This is the opinion expressed Thursday by the Academies of Science, Technology and Medicine.
Representatives of the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Technologies, the Academy of Medicine, Thursday, at a joint press conference, exceptional, said that "reduce the exposure to radio waves from antennae n 'is not scientifically justified'. The group of experts from the three academies on this subject unreservedly approves the conclusions of the scientific report of the French Agency for Environmental and Occupational Health Security (Afsset), published on October 15, 2009, which concluded in particular that no health risk linked to relay antennas had been identified.
For several years, a controversy has swelled over the risks of these antennas which are used to transmit electromagnetic waves from mobile phones. This controversy reached its peak in mid-2008 with the judicial conviction of Bouygues Telecom forcing it to withdraw a relay antenna located near homes in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, in the Rhône, on the grounds of "the anguish felt ”by neighboring families.
Divergences of appreciation
After this affair, an in-depth scientific expertise was launched under the leadership of Afsset, expertise made public on October 15, 2009. It was rather reassuring, believing that the electromagnetic fields of relay antennas "are neither genotoxic nor cogenotoxic, nor mutagenic, have no carcinogenic or co-carcinogenic effect, have no deleterious effect on the immune system, do not cause an increase in experimental cancers… ”. These conclusions were based on the analysis by more than a dozen experts of 97 studies, 86 of which showed no effects. Eleven other studies showed a biological effect. But according to the academicians, they were not reproduced and the effects were only observed with "exposure levels 5 to 000 times higher than those created by almost all of the relay antennas" .
Thursday, experts from the three academies regretted that Martin Guespereau, director of Afsset, did not insist during the public presentation of this report in October 2009 on reassuring aspects, but on the contrary on the eleven studies reporting " biological effects. The three academies point to the contradictions between the Afsset press release, which begins as follows: "The Afsset report highlights the existence of radio frequency effects on cellular functions reported by a dozen experimental studies considered by Afsset as incontestable ", and the report's conclusions:" No convincing evidence of a particular biological effect of radio frequencies is provided. To date, it emerges from this analysis that, in non-thermal conditions, radio frequencies above 400 MHz do not modify the major cellular functions ”.
“Our responsibility as scientists is to give the state of science. Then, the public authorities can possibly take measures which take into account the concerns of the population. But these measures must be carefully weighed because they increase concern and we then start in a terrible vicious circle, explained Professor Jean-François Bach, vice-president of the Academy of Sciences. What worried us in the presentation of the Afsset report was that we tried to get scientists to endorse political decisions. ” The representatives of the three academies believe that it is technically possible to reduce the exposure to relay antennas by multiplying them, but at the risk of increasing without justification the transmission power of the laptops of the approximately 85% of French people who use them. "Measures to reduce exposure can now only be a decision of political management, they emphasize, An unthinking reduction in exposure to relay antennas could lead to an opposite effect for the vast majority of French people, without health benefits for others. "
Afsset director responds
"The final recommendations that bridge the gap between research and decision have been approved by the experts," said Martin Guespereau, director of Afsset. “I am reproached for wanting to worry by first talking about the 11 studies showing biological effects before the 86 others which show nothing. Even if these are weak signals, they should not be hidden from the population, ”he considers. “The three Academies believe that nothing should be done. It's an opinion. ” He rejects accusations that the agency's recommendation to reduce the power of certain relay antennas is not included in the report. “I am very surprised by this attack. It's unworthy, ”he explains. He recalls that: “the twelve experts worked for a year to write the report. A summary note has been validated by a committee of specialized experts ”. Afsset did not reason in terms of average but considered that the power of the highest antennas should be reduced.
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