§ Mr. BaileyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the mobile telecommunications and health research programme to report on the public health implications of mobile phone masts. [165908]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe mobile telecommunications and health research programme reports progress at open seminars each year. The majority of projects are due to be completed in time for the annual seminar in November 2005. The remaining projects may take up to three years longer depending on their complexity. Most of the studies are concerned with mobile phones rather than base stations (masts) although there is one volunteer study looking specifically at base station exposures. Further details of these projects can be found on the websitewww.mthr.org.uk.
The public health implications of mobile phone base stations were reviewed recently by the National Radiological Protection Board's advisory group on non-ionising radiation, (Documents of the NRPB, 410W Vol. 14, No 2, 2003). The report, entitled Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields, concluded that
Exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a risk to health.The report is available at www.nrpb.org.uk.