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Last night, 13^th of July, the Fine Gael/Labour Government senators proposed a motion on Mobile phone radiation.

The motion, given a two hour private members slot, was widely agreed upon by cross party consensus, but was neither effecting legislative effect, achieving form in a bill, or exacting any public policy changes.

This was soon called into question by Independent Senator Doctor John Crowne, an experienced oncology professional, who notes the weakness of the government proposals rather than debating a bill such as Senator Mark Daly’s proposals;

“Like my colleagues on this side of the House, I believe this is a non-controversial issue and the motion should be passed. If the Seanad is to have credibility as anything other than a talk­ing shop, we should have moved quickly to have this nuanced, minimalist legislation passed. If it is not to be passed, I urge the Government to introduce legislation to put an appropriately nuanced advisory warning on mobile phones and in the literature that goes with them to tell consumers that radiation is emitted by mobile phones and that it has not yet been completely established that it is safe.”

Senator Daly had proposed a bill concerning Radiation Warning labels for Mobile phones, a measure not of ‘talking shop’ politics of asking Ministers for further information, but rather proposing measures for legislative effect to be debated in the chamber.

“Fianna Fáil will be calling a vote on this motion. This is showman politics. We offered to introduce legislation into the House, which is where we are supposed to make laws. This motion is only following up on what an Oireachtas committee did, not in the previous Dáil but in the one before that, and which made all the recommendations the Senator proposes in the motion.

Our proposal, which the Government refused to take and debate, was for legislation. In­stead of talking and proposing that the Minister do something, our job here is to propose legisla­tion.”

The measures proposed by Senator Daly would place a warning label on Mobile Phone devices, actively informing consumers of the possible risks and carcinogens that have, as of yet, not been ruled out by any conclusive study or report, while the World Health organisation continues to classify mobile phone use in the ‘possibly carcinogenic’ category.

“The health service in Northern Ireland distributes leaflets advising that children should not use mobile phones. Mobile phone companies advise people to keep the phones an inch away from their heads. Lloyds of London refuses to in­sure any mobile phone company against litigation. The labour court in Italy has stated that a person’s brain tumour is most likely to have come from the long-term intense use of a mobile phone. However, today’s motion merely hopes the Minister might do something down the line”

“We proposed that the information the mobile phone companies provide anyway should be printed on the phone itself. I am not saying that people will stop using their phones, but I want everybody to be aware of what the phone companies are trying to make people aware of, but in a very low key way in the hope that people will not catch on to it”

Like the use of cigarettes over 42 years ago, the long term, inter-generational effects of heavy reliance on mobile phone technology has not been entirely assessed. As Doctor Crowne notes; “At this stage, we should say what we know - that mobile phones emit radiation and that radiation in the appropriate circumstances can cause health problems. The bare minimum posi­tion should be that a nuanced health warning should be put on mobile phones in order that when parents buy them for their children, they fully understand there is an implicit responsibility in giving such a phone to a child or teenager because there is a possible health risk and the appro­priate level of caution should be exercised”

While Senator Daly and Senator Crowne vouched for the precautionary principle as an active precautionary approach; “Fianna Fáil has a Bill ready to go that would do all that and make people aware. Once people have the information, they are quite entitled to do whatever they want” stated Senator Daly- while Fine Gael & Labour members maintained that calling for further information was the best option.

Meanwhile, the Minister attending the chamber read prepared remarks which outlined that there would be no legislation the issue “there are no plans at present to introduce further legislation in this area”, while at the end of the debate of the motion, having heard Senator Daly and Senator Crowne commenting on the need for legislative action, he agreed that there should be proposals put before the house like those of Senator Daly’s in his ‘Mobile phone radiation warning bill’, saying “It seems reasonable and right that we should follow the recommendation he made to me and I will try to progress the situation as much as I possibly can”.