§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what are the comparative standards in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) France, (c) Germany and (d) the USA for field strengths of electro-magnetic energy within the microwave wave-bands relative to harmful effects caused to human beings.
§ Mr. SackvilleI have been asked to reply.
The United Kingdom is one of the few countries which have formulated guidance, not standards, on restricting exposure. In November 1993 the National Radiological Protection Board published guidelines on restricting exposure to electromagnetic fields, copies of which are available in the Library. These are based on comprehensive reviews of relevant biological and human health studies carried out by NRPB staff and on the advice of the advisory group on non-ionising radiation set up by the director of the NRPB. In the United Kingdom, for populations including children, the levels range from 75 volts per metre, V/m, at 300 megahertz to 194 V/m at 300 gigahertz.
Other countries, for example, France and Germany, have guidelines based on those issued in 1988 by the international non-ionizing radiation committee of the International Radiation Protection Association. For the general public, the levels range from 27.5 V/m to 61 V/m and for occupationally exposed people from 61 V/m to 137 V/m.
In the United States of America, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1991 standard set levels based on "controlled" and "uncontrolled" environments. For uncontrolled environments the levels range from 27.5 V/m to 194 V/m and for controlled environments from 61.4 V/m to 194 V/m.