§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to ask the National Radiological Protection Board to review research on the health aspects of mobile phone masts and to report to her; and if she will make a statement. [125006]
§ Mr. TimmsThe public health implications of mobile phone technologies in general were comprehensively assessed by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP), chaired by Sir William Stewart, in May 2000 (www.iegmp.org.uk). In respect of base stations the Group concluded that:
The balance of evidence indicates that there is no general risk to the health of people living near to base stations on the basis that exposures are expected to be small fractions of guidelines.
Measurements undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board and the Radiocommunications Agency have confirmed that public exposures are very much lower than the international exposure guidelines and are published on the websites www.nrpb.org and www.radio.gov.uk respectively.
The IEGMP additionally recommended that the issue of possible health effects from mobile phone technology should be the subject of a further review in three years time or earlier if circumstances demand it. In responding 160W to the recommendations in the IEGMP report, the Government asked the NRPB to undertake this further review and the Board of NRPB requested its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) to carry this out. It is expected that this further report will be issued towards the end of 2003. Membership of AGNIR can be found on the NRPB's website (www.nrpb.org).