Mobile Phone Masts Health Study
A new laboratory to study whether mobile phone masts have adverse effects on human health will be officially opened at the University of Essex next week.
The Electromagnetics and Health (EMH) Laboratory will be used for the largest study of its kind into the impact of electromagnetic fields as emitted by mobile phone masts, including the new 3G masts.
The electrically-screened laboratory will be opened on Monday 29 November by Sir William Stewart FRS FRSE, who chaired the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones.
The £328,000 two-year research project, led by the Department of Psychology at the University, is being funded by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme.
Professor Elaine Fox, who is leading the project, said: 'Mobile phone technology and usage continues to develop, and it is vital that research into potential health risks keeps pace. Our new laboratory at Essex is equipped to play an important role in understanding the effects of the electromagnetic fields generated by mobile-phone base stations on human health.'
The research team has already surveyed 20,000 people in Essex and Suffolk to find out what proportion reported sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, and to establish key symptoms of this sensitivity.
The EMH Laboratory, provided by the National Physics Laboratory, will now be used to test 132 electromagnetic hypersensitivity sufferers and 132 control participants. They will alternately be exposed to electromagnetic signals from conventional mobile phone base stations, from 3G masts, and to no signals at all, and be asked to note down any symptoms they experience.
The new laboratory will provide a highly controlled environment to eliminate other sources of radiation, and participants will be tested on four separate occasions. Special software provided by Cellular Design Services Ltd will ensure neither the experimenter nor the participant know when the base station is switched on or off, and will select the different orders in which participants are exposed to the signals.
Source: press release
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