HC Deb 15 April 1993 vol 222 cc670-1W
Mr. Purchase

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies the National Radiological Protection Board is undertaking of the effects of telecommunications equipment.

Mr. Sackville

The National Radiological Protection Board advises Government on risks to human health from non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, including emissions from telecommunications equipment. The board's advice is that the radio frequency energy emitted by telecommunications equipment does not constitute a cancer hazard on the basis of available research evidence. The research work of the NRPB's non-ionising department encompasses biological research, programmes of physical measurements and theoretical dosimetry and health hazard assessment. The Department of Trade and Industry, together with the Science and Engineering Research Council and a number of industrial participants, are funding a research study of the physical interaction of electromagnetic fields and the human head. The results from this and other studies will enable a better assessment of the extent to which emissions comply with recommended restrictions on human exposures.