EU Workshop in Umeå, Sweden: Occupational Exposure to EMF: Paving the Way for a Future EU Initiative
European Commission Directive 2004/40/EC is due to be transposed by 30 April 2012 and is the 18th individual directive within Art. 16(1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 1989 on introducing measures for safety and health of workers in their workplaces with respect to occupational exposure to EMF. Since its adoption, concerns were expressed that the Directive's provisions would unduly hamper some industrial and medical processes, especially MRI in research, diagnostic and curative medicine. New research findings, including the study below commissioned by the Commission, appear to confirm at least some of these concerns. The Commission and the co-legislators have acted to find remedies to the situation by a two-phase consultation process. The first phase ended on September 25, the result of which was presented at the workshop, and the second phase will be initiated soon after the workshop.
Niels Kuster presented the study mandated by the EU Commission: “An Investigation into Occupational Exposure to EMF for Personnel Working with and around MRI Equipment.” The program and presentations of the workshop are available at the conference website.