In its booklet on radiation risk and VDTs from 2002, the BC Centre for Disease Control continues to specifically admonish VDT users not to “purchase electromagnetic shields or any other radiation protective devices” for their VDT. I find this rather peculiar since—already back in 1990— the European Union issued a directive on the minimum requirements for VDTs that clearly states that “all radiation with the exception of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum shall be reduced to negligible levels from the point of view of the protection of workers’ safety and health.”

This difference in approaches motivated me to create a science-based resource guide for low-emission office environments in English. In contrast to the common risk assessment practice of applying safety factors to observed or estimated no observed adverse effect levels derived by establishing thermal threshold values, I chose to start out with the background levels of non-ionizing radiation in nature, to document what actual exposure levels across various frequency bands are found in office environments today, and to look at technically achievable options of how to minimize emission levels of common office equipment.

Options to Minimize EMF/RF/Static Field Exposures in Office Environments
http://www.buildingbiology.ca/healthyoffice.php
http://www.buildingbiology.ca/pdf/2008_low_emr_office_environments.pdf

Here are some highlights of my resource guide:

* Detailed exposure data for cordless/mobile phones (p. 39-43), VDTs/CPUs (p. 49-50), wireless area networks (p. 44-46), artificial lighting (p. 54-57), etc.;

* Science-based recommendations for exposure minimization strategies for a broad range of office equipment including EMF, RF, static field exposures (p. 39-66);

* English summary of EMF sanitary regulation for computers issued by the chief medical officer of Russia since 2003 (p. 114-115);

* Extensive tables of exposure limits from around the world, showing the entire range of occupational, general public, precautionary threshold values complete with references (p. 81-95);

* An annotated bibliography of less well-known studies on health effects associated with electromagnetic exposures in office environments (p. 96-107).


I welcome feedback.

With best regards,

Katharina Gustavs
Building Biology Environmental Consultant (IBN)
Translator English/German (STIBC)
http://www.buildingbiology.ca



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