September 22, 2004... A Swiss research team will attempt to replicate a Dutch study which showed that exposure to very weak (1 V/m) 3G mobile phone radiation had a negative effect on a subject’s feeling of well-being. The Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication, based in Zurich, has awarded a team led by Peter Achermann of the University of Zurich €485,000 (approx. $600,000) to repeat the study at both 1 V/m and 10 V/m. Niels Kuster of IT’IS, also in Zurich, and Martin Röösli of the University of Bern will be collaborating with Achermann. The replication effort is scheduled to be completed by next September.

 

September 22, 2004... The radiation protection agencies in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have issued a joint statement agreeing that “[T]here is no scientific evidence for any adverse health effects from mobile telecommunications systems, neither from base stations nor from headsets below the [ICNIRP exposure limits].” Even so, the agencies go on to endorse a policy of “prudent avoidance,” stating that, “The existing gaps and the prevailing scientific uncertainty justify a certain precautionary attitude regarding the use of handsets for mobile telephony. ” Specifically, the Nordic authorities “find it wise to use...a hands-free kit that reduces exposure to the head significantly.” They further recommend that, “It is important that parents inform young people and children about how to reduce the exposure from mobile phones.”

 

September 21, 2004... The U.S. Navy has announced that, on September 30, it will close down its Project ELF transmitter, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The transmitter, which consists of a 56-mile antenna on Michigan’s upper penninsula and a 28-mile antenna in nothern Wisconsin, operates at 72-80 Hz with a peak power in excess of 2 million watts, is used to communicate with submerged submarines. Over the years, it has been the scene of countless protests and the subject of a number of lawsuits. Twenty years ago, after a federal judge forced the navy to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman Jr, who would later become a member of the National 9/11 Commission, declared that the “ELF system is essential to the national defense” (see MWN, Mr84). The transmitter became fully operational in October 1989. When it was first proposed in 1968 —under the rubric Project Sanguine— the navy planned to bury the antenna; it would have covered an area of 21,000 square miles and used 500 million watts of power. A year later, in the first of many desigh changes, it was scaled back to 21,500 square miles and 30 million watts of which, according to one estimate, only 30 watts would have actually been radiated.

 

September 15, 2004... Children with Leukemia, a U.K. charity based in London, is inviting applications for its new £1 million (approx. $1.80 million) research fund. The emphasis is on causes and prevention. The deadline for “outline applications” is October 29, 2004, with full proposals due on February 18, 2005. Winners will be notified on 2 April 2005. An announcement appears in the September 9 issue of Nature. For more information, write to research@leukaemia.org. At its International Scientific Conference on Childhood Leukemia, held in London, September 6-10, six young researchers (under 30) were each awarded grants of £15,000 (approx. $27,000) for their poster presentations.




© Copyright Microwave News 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.