About this Publication on Electromagnetic Fields

1. Source for this Publication
   
2. The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)
   
3. Background on the SCENIHR opinion on electromagnetic fields
   
4. Specific questions asked by the European Commission to the SCENIHR
   

1. Source for this Publication

The texts quoted in Level 3 are directly sourced from  "Health Effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)", an opinion produced in 2009 by the SCENIHR (Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks) of the European Commission.

Levels 1 & 2 were written by the GreenFacts editorial team in collaboration with the DG Health and Consumers of the European Commission.

This publication is produced by GreenFacts under a contract from the DG Health and Consumers of the European Commission.

2. The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)

The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks is one of three independent non-food scientific committees that advise the European Commission on matters of consumer safety, public health and the environment.

The committee was set up in 2004 to provide the European Commission with scientific advice on emerging and newly identified risks. It replaced the Scientific Committee on Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (SCMPMD). SCENIHR addresses broad, complex or multidisciplinary issues requiring a comprehensive assessment of risks to consumer safety or public health. It also answers questions on related issues not covered by other community risk-assessment bodies.

Potential risks addressed by the committee include antimicrobial resistance, new technologies such as nanotechnology, medical devices, tissue engineering, blood products, fertility reduction, cancer of endocrine organs, noise and electromagnetic fields

For further information on the SCENIHR see:
https://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/04_scenihr_en.htm 

3. Background on the SCENIHR opinion on electromagnetic fields

The  "Health Effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)", was adopted by the SCENIHR on 19 January 2009 and is an update of the 2007 SCENIHR opinion on electromagnetic fields entitled:
  "Possible effects of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) on Human Health"

As part of its mandate, the SCENIHR is asked to continuously monitor new information that may influence the assessment of risks to human health in this area and to provide regular updates on the scientific evidence base to the Commission. Consequently, the SCENIHR was asked by the European Commission to examine all newly available information published after its own scientific opinion in March 2007.

4. Specific questions asked by the European Commission to the SCENIHR

In its Opinion on the  "Health Effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)", the SCENIHR was asked by the European Commission to:

• update the SCENIHR opinion of 21 March 2007 in the light of newly available information.
• provide a methodological framework and corresponding guidelines to evaluate available scientific evidence in order to ensure the best possible quality for risk assessment, using as its starting point the relevant sections of its previous scientific opinion on EMF.