Subject:  Progress!! French news on GSM and powerlines (Anon).
Date:     Sun, 03 Sep 2000 141659 -0500
From:     Roy Beavers 
To:       guru 
--------------------------------------------------

..........From EMF-L.........

Following is from a news person in France.....  Real signs of progress!!
Some of you may be able to read the French press article that is linked 
below..........Cheerio (Thanks Jean-)......guru......

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: French news on GSM and powerlines
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 19:46:30 +0200
From: Jean-
To: roy@emfguru.com

Hi Roy !

Editing of the film is almost finished. Final cut on September 16th. Airing
in January or February 2001 (sigh).

Interesting article in the new (September) issue of Sciences et Avenir, one
of the main French popular science magazines, creating a bit of a stir in
France... Title "100 000 French people heavily exposed"... about GSM
antenna exposure measurements. The magazine hired a well respected expert
to make measurements in Paris and suburbs appartments, under or near GSM
antennas. Turns out  actual values are at least 1O times what is usually
claimed by French telephone companies. I.e. instead of 0.5 V/m, as claimed,
we usually get 5 to 10 V/m in rooms or terraces. Which is well under the
present French safety limits (41 V/m for 900 MHZ and 58 V/m for 1800 MHz)
but would be clearly outlawed by Russian, Italian or Swiss standards.
France Telecom experts say these measurements are "unbelievable"... The 7
page article also gives a well researched overview of current doubts and
controversies, Carlo and Stewart reports, non thermal effects, etc. Full
article (in French) at :
http://www.sciencesetavenir.com/techno/pg69.html

Also, this bit of news which actually has not been reported anywhere, not
even in the French press... On June 27th, 2000, a new law article was voted
by the French parliament, as a small discreet part inside a big new law
package on housing and urban development. The article is banning
construction of new houses or public buildings under power lines (of more
than 130 kiloVolts). Until now it was perfectly legal and a lot of local
battles are going on since 10 years - alas, the new law will not be
retroactive for existing polluted housings... Actually this law article had
already passed a few weeks earlier, with an unanimous vote (something very
rare in French politics !) at the Assemblee Nationale (Congress). Then EDF,
the national electric company, who was apparently taken by surprise, went
lobbying like mad and the law was overturned by the Senate. So a mixed
commission worked on it and the law finally passed with a slightly
modified, watered down phrasing. It seems that now the Prefets (local
governors) will have a word about what will or will not be authorized, and
we are still waiting for the "decrets d'application" for precise details
about permitted distances, etc. They should be issued in September or
October. Meanwhile, a group of rather "proactive" MP's from several parties
(left, right and green) is working on new global laws on EM safety and cell
phone antennas, to be discussed next year. It now seems possible that
France might eventually take the path of Switzerland and Italy...


Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com