Belgium leads the way in combatting EMF

Belgium is known for many things; waffles, chocolate, beer and the Smurfs.  Three out of four can’t be bad!

But they are also leading the way in Europe in the initiative to combat EMF radiation from mobile phones.

Didier Bellens, president of Begacom, Belgium's largest mobile phone company, has banned WiFi technology on the 27th floor of the company's skyscraper, occupied by management. He also asks people to phone him on his landline rather than his mobile.

In a meeting with schoolchildren, in December this year, he spoke to them about the dangers of using mobiles to access the Internet. He explains that GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is dangerous - (Sudpresse - 25/11/2011), a threat to health. He continues "During the day, it is better to use a headset because the GSM, it heats. The waves are dangerous. At night, it is better to shut it off. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, you should also turn it off."

And now Belgium has also banned the sale of mobile phones specifically designed for young children up to the age of 7.

In February 2013, the Belgian Public Health Minister, Laurette Onkelinx announced that mobile phones sale to under 7s will be banned in shops and on the Internet, because of the dangers of radiation. The 2012 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization (WHO) considers that RF exposure (such as from mobile phones) is "possibly carcinogenic for humans". "If a risk exists, protection is necessary," declared Laurette Onkelinx, to RTBF. This is her initiative, along with that of her colleague in charge of consumer protection, Johan Vande Lanotte.

It is not easy to see how this will be enforced, as the sales will obviously be made to adults, and will only remove the phones that are being sold especially aimed at the very young end of the market. Adults will still be able to buy phones for the under 7s.

Adverts during children's programmes on TV, radio and the Internet will be banned. This is a practical possibility, and could easily be done in other countries.

Research shows that in Belgium two out of three children under 10 years have a mobile phone. At 12 years they nearly all have one.

The Minister for Health has also announced the drafting, between now and the end of the year, of another legislative measure aimed at rendering obligatory the sale of a headset with mobile phones.

Now if only the rest of Europe would follow suit!

I'm still not sure about the Smurfs though?

Sources

http://www.emfields.org/news/20130307-mobile-phones-children-banned-belgium.asp

http://www.emfields.org/news/20130125-belgium-danger-mobile.asp