StopUMTS.nl - A cricical view on the health aspects of mobile communication devices

July 12 2005: Some important pages on this website will be translated in English.
Please come back soon as this is a work in progress.

August 4th 2005: We've translated the following overview: Scientific research concerning human well-being and health in the vicinity of phone masts.
September 28th 2005: The reports/articles in PDF format for all epidemiological studies mentioned.

StopUMTS.nl was founded in May 2004 by a Computer Science student who got ill after living in an appartment with a GSM base station nearby. After a lot of research and investigating he decided to inform the people of the dangers of modern mobile communication base stations and other devices.

His main concern is the exposure limits which are way too high. In his appartment, where he developed heart arythmia problems, difficulties concentrating, sleepless nights, insomnia, tingling sensations, he meassured an exposure of "only" 1,200 uW/m2 (microWatts per square meter). In the Netherlands, the exposure limit for the general population is 10,000,000 uW/m2. Lots and lots of people are getting ill from high frequency pulsed electromagnetic radiation. From experience it is learned that levels as "low" as 200 uW/m2 up to 2,000 are enough to cause symptoms in many persons, overtime making them more and more sensitive. When the exposure has been long enough sensitivity seems to increase and even levels as low as 10 uW/m2, or even 1 uW/m2 can cause symptoms.

Which mobile communication techniques
The mobile phone techniques which seem to cause the most problems are those that emit high frequency electromagnetic radion, using a pulsed modulation. This means that the stream of radio signals is interrupted regularly, rendering the radiation much like a continuous flow of bullets from an automatic rifle, constantly firing, 24 hours a day. Please note: It's of no use to compare these modern communication techniques to older techniques like those used in television and radio masts. These emit a signal which is not pulsed and cause less biological effects.

The studies
Please note: The linked PDF files are still in Dutch, so please browse down to the references.
To my shock and amazement, a thorough search in the PubMed medical study database on the internet revealed that each and every epidemiological study with regards to the health effects of mobile communication base stations shows that a negative effect on the health and well-being is concluded when persons are living nearby base stations for modern mobile communication (GSM and alike).

Furthermore, I discovered that only two provocation studies (with humans) could be found alltogether.
The list of epidemiologic and provocative studies can be found here:
Scientific research concerning human well-being and health in the vicinity of phone masts.
September 28th 2005: The reports/articles in PDF format for all epidemiological studies mentioned.

There are also many more studies, of which some show effects and some seem to show no effect. In the newspapers, the studies that show no effects are cited, supposedly proving that exposure to high frequency electromagnetic radiation is entirely safe. This ofcourse is a misconception. All these studies (often financed by the mobile phone industry) show is that the specific parameters tested in these studies remain unchanged (at least statistically significant) during short exposure to radiation. These studies can be compared to a study in which some people should inhale some asbestos fibres and 30 minutes later it is assessed whether or not the persons have developed melanomas (tumors).
It is the long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation with pulsed modulation which should be studied. Studies using Short-term exposure won't reveal anything. It doesn't make sense to study how to get rid of moles in your yard of short-term exposure when in effect almost the entire population is exposed to radiation 24 hours per day, year after year.

Interestingly, a relatively large percentage of the short-term exposure and in-vitro (laboratorium studies using petri dishes) studies do show effects. A large compilation of studies can be found (in Dutch) on: Studies showing health effects.

Growing resistance in the Netherlands
A growing amount of municipalities, organisations and citizens in The Netherlands resists the roll out of the 3G (UMTS) network for mobile telephone communications. They want clarity about the negative effects of the electromagnetic radiation on health and well-being. Read on.
July 2005, 10 municipalities and November 2005, 40 municipalities are actively blocking the roll-out of UMTS base stations.

Big expectations w.r.t. the Swiss follow-up study
Lots of people are anxiously waiting for the replication study (no true replication because many parameters were changed) of the 2003 TNO COFAM study. The 2003 COFAM study showed negative health effects in people exposed to low levels (less than 1% of the exposure limit) radiation from UMTS base stations. The Health Counsil (Gezondheidsraad) actively helped design this study, but when in the end the results showed negative effects, which was not among their expectations, they rapidly decided that the study was not "scientific" enough (a study they themselves designed), so it should be ignored. They adviced that a replication study should be performed. After a long delay (stalling is my interpretation), two years later, end of 2005, we can expect the results of the Swiss follow-up study.
There is even more delay, as the peer review takes quite some time. Estimate is that the results will be disclassified by February 2006.
This study, done in Switzerland, is financed for 40% by Swisscom Mobile, Orange and Sunrise. The remaining 60% if financed by the Dutch and Swiss government (among which economic affairs). All of these have benefits when the radiation is shown to be safe, so we can expect to see some bias one or another way.
Hence, we shouldn't expect too much from it. All this study will reveal is whether health effects will ensue after only 30 minutes of exposure. If no ill effects are found, this doesn't prove anything (refer to asbestos example). Furthermore, the scientists which are performing this study have warned in a press release that whatever is the result of the study, no policy decisions can be made based on this study, because it only studies short-time exposure and it won't reveal anything about long-term exposure.

Creating an international network
We are currently investigating ways to convince governments and organisations to stronlgy reduce maximum exposure limits. These limits are currently 10,000,000 (10 million) microWatts per square meter for UMTS, but will need to be reduced to a maximum of 10 uW/m2 and only 1 uW/m2 in the bedrooms, i.e. the exposures where no ill effects can be recorded no more. As a result of this, the current wireless technologies like DECT wireless phones and WiFi and WLan networks should be banned. New technologies should be developed, which use very low emissions of radiation, use non-pulsed modulation and don't emit 24 hours per day.

We should try to coordinate our efforts internationally, such that we can have the best results. Please press the button below to send us an e-mail. We are also trying to find protest groups in Japan and Asia in general, so please let us know.