EU regulation update: Most SCENIHR

members are not experts on EMF

The external committee has conflicts of interests
Mr. John Ryan, Acting Director, Public Health Directorate in the European
Commission wrote to UK activist and EM Radiation Research Trust manager, Eileen
O'Connor, on the 22.4.14 "I would like to stress that members of the SCENIHR are
experts in many disciplines (not only EMF) and the majority of them have no
publications in the EMF area. We are therefore confident that the SCENIHR will
adopt an unbiased opinion, as it did on many other scientific subjects".
Exceptions (those from the SCENIHR committee who are from the EMF field) are
Dr. Norbert Leitgeb from Austria, who was in the ICNIRP and Chair Dr. Theodoros
Samaras from Greece. Historical information about Dr. Leitgeb's general view can be
found on Microwave News. According to his view, mobile phone base stations studies
are a waste of time and money.
http://microwavenews.com/news/backissues/m-j03issue.pdf
http://microwavenews.com/news/backissues/n-d02issue.pdf
As for Dr. Theodoros Samaras, in his declarations of interests, he declared that in
2010 and 2102 he was a scientific advisor to Vodafone for the development of the
"Netpolis Game- Buildyour own mobile network"
This game is an "Interactive game for the Corporate Social Responsibility of
Vodafone, which allows people to build their own cellular network via the Internet.
The implementation of the Portal contains several advanced features, while Converge
has supported its dissemination in the form of a viral application in the Web."
http://www.converge.gr/digital/en/sectors/TELECOMS-MOBILE/Vodafone-
NetPolis-game-
The SCENIHR external committee declared conflicts of interests:
Dr. Maria Rosaria Scarfi, a member of *COST BM0704 declared connection to
Telecom Italia and CTIA (wireless industry).
Dr. Olga Zeni declared connection to Telecom Italia and CTIA.
Prof' Mats-Olof Mattsson (Chair of the working group until March 2013) declared
connection to TeliaSonera, Swedish mobile industry.
Dr. Zenon Sienkiewicz declared shares in British Telecom.
He is also member of ICNIRP and the government-industry research program
(MTHR)
Dr. G. James Rubin is a member of MTHR too.
Prof. Anssi Auvinen represents Finland in the COSMOS study. The Finnish part of
COSMOS is funded by the Finnish Agency for Technology and Innovation
(WIRECOM research program) and Yrj Jahnsson foundation. The WIRECOM
program received funding from Nokia, TeliaSonera and Elisa. He wrote in his
declaration to SCENIHR, that he receives funding from the Mobile Manufacturers
Forum.
Dr. Joachim Schz declared connection to Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
the US power industry research arm. He also declared that he was a management
committee member of *COST BM 0704, and an Interphone member. Microwave
News pointed out, that Dr. Schz is listed in Austrian mobile phone advisory group
that has received funding from the telecom companies, at this link towards the end
http://www.wbf.or.at/wbf-expertenforum/expertenforum-2009/expertenliste/
Dr. Schz is also in the industry- funded COSMOS study
http://www.thecosmosproject.org/partners.php
* IT'IS Foundation was appointed as the Grant Holder of COST Action BM0704
http://www.itis.ethz.ch/news-events/news/other-news/it-is-foundation-appointed-as-
the-grant-holder-of-cost-action-bm0704/
IT'IS foundation receives funding from the following industries:
Alcatel-Lucent, France
ARIB, Japan
Arizona Chemical, USA
Biotronik, Germany
Boston Scientific Corporation, USA
Cisco Systems, USA
Clarins Laboratories, France
CTIA, USA
Disney Research, USA
Ericsson, Sweden
GE Medical Systems, USA
GSM Association, Switzerland
Intel Corporation, USA
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), USA
Kaba, Switzerland
LG Electronics, Korea
Micro Systems Engineering, USA
Mitsubishi Electric, Japan
Motorola, USA
Nokia, Finland
Nokia Solutions and Networks, Finland
NTT DoCoMo, Japan
Panasonic, Japan
Philips Healthcare, Netherlands
Phonak Communications AG, Switzerland
Qualcomm Inc., USA
Sagem, France
Samsung, Korea
Siemens Healthcare, Germany
Sony Ericsson, Japan
Sorin S.A.S., France
Sunrise Communications AG, Switzerland
TCT Mobile & Alcatel Mobile Phones, France
Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Inc., USA
Vodafone, United Kingdom
http://www.itis.ethz.ch/who-we-are/funding/
Dr. Theodoros Samaras, SCENIHR Chair, is COST MB 0704 management
participant, too
http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/bmbs/Actions/BM0704?management
According to IT'IS website, Dr. Samaras is "a longterm friend and colleague of the
IT'IS foundation" http://www.itis.ethz.ch/news-events/news/awards/award-for-best-
scientific-paper-presented-by-a-student-at-bioem2013/
Mr. John Ryan wrote to Eileen O'Connor, that "as far as an alleged conflict of interest
of members of the SCENIHR and the working group on electromagnetic fields is
concerned, the Secretariat concluded that, based on the available declarations of
interest and further information provided by the experts, no facts were established
which would put into question the independence of Committee's members or of the
external experts involved in the preparation of the preliminary opinion on potential
health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields".
"Thank you for expressing your concerns about transparency and impartiality, which
are indeed among the guiding principles of the independent Scientific Committees.
The committees' high ethical standards attract leading scientists to volunteer their time
and energy with the aim of protecting public health, and those who are selected to
participate are carefully screened to ensure that they are indeed unbiased and free
from conflicting interests. I assure you that we take every care to safeguard the
committees' excellent reputation and work diligently and honorably for the public
good".

