§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the level of risk to public health to those living close to mobile telephone masts changes according to the type of mast. [163430]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonA review of recent research entitled Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields, published by the National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) advisory group on non-ionising radiation concluded
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 Government along with other European Union Members States has adopted the exposure guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) as expressed in the 1999 European Council Recommendation 519/EC/ 1999. The operators of mobile telephone equipment including GSM, 3G and TETRA systems should ensure that public exposure does not exceed the ICNIRP guidelines.
A substantial number of measurements of potential exposures of the public from base station emissions, have been made by a number of bodies, including the NRPB (www.nrpb.org) and the Radiocommunications Agency (now part of Ofcom) (www.ofcom.org.uk). In all cases exposures have been very much lower than the guidelines.
I wrote to right hon. and hon. Members 21 January 2004 with a summary of the current position relating to mobile phone technology and health concerns.