Skip to main content
Normal View

Telecommunications Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004

Wednesday, 29 September 2004

Questions (496)

Tony Gregory

Question:

678 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if there is evidence of harmful effects from radiation emitted from telecommunications masts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22831/04]

View answer

Written answers

My Department maintains a watching scientific brief on health issues relating to electromagnetic energy, including those related to mobile phones and base stations. As part of that watching brief, Ireland is a member of a number of relevant international bodies which collectively conduct and evaluate research into this area.

My Department is unaware of any national or international health advisory authority which has declared or even suggested that the radio signals from phone mast antennae are a hazard to health.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, states explicitly in its Phone Mast Fact Sheet No. 193 — http://www.who.int/docstore/peh-mf/publications/factspress/efact/efs193.html — that radiofrequency fields around such masts are not considered a health risk. This view is supported by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, ICNIFP, and by the European Council of Health Ministers in its recommendation of July 1999 concerning limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Top
Share