§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in(a) other member states of the European Union, (b) Australia and (c) New Zealand on the safe levels of radiation from mobile phone masts. [54440]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 7 May 2002]: I have been asked to reply.
Ministers have not had recent discussions with their respective counterparts. However departmental officials and the National Radiological Protection Board are supporting international electromagnetic field standardisation activities in terms of reviewing the fundamental science, providing advice on guidelines to protect people from adverse health effects and assisting in the development of technical standards.
The United Kingdom contributes to the development of European and international technical standards concerning the safety of mobile telephony through the European Committee on Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
United Kingdom delegates are members of the CENELEC mobile telephone project team that have developed standards for mobile phones and produced draft 302W documents on mobile phone base stations (phone masts). The documents provide standardised methods by which compliance with health-based guidelines can be assessed.