For Official Use Only
Electromagnetic Energy Reference Group
Summary of the Meeting Held on 25 May 2017
The Electromagnetic Energy Reference Group (EMERG) met on 25 May 2017 at ARPANSA’s Melbourne office. EMERG comprises representatives from the community and industry as well as representatives from relevant government agencies and academic organisations.
EMERG working groups
The Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) Working Group (WG) attempted to produce a report to EMERG advising on strategies to improve understanding and better communication on EHS issues. Total consensus was not reached however the WG agreed that there is a need to engage with the medical community in order to raise awareness on EHS. ARPANSA will engage with the Department of Health to identify a way forward on an engagement strategy with the medical community.
The EME Report Revision WG has produced a suggested new version of ARPANSA’s environmental EME report (previously revised in 2014),which has been shortened and now includes a map representation. The suggested version of the EME report will be reviewed by ARPANSA’s Communications team and industry will test the feasibility of the map inclusion.
Business arising from the meeting of 25 May 2017
The current EMERG membership has been extended for another term, which will end in June 2020.
ARPANSA has suggested two new deliverables for the next EMERG Action Plan covering July 2017-June 2018: (1) EMERG to provide feedback on ARPANSA’s new website; and (2) EMERG to review/comment on an engagement strategy to raise awareness of EHS in the medical community. The Action Plan 2017/18 will be finalised out-of-session before the next EMERG meeting.
ARPANSA has published the findings of the ARPANSA Wi-Fi in Schools Measurement Study in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. ARPANSA will respond formally to a community member’s letter to the editor of the journal which provides critical review of the study. ARPANSA is planning to conduct further Wi-Fi measurements in Castle Hill High School.
EMERG was updated on the status of the WHO Fundamentals project –its finalisation will await the publication of ICNIRP’s philosophy statement which is expected in the near future. ARPANSA will enquire on when the full draft report of the WHO’s environmental health criteria (EHC) will be open for public consultation.
General business
EMERG was updated on the EME Funding issue. Concerns were raised on whether the current arrangement via the NHMRC processes could sustain continued research in this area. The targeted call for research (TCR) appears to be a possible solution available via the NHMRC process to award funding for EME research. However it should be noted that this is a one-time call for targeted research and cannot be used annually to award EME research funds and therefore cannot be a long term solution. ARPANSA was tasked to investigate the history of submissions on a senate enquiry in 2000 related to EME that should describe the old NHMRC EME funding process. It was also agreed that relevant government agencies would discuss this matter further after the meeting.
ARPANSA has published an EME research agenda as an interim solution to identifying priority research needs for Australia, since the WHO’s 2010 research agenda has become dated (the ARPANSA EME research agenda can be found here NHMRC is supportive of working with ARPANSA to ensure that the updated research agenda is used to assess the eligibility of applications for EME funding and to ensure that the most pressing EME research issues are being addressed through the EME funding.
A community member gave a presentation on his view of the historical perspective and the current knowledge of the biological effects of radiofrequency EME. Another community member presented her concerns on thethoroughness and accuracyof ARPANSA’s technical report TR164 “Review of Radiofrequency Health Effects Research – Scientific Literature 2000-2012”. ARPANSA will respond to the criticisms of TR164 out-of-session.
Next meeting
The next meeting is planned for October 2017.
Electromagnetic Energy Reference Group25 May 2017Meeting Summary
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