Warning on the use of Cell phones and Wi- Fi

The European Council has prepared a report where it warns people about the use of mobile phones and wireless nets (wi-fi) due to their harmful effects in kids’ and babies’ health. A committee has prepared a guide that includes the prohibition of these kind of technologies in European colleges and schools, among other proposals. The studies about the effects to the exposure to electromagnetic signals are contradictory. The World Health Organization has assured that they don’t mean a risk for people, but the European Counseil has pushed an investigation where it is stated that danger exists and points towards the youngsters as the most vulnerable part of the population. The alarming data have been obtained by the European Agency of Environment (AEMA), which assures that it exists a risk for health as a result to the exposure to electromagnetic fields. The European Council has quoted this agency studies to justify its fears in a report named ‘The potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment’. Upon the AEMA, there are enough signs or scientific levels of evidence of harmful biologic effects, enough to invoke the application of the precaution principle and effective measures, preventive and urgent”, explains the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs Committee. The european organism assures that “ there are enough proofs of the potentially harmful effects of electromagnetic fields on fauna, flora and human health”. Because of that, the European Council finds it necessary “to react and to be protected against the health and environmental potentially serious risks”. In this sense, the Council quotes some studies that indicate that the emissions can induce cancer and could affect the developing brains of the youngest. For this reason, it will propose to the states that are members that they take measures regarding the use of mobile phones and wireless nets. Among the proposed measures there are the prohibition of the use of mobile phones and wireless nets in infantile schools and colleges. The Council considers this measure to be a prevention and protection action for the youngest. In addition to the prohibition of these technologies in the schools, it has been recommended that new limits are set in the level of exposition to the waves emitted by mobile equipments. The Council has also included among its proposals a labelling system for the devices where there is a warning about the existence of electromagnetic emission. To complete the information “campaigns of specific information directed to the teachers, parents and kids to warn them about the specific risks of the early, careless and extended use of the mobile phones and other devices that emit microwaves” are also proposed. New information plans for the population and new investigations on the consequences of these technologies are other proposals of the continental organism, that aims to raise people’s awareness about the consequences of the exposure to these type of emissions. The European Council can’t force the states that are members to comply with these measures, but their proposals are normally well received and their advices are usually followed. Translation: Marc Simón Barcelona España