The government of Ireland released a report yesterday that generally dismisses health concerns over RF radiation from mobile phones and base stations, as well as concerns over EMFs from power lines.
The report, Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, was prepared by a four-member panel chaired by Mike Repacholi, the former head of the WHO EMF project. The panel concluded that, "So far no adverse short or long-term health effects have been found from exposure to the RF signals produced by mobile phones and base station transmitters" and that "there are no data available to suggest that the use of mobile phones by children is a health hazard."
In addition, while acknowledging that "there is limited scientific evidence of an association between ELF magnetic fields and childhood leukemia," the panel goes on to say that this possibility is in fact "unlikely." The other members of the panel are Eric van Rongen of the Health Council of the Netherlands, Anthony Staines of University College, Dublin, and Tom McManus, the former chief technical advisor to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the agency which commissioned the new report. McManus is also a former member of the executive committee of the IEEE's International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES).
Among the peer reviewers of the report were Sweden's Anders Ahlbom and the U.K.'s Alasdair McKinlay —Ahlbom is a current member, and McKinlay a former chairman, of ICNIRP. The 55-page report, Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, is a free download; See also the press release, which announces a new national EMF research program.
