believe we are already seeing an increase in health problems such as cancer and neurobehavioural impairments, even though these wireless technologies are fairly new in the last few decades. There is also strong evidence that children and young people are particularly susceptible to these risks. The RRT has campaigned strongly for the precautionary principle to be adopted. We believe it is essential to have these safeguards in place in the future.”
An 18 minutes video of Olle Johansson, PhD of the Karolinska Institute, Chair of IEMFA’s Seletun Scientific Panel that issued the report is available here: http://vimeo.com/18018440