Will the Minister confirm what the most up to date research available to Welsh Government is regarding electromagnetic field sensitivity and electromagnetic hypersensitivity and, in light of the next generation of 5G, how the Welsh Government has considered this research?
The Welsh Government is advised by Public Health England’s Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards (PHE-CRCE) in relation to the protection of communities from radiation hazards, which includes electromagnetic radiation produced by various technologies such as 5G. The Welsh Government retains the services of PHE-CRCE in an advisory capacity because of its level of expertise and breadth of remit, and because it gives greater weight to documents that use rigorous review processes and base its advice on the entire range of scientific information available.
PHE-CRCE’s main advice in relation to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) is that the guidelines from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) on limiting exposures to EMFs should be adopted, and that there is no consistent evidence that exposures below these guidelines result in adverse health effects for the general population. PHE-CRCE considers that on the basis of current scientific information, exposures from mobile phones, wi-fi and related technologies satisfy international guidelines and there is no consistent evidence of health effects from radiofrequency exposures below guideline levels. They concur with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “backgrounder” document on Electrical Sensitivity (EHS) that ‘EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link EHS symptoms to EMF exposure. Further, EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem’.
PHE-CRCE keeps emerging scientific studies worldwide under review. PHE-CRCE publishes comprehensive reviews of the scientific evidence relevant to radio wave exposures and health from time to time and is committed to keeping its advice under review and to updating its advice should new evidence dictate that is necessary. Should its position change in future, it will advise the Welsh Government accordingly.
PHE-CRCE has provided the Welsh Government with its position statement on 5G technology and its fact sheet on EMFs, (which includes links to the WHO’s ‘backgrounder’ document quoted above) which are attached.