EMR Network Mission Statement

We believe that electromagnetic radiation (EMR), which includes the extremely low frequencies (ELF), the radio frequencies (RF) and microwave (MW) radiation, may be hazardous to life and may constitute a significant threat to public health. This belief is based on credible research, spanning decades of scientific inquiry.

Our mission is to enhance local, regional, national, and international efforts to reduce, mitigate, and where possible, eliminate hazardous exposure to EMR.

We are committed to fostering the appropriate scientific research. Our charge is to educate the public, government officials and those in other scientific disciplines about the biological effects and environmental concerns associated with EMR.

The EMR Network was created to provide a forum for effective and balanced information for citizen-action groups, the media, municipal agents, government officials and scientists alike.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the EMR Network is:

• To educate the public, environmentalists, journalists, technical writers, government officials, scientists and clinicians about the body of research which exists on the biological effects of low-intensity, non-thermal exposures to non-ionizing radiation.
• To help citizens groups and municipal agents network among themselves regarding where this body of knowledge intersects with public health and local land-use regulations.
• To foster intelligent laws at the state and federal levels to adequately protect the public regarding exposures from low-intensity non-ionizing radiation.
• To reduce exposure levels of non-ionizing radiation to the public and EMR professionals to levels as-low-as-reasonably achievable - the "ALARA" principle.
• To mitigate unnecessary exposures from consumer products, such as cell phones, computers, microwave ovens, and the myriad 60-Hz technologies, to as low as reasonably achievable, through research, design and shielding modifications.
• To create and maintain a bridge between the scientific community, the public, and lawmakers regarding a full range of knowledge about non-thermal effects from non-ionizing radiation.
• To create and maintain the appropriate, unbiased, on-going research across a range of frequencies but with a particular emphasis on radiofrequency/microwave bands. (See "Research" below.)

Research

The EMR Network recognizes what some scientists have said for decades - that the military and allied RF industries have a strangle hold on the research. This creates conflicts of interest that do not always parallel the best interests of EMR professionals, independent research scientists, or citizens/consumers. Military/industry influence on governmental agencies has overly influenced everything from safety standards to consumer products and to the direction and funding of the research itself. It is because of this undue influence that the public trust has never been gained regarding the safety of radiofrquency/microwave exposures in particular. The same absence of public trust exists regarding ELF powerline frequency exposures as well.

It is the radiofrequency band of the spectrum that is increasing daily across the planet. It is the radiofrequency band that is of primary concern since the human anatomy absorbs it maximally. It is the radiofrequency band that has had the least amount of appropriate research concerning its bioeffects to humans and all other species alike. It is, therefore, the area that needs the most immediate research.

The EMR Network supports:

• A national research effort into the long-term, low-level, continuous exposures to RF/MW simulating real-life, real-time exposures.
• Research that is hazard focused.
• Research that originates from the biological sciences, rather than exclusively from the physics/engineering community.
• Research that is both basic and applied, including clinical, epidemiological, occupational and laboratory endeavors.
• Research that takes modulation, pulsing, digital characteristics, wave form, and other propagation characteristics into consideration.
• Research that is unbiased and focused at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and at the National Institutes of Health. It should not be allocated to the Department of Defense (DOD), or the DOD's research laboratories, nor housed at the Department of Energy (DOE). Efforts should, however, be made to refund the DOE's RAPID research program into the bioeffects of the ELF bands that have implications to RF - in that it is often modulated with such bands.
• Research that has access to the U.S. military's large database on EMR/RF/MW research, established over the last five decades at taxpayer expense. This will avoid useless, expensive duplication and will not have a negative impact on national security.
• Research that is spread among independent researchers in public universities and other programs where disclosure of findings is in the public domain.
• Research that is not subject to confidentiality clauses (unless it is to protect individual test-subject identities), or held in abeyance from publication for peer review.
• Research that is not subjected to risk comparisons with other common human activities as part of the peer-review process.
• Research that is not dependent on matching funds from industry.
• Research that investigates the effects on plants and animal species alike.
• Research that attempts to determine if the current exposure regulations are sufficient to protect the public health, and to determine if risks are being transferred to other species.
• Research that attempts to determine if increases in RF in the atmosphere are contributing to global warming and other atmospheric alterations.
• Research whose protocol formation and review committees have at least one representative with voting rights from citizen groups such as the EMR Network, and from the medical community representing public health.

The EMR Network reserves the right to alter any or all of these recommendations as scientific or legal understanding progresses, and new directions or emphases may be indicated.