The Austrian Parliament asks for evaluation of 5G and health – do not hold your breath

post updated with information from Prof. Mosgoeller, see at the end…

Recently, telecompaper has informed that:

“Austrian parliament commissions study on 5G health effects

Friday 9 August 2019 | 09:40 CET | News

The Austrian parliament has commissioned a study into the health effects of 5G networks due to concerns among the public the new generation of mobile services could pose risks from increased radiation exposure. 

The Advisory Council on Technology Assessment of the Austrian Parliament has decided to obtain expertise in the field and appointed a consortium of the Institute for Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Institute of Technology to conduct a study. The research institutes already provide the parliament with scientific advice on many topics. 

The study is expected to be ready by January 2020, providing an overview of the latest research on the topic. The report will be published on the parliament’s website.”

At first, the reader of these news might be encouraged by seeing that the Austrian Parliament addresses concerns about the potential health risks of exposures to 5G-emitted radiation.

However, as always, the “devil is in the details”.

Reading description of this project, available on the website of the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, provides the proverbial “bucket of cold water”.

It appears that the “evaluation” will likely be nothing new but recap of the existing mantra:

“…In a first step, an inventory of current expert opinions of international aggregators such as the WHO and exemplary national committees will be compiled. These are presented in such a way that the respective areas of validity (which mobile communication generation etc.) are identified. In a second step, the corresponding meta-studies of these internationally recognized and scientifically high-ranking committees on the health consequences of EMF will be summarized taking into account different levels of evidence (verification, evidence, hypotheses, ambiguous findings, gaps in knowledge).…”

This means that the “new analysis” will just reanalyze what “WHO and exemplary national committees” already said. Interestingly, the description does not mention ICNIRP, the most powerful influencer that one would expect to be singled out as an “exemplary” committee. After all, the mentioned WHO is “the front” for the ICNIRP opinions.

In summary, it seems that the “Austrian Parliament’s enterprise” will be nothing new. No new analysis of the science on 5G radiation and health. Just re-packaging of the same old ICNIRP-mantra.

Update based on information from Prof. Mosgoeller

The overview of the project presented above indeed does not mention any specific organization besides the WHO. However, in the workpackages of the project, there is a more detailed description of what organizations are considered as “exemplary national committees” or “internationally recognized and scientifically high-ranking committees“. These include the same old “culprits”: ICNIRP, SCENIHR, BfS and the already defunct AGNIR.

Here is the translation from the project’s workpackage:

In a first step, an inventory of (i) current opinions of international aggregators like the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) of the EU, the UN Health Organization WHO or the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICN IRP); (ii) exemplary national opinions, such as of German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), the former Advisory Group on Non-Ionizing Radiation (AGNIR) of the UK Health Protection Agency or the Austrian Scientific Advisory Board Radio (WBF), created.”

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3 thoughts on “The Austrian Parliament asks for evaluation of 5G and health – do not hold your breath

  1. Hi Dariusz,
    Nothing new. There is not a single hint of interest to investigate the 5G exposure issues that need to be explored.
    Q.

  2. Wilhelm,

    How can I find the project description in detail? The overview of the project that I quoted in my post has no any further links to detailed description of the workpackages. As you can see, the overview description does not mention ICNIRP or SCENIHR…

    Your screenshot did not upload to comment… Better to send just the link.

    Dariusz

  3. Hi Darius

    Thank you for the Post on the Austrian Parliament, I totally agree with.

    What a bizare project to further aggregate foul institutional aggregates, call this “scientific” and expect the people to then accept the roll out of 5G in their neighborhood.

    You mention in your blogg that ICNIRP is NOT in the assembly of aggregators (as they call it)? In the offer I have seen that ICNIRP is mentioned. Please see below

    Wilhelm Mosgoeller

    Her comes the translation from the “adapted quote” of the project team ( below: screenshot of the german original, with my yellow marks):

    Arbeitspaket/Workpackage 2

    State of knowledge on health consequences high frequency electromagnetic fields as used in mobile telefony In this work package, the state of knowledge on health related effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF), as in use with mobile communications is elaborated. In a first step, an inventory of (i) current opinions of international aggregators like the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) of the EU, the UN Health Organization WHO or the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICN IRP); (ii) exemplary national opinions, such as of German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), the former Advisory Group on Non-Ionizing Radiation (AGNIR) of the UK Health Protection Agency or the Austrian Scientific Advisory Board Radio (WBF), created. These will be presented with the  respective validity ranges (which mobile generation, etc.) it reflects.

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