Wireless radiation safety hearing criticized
Expert panel from Royal Society of Canada reviewing updates to Health Canada guidelines
CBC News Posted: Oct 28, 2013 4:36 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 28, 2013 4:36 PM ET
An expert panel reviewing updates to Canadian safety guidelines for wireless devices heard from members of the public at a hearingMonday, including a group that accuses Health Canada of interfering with the process.
“I think the process is fundamentally flawed,” said Frank Clegg, CEO of Canadians for Safe Technology, at a news conference Monday, after addressing an expert panel of the Royal Society of Canada at an all-day public hearing in Ottawa.
The Royal Society’s expert panel is reviewing recent updates to Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 guidelines at the government’s request to ensure that they protect the public from the potential health effects of radio waves from wireless devices such as smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi routers and cellphone towers
Aside from the public hearing this week, the expert panel will be largely relying on the scientific literature when recommending to Health Canada whether changes should be made to Safety Code 6, said Royal Society spokesman Russel MacDonald. It will also be accepting written comments until the end of the week.
Health Canada accused of interference
Clegg, former president of Microsoft Canada, was among 35 people scheduled to speak in person or by videoconference at the public hearing.
At the news conference, Clegg accused Health Canada of not being open and transparent about the review process. His group has posted online documentation from Health Canada that includes suggestions for what kinds of experts should be on the expert panel and a list of questions to be addressed in the report, which are blacked out in the copy released under the Access to Information Act.
“In my opinion, they prove that there’s interference,” he said. “They do not allow the Royal Society to truly work on their own, independently.”
His group wants Health Canada to adopt lower exposure limits for radio frequency, citing lower limits in countries such as Switzerland, Italy, France, China and Russia. The group is lobbying on behalf of people who say they are highly sensitive to radio waves. It is asking Health Canada to acknowledge that their “electrosensitivity” exists and put in place a process to “receive and respond to reports of adverse reactions” to wireless devices.
On a website about its previous review in 1999, the Royal Society noted that the use of wireless devices has increased dramatically. It added that while the radio frequency fields used for communications devices are typically very low, such fields “can be hazardous at sufficiently high exposure levels,” as shown by their ability to heat food in a microwave oven.
The code applies only to federal employees and federally operated devices, but is also used by Industry Canada as a basis for its licensing agreements with telecommunications providers.
According to Health Canada, the guidelines were first published in 1979. They were most recently revised in 1999, when they were previously reviewed by the Royal Society, and in 2009.
The public hearing had previously been scheduled for July. However, the Royal Society announced at the end of June that it would be postponed due to “a large outpouring of interest in this event.”
Around that time, the Royal Society had also confirmed it had received comments about potential conflicts of interest affecting several members of the expert panel, and in July, the chair of the panel Daniel Krewski, had stepped down amid the accusations.
In September, the society announced a new chair, Paul Demers, director of the Cancer Care Ontario’s Occupational Cancer Research Centre and scientific director of Carex Canada, a workplace and environmental carcinogen surveillance program based at the University of British Columbia. The society also announced two new members of the panel to replace members who had left due to “family reasons and academic commitments.”
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From Marg Friesen:
It is time for Health Minister Rona Ambrose to reboot the whole process around updating Safety Code 6. The proceedings with the Royal Society Expert Panel should be put on hold.
the Hill TimesBy FRANK CLEGG |Health Canada is in the midst of a process to update Safety Code 6 (SC6). This obscure piece of regulation affects the health of every Canadian and is currently being corrupted by Health Canada. Here’s why:
Published: Monday, 11/04/2013 12:00 am EST
The government regulation is highly controversial and the Royal Society of Canada has been selected to review it, but Health Canada is interfering in the Royal Society’s independent review.
SC6 sets the upper limit for the radiation emitted from wireless devices. SC6 is the document that provincial governments depend on when placing smart meters on our residences and businesses and when installing Wi-Fi in our children’s schools.
Telecommunications companies use SC6 as the upper radiation limit in their placement of cell towers and antennae. SC6 dictates the limit for manufacturers of baby monitors, game consoles, tablets and other wireless devices. As we continue to expand the number of wireless devices we use and are exposed to and the length of time we use them, Safety Code 6 is a very critical limit. Canadians need to be able to trust it.
On Oct. 28, 2013, the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on Safety Code 6 held public consultations. The review of the expert panel is the next step in Health Canada’s latest update of Safety Code 6.
In addition, on Oct. 28, C4ST (Citizens for Safe Technology) published documents we feel prove that Health Canada is interfering with the independence of the expert panel and manipulating its findings. The documents, obtained under Access to Information, include a memo from Health Canada to the Royal Society, suggesting certain panel members be included in this “independent” review. They also show suggested questions the panel should ask. This makes the review far from “independent.”
On Oct. 28, the Royal Society heard submissions from individuals across Canada who have become debilitated by wireless radiation, but it may be a wasted effort.
Health Canada has kept secret the Royal Society’s mandate for this review. This “public” review of a “public” document to be held in a “public” process is being handled almost entirely in secret. Even the criterion by which Health Canada selects the science it relies on is not being made public. Its “weight of evidence” process which Health Canada continually claims allows government employees to dismiss scientific papers that show cellphones and other wireless devices cause harm, is also part of the running secret. Standard scientific practice is that the criteria for “weight of evidence” are published, now.
SC6 has not had any significant changes since the 1980s, before smart phones and tablets were even invented. SC6 is based on 6 minutes of exposure. Not only is average cell phone use far longer than six minutes, exposure to cell towers, smart meters and Wi-Fi is hours in length for days on end. SC6 does nothing to acknowledge the particular vulnerability of children. Studies show that while penetration into an adult skull from radiation is about 10 per cent, it reaches 70 per cent in a five-year-old child. China, Russia, Italy and Switzerland already have safety limits 100 times safer than Canada. As long as Safety Code 6 remains rooted in 1980, more Canadians will continue to develop headaches, nausea, vertigo, neurological disorders, and possibly according to the World Health Organization—cancer.
It is time for Health Minister Rona Ambrose to reboot the whole process around updating Safety Code 6. The proceedings with the Royal Society Expert Panel should be put on hold. The minister should instruct her department to run a proper evaluation that follows an open and transparent process of scientific research and evaluation based on international procedures. When the Royal Society is then engaged, give them the mandate and the resources to do a proper evaluation. Canadians deserve, and expect, no less.
Frank Clegg is CEO of Canadians for Safe Technology (C4ST) and corporate chairman of Navantis Inc.
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