The pulsed microwave electromagnetic fields used by mobile phones, cordless phones, Wi-Fi devices and microwave ovens are essentially the same, operating at around 900 or 1,800 megaHertz frequency. Here is a handy chart from Powerwatch UK to show you how much radiation different ‘microwave’ gadgets emit.

Device                                                              Exposure
(Volts per metre)

Mobile phone held next to head                           10.0-150.0
Mobile phone mast at 150 metres                          0.5-2.0
Bluetooth device at 50cm                                      0.3-0.7
DECT cordless telephone held next to head    10.0-80.0
DECT base unit at 0.5 metres                             0.5-2.0
DECT base unit at 3.0 metres                             0.2-0.4
Wi-Fi laptop on lap                                                  1.5
Wi-Fi router at 0.5 metres                                        1.2
Wi-Fi router at 5.0 metres                                     0.2-0.4
Digital baby monitor at one metre                          0.3-2.0

The UK Government claims to have taken a precautionary approach in this matter but its maximum safe exposure levels for 1800 megaHertz (microwave) electromagnetic fields are nearly a hundred times higher than the 0.6V/m ‘precautionary principle’ ceiling recommended by Austria’s 1998 Salzburg Resolution and nearly fifty times higher than the 1.2 - 2.5V/m limits adopted in Paris.

Recommended maximum safe exposure to 1800 MHz fields

Country V/m

Britain                                                 58
USA (FCC)                                          61
Belgium                                               21
Switzerland                                           6
Lichtenstein                                          6
Luxembourg                                          6
Russia                                                  6
Italy                                                      6
Paris                                                1-2-2.5
EU-Parliament GSM (2001)                   0.2
Austria 2002 ...
Salzburg GSM outside houses              0.06
Salzburg GSM inside houses                0.02
Germany 1999 ...
Burgerforum waking areas                     0.02
Burgerforum sleeping areas                   0.002

If ‘volts per metre’ were expressed as ‘miles per hour’ to give a clearer idea of the health risk they represent, and took the Austrian ‘outside houses’ recommendation of 0.6 Volts/metre as the equivalent of ’30 miles per hour in a built up area’, the UK Government’s safe exposure recommendation of 58 Volts/m would be the equivalent of 2,847mph, and be better described as “reckless” rather than “precautionary”!

Exposure from Phone Masts and Base Stations
At ground level the radiation from a 15-metre mobile phone mast is strongest at a distance of about 100 metres. It reduces exponentially, reaching zero at around 300 metres. The same data for a 30 metre mast are 200 metres and 800 metres.

According to UK Health Protection Agency (Radiation Protection Division) figures, many of the mobile phone ‘base stations’* expose the public to microwave fields as strong as five volts per metre (5V/m), and a few to even higher fields. Using the same ‘safe miles per hour’ analogy, this indicates that many town dwellers are being continually exposed to risks equivalent to cars driving at around 250mph in a built up area.

* base stations - the signal boosters attached to (e.g.) walls and lamp posts which pick up and amplify the signals from mobile phone masts outside a town and relay them on within the town