Thursday, August 02, 2012

Notice: Forthcoming IT’IS Foundation conference on EMF and Health


Notice: Forthcoming IT’IS Foundation conference on EMF and Health

From Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog:
MELBOURNE, Australia, July 25, 2012–In my previous column “In Experts We Trust”…or should we?” presented some of the problems associated with the groups providing reviews of science for the use by decision makers. Hopefully, it will trigger more open and diverse debate and help to better guide decision makers.
There is a forthcoming scientific meeting that has the potential to provide a balanced review of the scientific evidence on the impact of man-made electromagnetic fields on human health.
The conference will take place in October 2012 in Monte Verità (literally Mountain of Truth), located in Ascona in the Swiss canton of Ticino. In the past, Monte Verità served as the site of many different Utopian and cultural events. Today, Monte Verità is home to the ETH Zurich conference facility, Centro Stefano Franscini….
“The IT’IS Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society and its director Prof. Niels Kuster, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the Centro Stefano Franscini welcome you to the magnificent location of Monte Verità, in Ascona, Switzerland, for the 2012 “EMF Health Risk Research: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for the Future” workshop.
Snip
***************************************************************************************************************************
My comment:
Dariusz has more faith than I that this conference will be a balanced review of the scientific evidence.
The IT’Is foundation has had long standing ties to industry with Motorola and Nokia instrumental in it’s establishment in 1999. The foundation is closely associated with ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology with part of its focus being on new applications of wireless technology, including its use to support the disabled and for improved medical diagnosis.
In other words the It’IS foundation looks to me to have a potential conflict of interest when evaluating the science on possible hazards from wireless technology. It is a no-brainer that an organization promoting and developing new applications for wireless technology is not the best one to evaluate the science on possible hazards from that technology.
Will this conference be a balanced review or just another well orchestrated spin by those with a financial interest in developing wireless technology? Perhaps Monte Verità would be more appropriately named Monte Kreiseln….. Time will tell.
Don

No comments:

Post a Comment