A long awaited French government report on the possible hazards of mobile phone masts stops short of demanding a reduction in either their number or their emission levels, writes Flesh & Stone.

Alleged health dangers originating from mobile phone masts have led to increasingly vocal demands over the years by a worried French public for more information and clarity concerning their effects. The result of those concerns was the commissioning of a government research report, the results of which were released today.

The report, a copy of which was procured by French daily Le Figaro, was drawn up by experts from Afsset, the state-sponsored body which monitors environmental and workplace health risks. It notably concludes that there is no justification at this time for lowering emission levels.

Begun in August 2007, the report nevertheless recommends that supplementary scientific and sociological monitoring studies be carried out in the future.

Afsset’s conclusions, which concern radio, television, mobile phones and antennae emissions, include the affirmation that “Data currently available from experimental research does not indicate negative effects on health-related issues connected to radiofrequencies in either the short or long term....There remain questions concerning long-term effects, even though none of the biological mechanisms analyzed plead in favor of that {negative effects} hypothesis.”

The 500-page report is the combined result of on-the-ground research, an “exhaustive” study of available scientific literature and studies on the subject, and the targeted emission evaluation of a certain number of mobile phone masts.

On the subject of public concern about the masts, the studies revealed that people are not only worried about health risks, but that they are also dissatisfied with the quality and reliability of government information on them as well as the motivations behind government policies on their installation.

“That partially explains why the installation of mobile phone masts is now a vector of public concern, whereas in fact exposition to the radiofrequencies that they generate actually results in much lower emission levels than those emitted whilst using a mobile phone itself” the report states.

Maximum mobile phone mast emission levels in France are the same as those adopted by many countries, which are all generally defined according to the standards defined by the ICNIRP, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

Initial press and public reaction in France to the report is mixed and predictable, with local anti-mast associations and national pressure groups calling it a predictably biased compromise in favor of the telephone industry, and scientific circles generally preferring a more neutral, if slightly circumspect, approach.