The safety of mobile phones and base stations is an issue that the industry takes very seriously and it relies on the independent judgements of expert bodies, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), AMTA told listeners on ABC Radio North Coast this week.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, was responding to concerns from a doctor at Iluka on New South Wales’ North Coast about a proposal to build a base station.

The doctor, a practitioner of natural medicines, expressed concerns about health implications from the proposed mobile phone base station.

Mr Althaus said that the impact of radio frequency (RF) energy has been studied in great detail over the past 50 years with comprehensive reviews of more than 2500 research publications, including more than 600 studies specifically on mobile phones.

They continue to find that there is no substantiated scientific evidence of health effects from mobile phones or their base stations.

In response to concern about mobile phones and base stations, the WHO issued this statement about mobile phones and potential health consequences:

None of the recent reviews have concluded that exposure to the RF (radio frequency) fields from mobile phones and their base stations cause any adverse health consequences.

Mr Althaus said: “Mobile phone base stations are designed, built and tested to comply with strict science-based safety standards, which are recognized by national and international health agencies, including the WHO, as providing protection for all members of the community.

“People can be confident that there is no biological, medical, or statistical basis to assert a link between mobile phone base stations and health issues,” he said.

“The WHO has said there has been more research into radio frequency than for most chemicals.”

Mr Althaus pointed out to radio listeners that the body absorbs up to five times more of the signal from FM radio and television than from base stations and television and radio had been in operation for the past 50 years without any adverse health consequences