Resolution on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields (EMFs)
European Parliament/ Legislative Observatory, 2 April 2009
The European Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 22, with 8 abstentions, a resolution on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
The resolution recalls that wireless technology (mobile phones, Wi-Fi/WiMAX, Bluetooth, DECT landline telephones) emits EMFs that may have adverse effects on human health. Most European citizens, especially young people aged from 10 to 20, use a mobile phone, while there are continuing uncertainties about the possible health risks, particularly to young people whose brains are still developing.
The dispute within the scientific community regarding the potential health risks arising from EMFs has intensified since 12 July 1999, when exposure limits for fields in the 0 Hz to 300 GHz range were laid down in Recommendation 1999/519/EC. Among the scientific projects arousing both interest and controversy is the Interphone epidemiological study, financed by an EU contribution of EUR 3.8 million, primarily under the Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the findings of which have been awaited since 2006. The purpose is to establish whether there is a link between use of mobile phones and certain types of cancer, including brain, auditory nerve, and parotid gland tumours.
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