Subject:  (Philip)Roger Coghill case, EMF news from UK (fwd)
Date:     Wed, 18 Nov 1998 083838 -0600 (CST)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To:       emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------


.......Many thanks to Alasdair for this report.....Looks like the
NRPB in the U.K. is as industry/governmentally corrupt as the NCRP
in the U.S......The wonder of it all (to me) is that the "press"
is so reluctant to report (or even research) on these stories.....
If the "public" press is not going to see to the health and safety
needs of the people, who else is there????.....guru......

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 13:04:44
From: Alasdair Philips 
To: "Roy L. Beavers" 
Subject: Roger Coghill case, EMF news from UK (fwd)

Although we lost the action (I thought we would) we also won a great and
enlightening victory. The case against the mobile phone supplier under the
Consumer Protection Act was found ‘not proven’ as the man had listened to
Roger’s evidence and then asked the NRPB, Trading Standards and the
Federation of Communication Suppliers, all of whom said that there was no
firm evidence against phones and therefore no need to attach warning
labels. Also he claimed he did not know of any customers who had been made
ill by using a mobile phone in over ten years of trading. Their costs were
awarded to be paid out of central funds and the Chairman of the Bench (=
judge) stated that they had NOT ruled about the need, or not, for warning
labels, but just on the case against Mr Morgan under the 1987 C.P.Act.

The great and enlightening victory was in getting the UK NRPB into the dock
and showing them up as apparently incompetent and untrustworthy. 

My evidence quoted from their own documents showing that they actually
admitted that there are many EMF bioeffects “which may have health
implications” but that they were not prepared to communicate these concerns
to the public until they had “firm and conclusive proof”  that the effects
were real. This is unacceptable under the Precautionary Principle which the
UK has accepted to apply in environmental issues - initial warning action
should occur long before final proof of cause is known. 

Our Barrister (Hugo Charlton) cross examined Alastair McKinlay, the Head of
the NRPB NonIonising Department for almost three hours and made him look
very small. From issuing his Evidence, which was very pompous, he was shown
to have not published anything in the peer-reviewed literature on
electromagnetic fields and health other than a couple on light and editing
the EU Expert Group Report which asked for 26M ECU ( over $30M USD) for
more research. This is the first time that anyone has succeeded in getting
the NRPB into Court under Oath.
 
Epidemiology (the study of the health of people in the community) is
apparently not enough on its own for the NRPB to publicly admit that there
might be adverse health problems from EMFs. We produced 53 peer-reviewed
scientific papers showing human, animal and cellular EMF bioeffects and Dr
Alastair McKinlay refused to even comment on them as he “did not understand
any biology or human health medical issues and was therefore unable to
comment”. Even when the Chairman of the Bench (=Judge) pushed him for a
personal comment he still refused! This is the man who is Head of the
NRPB’s Non-Ionising Department who frame the regulations regarding
acceptable EMF human exposure levels! He is also the Chairman of the
European Expert Group on possible Mobile-Phone Adverse Health Effects!

Most of the UK publicity was positive for our cause as they reported the
first day in detail (our evidence) while, because we "lost", only a few
bothered to print anything much about the second and final day with the
Judgement.

Richard Branson ('Virgin' group of companies)has just announced he has
advised all his staff only to use mobiles with hands-free kits or shielded.
This made front page Sunday Business headlines this week.

So we may have lost a skirmish but have strategically moved forward I believe.
Good wishes to all EMF-L people,

Alasdair

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alasdair Philips    (aphilips@gn.apc.org)
Director, UK Powerwatch,
EMC Engineer and EMF-bioeffects researcher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html