Frans van Velden comments on Michael Repacholi’s statement
From Frans van Velden MSc, The Hague, The Netherlands
July 9, 2005
Open letter to the World Health Organization.
WHO should recognize and investigate the reported cases of microwave sickness and electrohypersensitivity (EHS), should advise governments to take care of victims and to take precautionary environmental measurements to prevent the increase of these conditions.
Re: e-mail by Dr. Michael Repacholi, July 7, 2005,
Repacholi (*) writes that the WHO tries to achieve the assessment of science. He is absolutely wrong. According to the Constitution of the WHO, the objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health (a state of well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity). Find the Constitution here:
It is a shame that Repacholi refuses the input of groups and individuals reporting microwave sickness and electrohypersensitivity (EHS). It is a shame that Repacholi accuses people not to believe in the scientific method for resolving problems. As for precaution, it is not the EMF Project (coordinator Repacholi) to redefine the concept (‘if individuals are concerned, they might choose …’). The precautionary principle has been defined by the Conference of Rio in 1992 and consolidated in a.o. article 174 of the EC Treaty. It says clearly that preventive action should be taken by the community to protect human health. There is no need for a hundred percent assessment of science. Available scientific data are just part of what has to be taken into account. The protection of human health is the first concern of the WHO.
It is hard to believe that Repacholi met many people suffering from microwave sickness and EHS. “I know how much it affects people and that the symptoms are real”, he writes. Nevertheless he refuses, against the Constitution of the WHO, against the international law based on the Rio Declaration, against the European Treaty, against the objective of science and even against the reason of the EMF Project, to recognize and investigate the causal relationship between radiofrequency radiation, EMF and the reported symptoms. Even when expert scientists confirm the biological effects of low-level radiofrequency radiation, write that the radiation (possibly with co-factors) could cause complaints and conclude that there could be a group of people who experience negative health effects (Report of the J?lich Institute, May 9, 2005, ordered by T-Mobile, pages 41, E7 and F-28).
Moreover, Repacholi does not answer the questions of Louis Slesin in ‘Time to stop the WHO charade’,
The WHO has a high responsibility, since it acts as the international authority. Even a small health consequence from exposure to radiofrequency radiation could have a major impact on public health. From my own experience and from the many reports, a.o. to the Monitoring Network Health and Environment
Frans van Velden MSc
The Hague
The Netherlands
July 9, 2005
(*) Dr. Michael Repacholi is the coordinator of the Radiation and Environmental Unit (RAD), of which the EMF Project is part of the program. The RAD is part of the department of Protection of the Human Environment (PHE), which is in the cluster on Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments (SDE).