From Christine Aschermann:
Ombudsman opens investigation into Commission's
expert groups
The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has opened an investigation on her own
initiative into the composition and transparency of the Commission's expert groups.
As a first step, she is asking interested persons and organisations for feedback on how
balanced the representation of relevant areas of expertise and interest is in different
groups, how transparent the groups are and how well the application procedures work.
Emily O'Reilly explained: "The Commission relies heavily on the advice of hundreds
of expert groups to draw up legislation and policy, covering areas from tax and
banking services, to road safety and pharmaceuticals. It is of utmost importance for
these groups to be balanced and to work as transparently as possible so that the public
can trust and scrutinise their work."
Strategic use of own-initiative investigations
When Emily O'Reilly took office as European Ombudsman in October 2013, she
announced that she would use her own initiative power to investigate systemic
problems in the EU administration more strategically. To this end, she appointed an
internal co-ordinator for own-initiative inquiries. The expert groups investigation is
the first in a series of strategic own-initiative inquiries which will be opened during
the coming months.
With the help of the public consultation, the Ombudsman will investigate which
expert groups may lack a balanced representation of interests, whether the
appointment of members "in a personal capacity" is problematic and whether expert
groups work as transparently as possible. The invitation to the public consultation is
available here:
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/correspondence.faces/en/54300/html.boo
kmark
Specific investigation into expert groups for common agricultural policy
The Commission (DG AGRI) is currently setting up 14 "civil dialogue groups" which
will serve as advisory bodies for the common agricultural policy. More than a third of
the EU's budget goes into this crucial policy area. The Ombudsman has therefore
opened an investigation into the composition of these groups to guarantee a balanced
representation of the wide range of economic and non-economic interest groups. You
can find the opening letter for this specific investigation here:
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/correspondence.faces/en/54297/html.boo
kmark
The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the
EU institutions and bodies. Any EU citizen, resident, or an enterprise or association in
a Member State, can lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman offers
a fast, flexible, and free means of solving problems with the EU administration. For
more information: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu
For press inquiries: Ms Gundi Gadesmann, Deputy Head of the Communication Unit,
tel.: +32 2 284 26 09, Twitter @EUombudsman
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_EO-14-12_en.htm