AIRP asks ambassadors to protect 3 ELF-EMF microwave researchers

international | environment | news report Tuesday March 29, 2011 21:22 by getouttamyhead - Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection

Scientists harassed following testimony in Canada

To the great dismay of the very many people internationally who are working selflessly, to improve public health by urging governmental reconsideration of current obsolete national standards of permissible exposure to microwave radiation it appears that witnesses, including Prof. Olle Johansson, Sweden, Dr.. Annie Sasco, France, and Dr. Dimitris Panagopoulos, Greece have suffered academic persecution at least in part for having rendered great public service by testifying before the Canadian Parliament.

Jim Ronan, Swords, puts the “The Dublin Declaration on Research into Health Effects of Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Fields” in the letterbox of the Greek Embassy in Dublin. The embassy was closed Friday 25 March for Greek Independence Day.

Members of the Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection (AIRP) objections to the maltreatment of three scientists to the embassies of sweden, France, Greece and Canada.

Their objections stem from allegations that two world-class scientists have had their research facilities taken from them at the Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 in France and the University of Athens in Greece. A third scientist has been warned that he should surrender his premises for “personal development” reasons at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm which awards the world famous Nobel Prize.

Members of the alliance also distributed the “Dublin Declaration on Research into Health Effects of Non-ionizing Electromagnet Fields” which cites a lack of proper oversight into the proliferation of communications technology which uses low level electromagnetic microwave frequencies. The declaration notes that there are dangers associated with the technology. that researchers are being silences and demand that scientists be guaranteed freedom of speech and association to be able to distribute the findings of their work.

The current controversy began last year when Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) held a teleconference with world experts to discuss microwave technology and the explosion of cancer. Participating academics included Dr. Annie Sasco, Bordeaux University, Dr. Dimitris Panagopoulos, Greece, and Prof. Olle Johansson, Sweden. A fourth academc, Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, is retired following harassment at from Imperial College, London.

Dr. Johansson is a frequent visitor to Ireland, hosted by the Irish Doctors Environmental Association and at a public meeting in Leixlip to address resident concerns about the installation of Motorola’s Tetra communications system by An Garda Siochana. The system was purchased under direction of then Justice Minister Brian Lenihan before Motorola left Ireland. Prof. Johansson outlined the dangerous long term effects on human fertility due to exposure to microwaves. He gained prominence when he warned of the dangers faced by pregnant women using unprotected computer screens in the 1970s.

In Ireland the issue has not gained traction due, in part to entrepreneur Denis O’Brien’s interest in the country’s largest newspaper group, Independent Newspapers, and generous contributions to the human rights group, Amnesty International. In 1995, O'Brien set up and chaired the Esat Digifone consortium which successfully submitted a bid for the second Irish GSM mobile phone license. A brother of the former Justice Minister, Conor, also a member of the disgraced Fianna Fail government which was swept from power just weeks ago, also worked for O’Brien at Esat Digifone.

The three scientists at the centre of the controversy are Dr. Annie Sasco, Prof. Olle Johansson and Dr. Dimitris Panagopoulos. Dr. Sasco holds a Doctor of Public Health in the Field of Epidemiology degree from Harvard. Johansson is associate professor at the Experimental Dermatology Unit with the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute as well as serving as professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Dr. Panagopoulos is a post doctoral fellow with the Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics at the University of Athens.

The AIRP was formed two years ago following the visit to Ireland by Professor Johansson when he explained at a public meeting in Leixlip, Co. Kildare that microwave technology can have adverse effects on human fertility and other biological systems.

Explaining the reasons for distributing the Dublin Declaration to the four embassies, Con Colbert of the Irish Doctors Environmental said, “The microwave-based communications industry is one of the richest, most powerful economic groups in the world. We are not against their profits but there is a significant effect on human health. The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland predicts that one in two, half the Irish population, will have ‘some form of cancer’ by the year 2025. This is unprecedented. It is the most pressing health issue on the planet and the industry has been very successful in keeping the dangers away from the general public. Professor Johansson, Dr. Sasco and Dr. Panagopoulos have an important contribution to make. They should be supported, not silenced.”

Con Colbert, Raheny, and Jim Ronan, Swords, outside the offices of the Swedish Consulate General in Dublin. Mr. Paul Keane is the Honorary Consul General at the Consulate General of Sweden which operates from the offices of Reddy Charlton McKnight, Solici