The MTHR management committee also announced a third call for research proposals,specifically in two areas where they identified a need for more study.

PsychoSocial Studies

MTHR identified the following areas as those it considers to be of highest priority and relevance to this research program:

1.The impact of adopting a precautionary approach to the management of potential mobile phone health risks on the risk perception and behaviour of groups and/or individuals.

2.The evaluation of efforts to communicate information about potential mobile phone health risks.

Volunteer Studies: General and Special Populations

MTHR identified the following areas of highest priority and relevance:

1. A preliminary study to define the inclusion and exclusion criteria for members of volunteer and control groups in a provocation study.The volunteer group would consist of individuals who attribute symptoms of acute ill health to their exposure to emissions from base stations.

2. A provocation study investigating the basis of symptoms attributed by the volunteer group,as defined in the above investigation,to their exposure to base station emissions.

Detailed specifications are available on line at www.mthr.org.uk/mobile

Lawrence Challis

AT MTHR, WHO SUPPORTS BASE STATION EPIDEMIOLOGY

Britain's Royal Society was the setting of a Mobile Telecommunications Health Research (MTHR)meeting on Nov.11/12 in London.The seminar was intended to update participants on the progress of the MTHR program and other matters related to the U.K.government's research agenda on possible health effects of mobile phones and related technology, organizers said.

After an introduction by Sir William Stewart,chair of the MTHR management committee, eight speakers briefly summarized their institutions, mobile telecommunications health or biological effects research programs, or perspective on research. Clemens Dasenbrock of Fraunhofer ITA,Hannover,Germany,summarized European Union-sponsored Research into possible health effects; Mays Swicord, Motorola Research Laboratories,talked about ways that industry can contribute to research agenda-setting;Guglielmo d 'Inzeo of the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy,,spoke on research activities there, and Kjell Hansson Mild,Institute for Working Life, Umeå, summarize research in Sweden.

Also,summaries were delivered by Gerd Freidrich of FGF, Germany; Donald Cameron, National Health and Medical Reserach Council of Australia; Bernard Veyret,University of Bordeaux,France,and Maila Hietanen,Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

For the World Health Organization (WHO)International EMF Project, Geneva, Leeka Kheifets reviewed the WHO definition of health, a factor distinguishing the organization's approach to EMF policy from that of other groups.WHO asserts that health is not simply the absence of disease, but that it includes each individual's sense of well being. This may make life difficult for those of us who like a hard outcome, Kheifets said, but it leaves us with the question of what do we do with people's concern.

One answer,she suggested,is that despite the fact that some scientists feel epidemiologic investigation of possible health effects from RF exposure from mobile telephone base stations is not feasible or necessary, Kheifets submitted that the research will be done because it may answer many citizens' urgent questions. So the question is not whether to do it, Kheifets said it's how to make it better.

Kheifets urged governments and the scientists in the room to design studies to assess risk from mobile telephone use among children and to begin seriously discussing the implications of adopting the Precautionary Principle (PP) with regard to mobile telecommunications. She announced a WHO-sponsored workshop in February 2003 in Luxembourg to be devoted to discussing the principle. Items for discussion will be when to invoke the PP, how to apply it in a consistent manner, what burden of proof and strength of evidence are needed,how to make the remedy proportional to the risk, how to make the policy open to review,and the importance of supporting the PP with a cost-benefit analyses.

http://www.bioelectromagnetics.org/newsletter/news169.pdf?PHPSESSID=ea27b3adf76e453737d3439c8a8ef68a

Informant: elektrosmognews, Germany

BBC News / Wednesday, 18 December, 2002, 17:58 GMT

Mr Chips or Microchips?

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: 'Mr Chips or Microchips?' was broadcast on Thursday, 26 December 2002 at 8.30 pm.

Computers have been hailed as the transformers of education, a dazzling technology that changes the whole nature of learning, reduces the burdens on teachers and equips everyone for the modern economy.

Yet disturbing evidence is emerging that computers may harm, rather than help, educational progress. There is still much debate among even the most enthusiastic supporters of high technology about how computers can best be used.

In Mr Chips or Microchips? Frances Cairncross talks to leading experts on both sides of the Atlantic, including Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT, Yasmin Valli of Leeds Metropolitan University and Robin Reynolds of the UK government's education agency BECTA.

She examines what computerised education means in practice, and how it relates to traditional educational priorities in numeracy and literacy.

She hears how computers used imaginatively can help special groups succeed where more conventional education fails them.

But hears of classroom problems when internet surfing runs wild, and how, despite the hype, traditional educational skills are more important than ever if we are to make the most of new technology.

Presenter: Frances Cairncross
Producer: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Nicola Meyrick

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/analysis/2587965.stm

Dear friends,

Pakistan is joining us:

helo
i m male from pakistan, like to join u i appriciate your step to ward electronic polution. i like to get information from u and supply to every one in my countrywaiting your reply thanks

iqbal

Hi Klaus: So you came to the rescue immediately and set up exactly what we, electrosensitives, needed in record time. Well done and a big thank you! And what more appropriate matrix could we have than one named THE IDEALIST! Also love your mission statement posted there.
Best, Imelda, Cork

Re: Hi Imelda, its open for all under:
http://www.idealist.org/en/ip/idealist/MessageBoard/Viewer/default?SID=217eb6f58b2549e4c7575da25bc93606
&MESSAGE_BOARD_ID=345