EU moves to counter invisible radiation threat

Date: 05/11/1998

By Renée Cordes

UNION governments are expected to approve new measures to protect citizens from cancer and other health risks caused by invisible radiation emitted by electric power lines, mobile phones and computers.

The European Commission, which will present a progress report on its recommendations for Union-wide limits on electromagnetic radiation to EU health ministers next Thursday (12 November), hopes the regulation will be formally adopted by next March or April. "Every citizen in Europe should be protected equally," said an Austrian health ministry official. "This has to be done on a European level rather than have a mixture of measures in member states."

Vienna argues, however, that member states should be allowed to impose more stringent national restrictions.

While EU health ministers are expected to support Union-wide restrictions, they will have to wait for a report by the European Parliament before taking an official position. "I think that most member states are in favour of this," said a Danish official, noting that restrictions vary widely across the Union. "We hope that the German presidency next year will put this on the table."

The move has been welcomed by consumer groups. "There is mounting scientific evidence that there is a cancer risk from electromagnetic fields," said Joanna Dober, a spokeswoman for the European consumer organisation BEUC. "It is timely and probably way overdue for the Council of Ministers to act on this."

But she questioned whether the Commission would have the power to ensure industry complied with Europe-wide standards.

Dober added that eventually, as technology advances, firms would be forced to consider safety factors as part of their product development costs. "Maybe that is part of the solution," she said.