ACEBR: An honest Wi-Fi research effort in Australia, or just another spin to protect Telstra’s interests?
September 25, 2013 in -Mailing List, Corporate influence on Science, Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity by EMFacts
As a result of a recent workers compensation case in Australia (CSIRO scientist Dr Alexander McDonald) Dr. Rodney Croft from the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute is to head a research effort on the possible health effects of exposure to Wi-Fi (more on this announcement below). On the surface of it, Dr. Croft seems well qualified to head the research, after all he was the head of the now defunct Australian Centre for Research Bioeffects Research (ACRBR), the research body that tried so hard not to find any problems with cell phone use – in partnership with Telstra of course. Now the old ACRBR has been reincarnated , this time with a new name, the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (ACEBR) still headed by Rodney Croft of cource. On 27 November 2013 Croft will be introducing ACEBR at the “ACEBR Science & Wireless 2013″ meeting, titled “Health & Future RF Technologies”. With a $2,498,842 grant from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) Dr. Croft has funding to last to 2017. Plenty of time to prove Wi-Fi emissions as well as smart meters are perfectly harmless and any reported effects are all imaginary – if history repeats itself.
From the ACRBR flyer for the 27 November event:
Following the successful ‘ACRBR’ Science and Wireless events of recent years, the newly formed Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (ACEBR) will be hosting Science & Wireless 2013 at RMIT University this November. The focus of this year’s event will be ‘Health and Future RF Technologies’, with an ACEBR presentation on new and emerging RF technologies and presentations by industry on 4th Generation Telecommunication and Smart Meter technologies…(my emphasis)
So, like its predecessor, does ACEBR have financial links with Telstra? Such a link would indicated a possible bias in its research findings, especially if those findings pose a financial risk to Telstra. After all, Telstra previously stated in the 2004 Telstra Annual Report, under the heading “Risk factors”, that “The establishment of a link between adverse health effects and electromagnetic energy (EME) could expose us to liability or negatively affect our operations”. For that reason, it should be common sense for the sake of good science that Telstra should have NO influence in such research.
Now, with the new corporate friendly federal government, Telstra looks set to take over the roll-out of the fibre optic National Broadband Network (NBN), to be headed by Former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski, who has significant investments in wireless technology. What is generally not known by the public is that even if you have fibre optic cable to your home, Telstra’s hardware in the home necessitates the use of a Telstra Wi-Fi modem that must always be on and transmitting 24/7 if you want to have a phone service at all (there are ways around this however). In other words Telstra has a HUGE financial interest in the NBN Wi-Fi network. The last thing Telstra wants is research finding Wi-Fi emissions can make people sick. God Forbid! So, Telstra will certainly be taking special interest in Croft’s Wi-Fi research effort.
Note that ACEBR’s Science & Wireless 2013 is to be held at RMIT University, the Chancellor of which just happens to be none other than Ziggy Switkowski. What a coincidence! Also note that at the bottom of the ACEBR’s Science & Wireless 2013 event it is stated that “ACEBR gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia and Telstra Corporation, which has enabled SW2013 to run”.
Will Dr. Croft conduct an impartial and objective Wi-Fi research effort or will he be out just to reinforce his strongly held beliefs that its all just a psychosomatic problem suffered by disturbed people? Recent statements show that Croft has not changed his viewpoint from his old ACRBR days. To quote from the below recent article:
“When you look at the distribution across most first world countries, you find it’s around about 3-to-8 percent of people [that] report quite significant health impairment due to this [condition]…. “It clearly is a big problem that needs to be dealt with, but the issue is what’s actually causing it?” … Like other researchers, Croft is trying to prove if there is any definitive link between the reported symptoms and exposure to radio frequencies. … “The research so far has shown that when people believe that they’re exposed, they will suffer a number of symptoms, but that’s regardless of whether there’s any radio frequency emissions on or not,” Croft said….”The standard view at the moment in science is that it looks like the health consequences are more related to the belief rather than the radiofrequency (RF) itself,” Croft said…. Diagnosis is a key challenge when it comes to IEI-EMF. “It’s really self-diagnosed,” Croft said. “The difficulty is that there’s no evidence that anyone is actually sensitive [to low-range electromagnetic frequency exposure].”
Croft can only say this by conveniently ignoring a huge body of peer reviewed and published research that shows otherwise. With such a blinkered viewpoint expressed by Croft is it any wonder why Telstra is so keen to keep Croft’s newly minted ACEBR on the road under the guise of it being a credible research effort? For Telstra’s viewpoint, this would be money well spent…..
Here’s what Croft, as Director of the old ACRBR, stated about mobile phone use on the ABC Lateline program on April 4, 2009:
“There really has been a lot of research done to date and the research has very clearly shown that there aren’t any effects. With children, I really don’t think there is any evidence suggesting that this might be a problem. There isn’t anything to suggest that we may have to be a little bit more cautious.”
To visually back up ACRBR’s dismissive viewpoint on children and cell phone use on the ACRBR web site was an animated GIF image that included images of children happily using cell phones.
And now Croft is going to research Wi-Fi allergies!
From itNews, Sep 10, 2013
Search for evidence gains momentum.
A little-reported workers’ compensation case is inviting fresh scrutiny over claimed allergies to wireless signals and other technology, which are thought to affect at least 3 percent of the Australian population.
Former CSIRO scientist Dr Alexander McDonald lodged a claim for workers’ compensation for the nausea, disorientation and headaches he suffered at work when exposed to equipment that emitted electromagnetic fields (EMF).
McDonald won the case on appeal in February this year; however, precious little has been said about whether or not it establishes a legal precedent for those suffering similar ailments.
Today, iTnews delves into the underlying issues.
For alleged sufferers, the case isn’t exactly a carte blanche legitimisation of the highly contentious condition known as idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF).
Though the ruling considers the evidence of a GP, several physicians, an occupational medicine specialist, a neurologist, a psychiatrist and a biophysicist, it leaves open the questions besetting the scientific and medical communities: are radio frequency emissions really making people sick, and if not, then what is?
Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute professor Rodney Croft is spearheading research to try and answer these types of questions.
SNIP
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