Science and Politics of Base Station Electromagnetic Field Risks

Abstract

The current science-based approach to ensuring public safety from RF-EMF base stations is described, and a potential misframing of the debate as a purely scientific issue, which in turn led to inappropriate risk communication exercises, is pointed to. Plausibly, this polarised and charged the situation by disenfranchising other potentially legitimate siting concerns. While the primary health recommendation remains unchanged, namely, to follow the guidelines set by the science-based ICNIRP and IEEE expert groups, and to limit the ICNIRP 2020 and IEEE 95.12019 power density exposure level for general-public: between 400 – 2000 MHz fMHz/200 (W/m2) and 10 (W/m2) above 2000 MHz, other legitimate concerns should not be disregarded.