§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to local authorities regarding health implications of TETRA masts. [155653]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 23 February 2004]: Advice to local authorities on the health implications for all communication developments is contained in Planning Policy Guidance 627W Note 8 (revised), issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has also issued a code of best practice on mobile phone network development.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the findings were of the latest research commissioned by his Department is into health and safety aspects of TETRA masts; and what plans he has to update this. [155654]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 23 February 2004]: The Stewart Report, in 2000, provided a thorough and comprehensive consideration of the public health concerns associated with mobile phone systems and is available on the website of the independent expert group on mobile phones at: www.iegmp.org.uk The report dealt principally with signals from the widely used mobile phone (GSM) technologies, but it did note some contradictory results when examining the biological effects of pulsed radio signals similar to those associated with TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio). While no obvious health effect was suggested, it did recommend a precautionary approach.
The main conclusion about base stations from the Stewart Report was 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".A substantial number of measurements of potential exposures of the public from base station emissions have now been made by a number of bodies, including the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) at: www.nrpb.org and the Radiocommunications Agency (now part of Ofcom) at: www.ofcom.org.uk These measurements include emissions from TETRA base stations. In all cases exposures have been very much lower than the guidelines published by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
The latest report from NRPB's advisory group on non-ionising radiation (AGNIR), entitled "Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields", was published on 14 January 2004. It addressed the base station issue and 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.Following a request by the Home Office to the NRPB, the issue of possible health effects caused by signals from TETRA base stations was comprehensively addressed by AGNIR. They published their report, "Possible Health Effects from Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA)", in 2001, which is available as Documents of NRPB, Volume 12, No. 2, 2001, or on the NRPB website: www.nrpb.org They noted that whereas the signals from the TETRA handsets are pulsed, those from TETRA base stations are not pulsed. They concluded, therefore, that there is no reason to believe 628W that signals from TETRA base stations should be treated differently from other base stations. The AGNIR report also found that exposures of the public to signals from TETRA base stations are small fractions of international guidelines.
TETRA technologies are included within the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme, set by the Government in 2001 and available at: www.mthr.org.uk An associated programme, specifically on TETRA, is being funded by the Home Office (www.homeoffice.gov.uk). A number of projects are already under way, but it will be some time before the results are available.