In October /November 2006, TNS Opinion & Social Network carried out a personal inquiry (face-to-face) on behalf of the European Commission in the 25 EU countries (EU25) about the topic „Electromagnetic Fields” (EMF). The complete report has been published in English in the Internet under http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_272a_en.pdf. Apart from Luxembourg and Malta, where 500 persons were interviewed, about 1000 persons were interviewed in each country. Altogether this amounted to 28,584 persons. In either part of Cyprus 500 persons were interviewed. The objective of the study was to find out if the EU citizens feel that their health is impaired by the potential risks of EMF and if they feel they are being protected from those risks by the authorities. Furthermore it was investigated in what way the population want to be informed about the danger and how the information quality and quantity about EMF is from the point of view of the interviewees.

Content of the study

In the first part of the inquiry the knowledge of EMF sources and their reference to the interviewees' state of health was investigated. This was then compared with the result of the Eurobarometer from 2002 (15 countries, EU15).

The second part deals with the concerns and the level of knowledge of EMF: the knowledge of possible EMF sources and the personal level of concern were inquired.

In the third part the role of authorities from the point of view of the interviewees is investigated.

Results of the study

The risks caused by EMF are considered to be not as high as those caused e. g. by chemicals and the quality of food. Less than 40 % of the EU25 interviewees felt strongly impaired by EMF, compared to more than 60 % who felt that their health was strongly impaired through chemicals. Among the risks due to EMF power lines are mentioned most, followed by mobile phone base stations and mobile phones. Compared to 2002, the perception of health impairments has considerably increased towards EMF while it has remained unchanged with respect to chemicals and food quality.

The state of knowledge as regards EMF varies in the European population. The greatest differences are observed between “old” and “new” countries: while e. g. 68 % of the EU15 interviewees knew that mobile phone base stations caused EMF, this was only known to 58 % of the interviewees of the “new” member countries. Only one quarter of all interviewees knew that EMF were produced with all of the 10 inquired electrical technologies.

Half of the EU25 interviewees is strongly or rather strongly concerned about potential health risks due to EMF. The range goes from 25 % (Scandinavian countries) up to more than 80 % in Greece and Cyprus. In Germany 35 % of the interviewees are concerned about EMF.

The vast majority of the EU25 interviewees (80 %) consider themselves to be not at all or only badly informed about the existing limit values. In Germany that applies to 83 %. One third of the EU25 interviewees consider themselves to be not informed at all. This result is in correspondence with the two third of the EU25 interviewees who are not satisfied with the information about the potential risks due to EMF, which is mainly perceived as being insufficient or not objective. The information medium preferred by the interviewees is television, followed by newspapers and magazines, followed again by radio.

In 60 % of the EU25 interviewees there is a general dissatisfaction with the authorities that are to protect the citizens from the potential risks resulting from EMF. Only every fourth EU25 citizen is satisfied with the work done by the authorities. More than two thirds of the concerned EU25 interviewees find that the respective work of the authorities is not efficient (half of the EU25 interviewees who are not concerned are of the opinion, too). Not quite half of the persons considering themselves well informed are satisfied with the authorities' efficiency. Half of the persons who are satisfied with the authorities' protection measures are also satisfied with their efficiency.

More than half of the interviewed Europeans find that the authorities should perform their protection from the potential risks due to EMF on the state level (national, regional or local), while 36 % would favour a multi-national solution (Europe-wide or world-wide). In Germany only 44 % of the interviewees pronounce themselves in favour of a solution on the state level.

Comparison with studies carried out by the German Mobile Telecommunication Programme (DMF)

Two studies dealing with a similar topic were carried out by the DMF:

"Identifying the general public's fears and anxieties with regard to the possible risks of high frequency electromagnetic fields of mobile telecommunications (annual survey)"

"Analysis of target groups for differentiated information"

According to the annual inquiries, the portion of the interviewees referring to themselves as being concerned about the high-frequency electromagnetic fields remained stable at less than 30 % between 2003 and 2006 (yes/no inquiry in contrast to the complex inquiry in the Eurobarometer). In this study, too, it showed that other environmental noxes such as air pollution cause significantly more concern in the population. Mobile phone base stations are considered to be more threatening than mobile phones.

The level of knowledge held by the interviewees was similar as in the Eurobarometer. If they were told that all electrical technologies caused EMF, they put e. g. mobile phone base stations on a level with television antenna masts and PC screens were classified as emitting radiation, too.

About 85 % of the interviewees had already heard of the subject mobile telecommunication and health. 35 % on average had a good look into this subject. This value varies, the tendency is towards dealing less with the subject. About 80 % of the interviewees considered themselves nearly not informed at all about EMF at the time of the inquiry and this percentage has hardly changed over the years.

Most frequently, information about electromagnetic fields is gained from the mass media television and radio as well as newspapers and magazines. Discussions with friends and acquaintances represent an important source of information, too. In the study of the target group analysis it could be determined that information is looked for in different ways by different target groups, thus, one does not reach the entire population with a singular offer of information.

Evaluation of BfS

The Eurobarometer confirms the results of the DMF:

EMF and thus also mobile telecommunication are not the subjects on the basis of which the interviewed citizens are the most concerned. The multitude of the interviewees, however, consider themselves to be not at all or badly informed. The most appropriate information path according to these studies would be television or even radio. The competence and the degree of popularity of the responsible authorities could be made more transparent on these paths.