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1. Conflict of interest is a problem which afflicts many walks of life,
not least in science. It is disappointing to learn that Dr Mike
Repacholi, head of the WHO EMF (i.e. electric and magnetic fields) unit
until this June, and chief architect of the draft WHO Framework for
precaution on EMFs, has used the same WHO draft in legal testimony for
the Connecticut Light and Power Company in USA in October. I and others
had felt that the emerging draft Framework was too dismissive,
especially of effects other than childhood leukaemia, and played into
the hands of the power companies. See APPENDIX B.
2. Lennart Hardell, in a paper "Secret Ties to Industry and Conflicting
Interests in Cancer Research" in the American Journal of Industrial
Medicine, accepted 17 May 2006, reveals other important cases of
undisclosed or conflicting interests, including Richard Doll, late
chairman of the NRPB Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation. Hardell's
paper refers to many others in the literature of conflicts of interest
in scientific advice and risk assessment.
3. Denis Henshaw and I are raising these concerns in the SAGE group,
which is trying to finalise its report into precaution for EMFs. It is a
struggle when so many automatically defer to established bodies like WHO
without troubling to read the science for themselves, especially when
the probity of those established bodies is so dubious. See also item 7
below.
4. Yet another Energy Minister! Now Alasdair Darling, demoted from
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, replaces Malcolm Wicks. An
early statement favouring local generation appears in APPENDIX A.
5. Snips from news@all-energy 75 and 76 are at APPENDIX A.
6. Country Guardian, the UK umbrella group for objectors to wind farms
has just issued its newsletter Open View number 49. Country Guardian
maintains an excellent "red book" of all UK wind farm proposals and
their states of application, approval or rejection. They also publish a
comprehensive resource, The Case Against Windfarms, updated in 2006 by
Dr John Etherington, which can be downloaded from
.
7. It now looks likely that the long-awaited SAGE report could be
published by Christmas. The Review and Completion Task Group (RCTG) has
been busy in October and November and has made some progress. The Main
Group is to consider a final draft on 12th December. The draft (now
Version 6) presents a wide range of agreement, at least in RCTG, with
some unresolved key issues dealt with in parallel sections. This is
probably as far as SAGE can get, so it would not be helpful to carry on
trying to agree everything. I will be able to report more after 12th
December.
*****
*****
APPENDIX A Snips from news@all-energy 75 of mid-November 2006.
2.10.Government seeks boost for local energy
A radical shift away from large centralised power production to
community based 'locally grown' energy could help cut carbon emissions
and improve efficiency said Alistair Darling
4.3.Bid to overhaul Europe's grid
Italy's prime minister has said Europe needs a central power authority
to prevent the kind of blackouts that recently left swathes of West
Europe without energy
4.4.Ofgem's sustainable development report
Energy regulator Ofgem has kick-started a debate on its first annual
report on sustainable development in the energy sector
4.5.ENA gives evidence to HoC
Energy Networks Association gave evidence to the House of Commons Trade
& Industry Select Committee inquiry into local generation with a clear
message that the network operators know what needs to be done to
accommodate a range of generation choices and that this mixture can be
achieved technically given the necessary planning time and appropriate
incentives
and from issue 76 of late November:
3.3.Support for super-grid scheme
SNP leader Alex Salmond won heavyweight backing for his vision of a
giant North Sea grid feeding power from renewable sources round the
Scottish and Norwegian coast to industrial centres in Europe
3.6.National Grid's plans
National Grid plans to spend £9bn on its British electricity and gas
networks in the five years to March 2011, which will increase the
company's UK assets by 40pc..... Much of the extra investment is needed
to enable RE projects to be connected to the network.
3.8.Impact of RE on power grids
With a $1.23m grant, researchers from the USA's Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute will be creating a distributed power "test-bed" to study how
the electricity distribution grid might be affected by the
widespread adoption of clean, RE sources
*****
*****
APPENDIX B Note on the WHO/Repacholi affair from Microwave News.
Dear Colleagues:
It's now official. Just months after leaving his post as the head of the
EMF project at the World Health Organization (WHO), Mike Repacholi is in
business as an industry consultant.
The Connecticut Light and Power Co. (CL&P), a subsidiary of Northeast
Utilities, and the United Illuminating Co. (UI) have hired Repacholi to
help steer the Connecticut Siting Council away from a strict EMF
exposure standard. The two utilities commissioned Repacholi to prepare
detailed comments to support a 100 mG level proposed by Peter Valberg of
the Gradient Corp. and to rebut the state Department of Public Health
(DPH), which is seeking a much tougher approach.
Repacholi's filing has been criticized for citing and at times,
misrepresenting, as-yet unreleased WHO reports for the benefit of his
corporate clients. Some see this as a continuation of his activities at
the WHO, where Repacholi was often accused of favoring the mobile phone
and electric utility industries at the expense of public health.
Others see Repacholi's consulting work as the closing of a circle.
Industry provided financial support for the EMF project and Repacholi is
now using the materials he prepared at the WHO with industry money to
support their policy positions.
In addition, new information has emerged indicating that the WHO EMF
project has been receiving much more industry support than previously
acknowledged.
Read the complete Microwave News story at:
*****
*****
--
Mike O'Carroll