Examination of Witnesses (Questions 800-804)
MR BERNHARD
JANSEN AND
MR JOSÉ
RAMON BIOSCA
DE SAGASTUY
11 MAY 2006
Q800 Chairman: Would you
accept that there is considerable criticism of ICNIRP's research
which formulated that guidance? I am not saying whether you agree
or disagree with it but you would accept that there is real concern
about it?
Mr Biosca de Sagastuy:
No, this is not true.
Q801 Chairman: That is
not true.
Mr Biosca de Sagastuy:
The ICNIRP guidelines are not contested anywhere in the world.
They are the world authority in this field.
Q802 Chairman: So WHO
and ICNIRP is really the basis on which this Directive has been
put forward, that is the evidence base.
Mr Biosca de Sagastuy:
Yes. This is in line with the American, Canadian, Australian and
Japanese standards because everyone in the world follows ICNIRP.
Q803 Chairman: I am glad
you have said that because America does not have any of the proposed
restrictions which Europe, the European Commission, is putting
in place, so how do you explain that?
Mr Biosca de Sagastuy:
Yes, it has by means of standards. There are the IEEE standards.
Q804 Chairman: They are
significantly lower than you are presenting.
Mr Biosca de Sagastuy:
No. I will tell you why. They follow the same basic restrictions
as ICNIRP but expressed in a different way, they set what they
call the maximum permissible exposure. They set it at magnitudes
which are already measurable. For instance, absorption of energy
into the body is expressed in watts per kilo. Using a model of
the body you can derive the physical magnitudes that will make
the body absorb this type of energy, if you like a field of strength.
What the IEEE does is expressing the maximum permissible exposures
in terms of fields of strength. Where the two differ is not in
the maximum permissible exposure in the whole range of frequencies
but they do on some transitional points. The IEEE uses one model
of the body and ICNIRP uses another. What ICNIRP does is to interpolate
between two frequencies where the IEEE calculates following the
model established. There is very little difference.
Chairman: On that note,
we have come to the end of our session. Can I thank you very much
indeed, Mr Jansen and Mr Biosca. Thank you for your patience with
us. We will, of course, let you have a transcript of today's session.
Thank you very much indeed.
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