September 5, 2008

experts comment on electrosensitivity and the safety of mobile phones

Concerns over the safety of mobile phones have been raised in a report from the independent campaigning organisation Powerwatch; leading experts respond.

Prof Mike Repacholi, Coordinator of the WHO EMF Project 1996-2006, said:

“These issues have been dealt with in depth by WHO and fact sheets were issued for the factual information of everyone. The information in these fact sheets is current and no research has been published to alter the conclusions in the WHO fact sheets.”

The fact sheets referred to by Prof Repacholi are available from the WHO website.

Prof Patricia McKinney, Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology at the University of Leeds, said:

“The [Powerwatch] report pulls together and interprets a highly selected sample of the published literature on the topic of the risks of mobile phone use. A major UK study is misquoted as finding a statistically significant risk of brain tumours associated with heavy use of mobile phones which it definitely did not. This biased appraisal of the science should be viewed cautiously by the general public.”

Dr James Rubin, Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, said:

“The best available evidence we have from 41 different experiments suggests that the symptoms of ‘electro-sensitivity’ probably aren’t caused by electromagnetic fields. So adopting a precautionary approach with respect to electro-sensitivity is unnecessary, and possibly even counterproductive.”