Letter to the Editor

20.1.05

3 G Mobile Phone Base Stations - Reply to "Children not at risk"

The Editor

The Southern Courier

Dear Madam

Mobile Carriers Forum (Sthn Courier "Children not at risk" 18-1-05) spokesperson Ms Stoianoff shows challengeable complacency.

She states "...there is no established evidence of any adverse health effects from 3G mobile-phone base stations."

She confidently refers to the International Commission on Non Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) to support her opinion.

The ICNIRP is much more cautious than Ms Stoianoff and actually says that existing studies are inadequate to be used as a guideline.

It recently assessed the past studies into the effects of low level radio frequency. Yes, it did state that,

"Results of these studies to date give no consistent or convincing evidence of a causal relation between RF exposure and any adverse health effect."

But the ICNIRP also makes it clear that these studies have "...too many deficiencies to rule out an association."

It actually raises doubts about the quality of these studies by diplomatically stating.

"A key concern across all studies is the quality of assessment of RF exposure."

The ICNIRP makes it clear that the scientific community lacks knowledge about the risks.

"Despite the ubiquity of new technologies using RFs, little is known about population exposure from RF sources and even less about the relative importance of different sources."

Comprehensive studies have not yet been done.

"Other cautions are that mobile phone studies to date have been able to address only relatively short lag periods, that almost no data are available on the consequences of childhood exposure, and that published data largely concentrate on a small number of outcomes, especially brain tumor and leukemia."

Murray Matson