Contrary to claims to be aired this evening on Channel 7’s Today Tonight, there is no credible scientific evidence of health effects from living or working near a mobile phone base station.

Comprehensive reviews of over 2500 research publications, including more than 600 studies specifically on mobile phones and base stations, by governments and health authorities continue, without exception, to find there is no substantiated scientific evidence of health effects.

In fact, the World Health Organisation’s fact sheet states:

Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.

Today Tonight’s promotion for the show says: “Mobile phone towers: the tests that reveal just how dangerous these menaces are.” The reporter told AMTA when putting the story together that strict science-based safety standards governing the operation of mobile phone base stations in Australia were obsolete because they failed to take into account biological or non-thermal changes caused by radio frequency electromagnetic energy.

A recent report from the BioInitiative working group claimed that the RF safety standards should be lowered because they had failed to take into account non-thermal effects and “some studies and many anecdotal reports” had found ill health as the result of radiofrequency radiation. The health effects included sleep disruption, impairment to memory and concentration, fatigue, headache and skin disorders.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said the claim that the Australian safety standard does not address non-thermal effects is simply wrong because the process for setting the standard considered both thermal and non-thermal effects.

Importantly, the evaluation of scientific literature failed to establish any convincing non-thermal effects on which to base an exposure standard.

A summary of the research reviewed by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency into biological effects at non-thermal levels can be found at: http://www.arpansa.gov.au/pubs/rps/rps3_abstra01.pdf

“It’s worth noting the standard incorporates a substantial safety margin as a precautionary measure. Also, any suggestion the BioInitiative report represents scientific research is misleading, as the ‘report’ is a review of selective research that was published on the internet and not in a recognised scientific journal for peer review,” he said.

In fact, the Health Council of the Netherlands recently reviewed the BioInitiative report and found:

In view of the way the BioInitiative report was compiled, the selective use of scientific data and the other shortcomings mentioned above, the Committee concludes that the BioInitiative report is not an objective and balanced reflection of the current state of scientific knowledge.

Mr Althaus said the mobile phone industry acknowledges that some people are genuinely concerned and we are committed to addressing these concerns responsibly through active community and local government consultation.

“It is very important that the issue of mobile base stations and radio frequency emissions be put into perspective. A nationwide study conducted by the Federal Health Department found mobile phone base stations contributed two percent of radio frequency emissions in the community, while radio and TV broadcasts contributed to 98 percent,” he said.

A study conducted by Dr Emilie Van Deventer, the Director of the World Health Organisation’s International EMF project, confirmed this finding:

In fact, for similar RF exposure intensities (W/m2), the body absorbs about 5 times more of the RF energy from FM radio and TV frequencies (around 100 MHz) than from base station frequencies (around 1-2 GHz). It is reassuring to note that radio and TV broadcast stations have been in operation for more that 50 years, and health statistics have not demonstrated adverse health consequences.

Mr Althaus said if Today Tonight has any new evidence which it claims shows a link between mobile phone base stations and health effects it should make it available to independent scientific experts and have it assessed.