German-Japanese Forum on Risk Management and Communication about Mobile EMF
Download and print viewWorkshop commissioned by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, BfS) and the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST) on risk communication of mobile EMF (electromagnetic fields) in Stuttgart, 2005. Speakers included regulators, mobile operators and researchers from Germany, Japan and the UK.
Brief description
Risks of mobile EMF are perceived differently in local and national contexts. Especially since the late the 1990s, local protest movements against the construction of mobile base stations are on increase in different parts of the worlds like German, Japan and the UK. What are the reasons for this protest and how can risk managers deal with the protest? How can the results of risk assessments be communicated to a wider public and in which form should the uncertainties and ambiguities associated with EMF risks be included in communication efforts? These questions were at the heart of a joint symposium.
The principal objective of the forum was to initiate a learning process between the Japanese and the European scientists and communication specialists about issues vis-à-vis mobile EMF. More concretely, this symposium addressed the issues of public perception of mobile EMF in the international context; presented a number of important issues of risk management and communication in relation to possible health risks of EMF; and exchanged ideas in terms of science information, management approach (such as precaution), consumer education and public involvement.
Workshop Coordination
Prof. Dr. Ortwin
Renn
Dr. Mariko Nishizawa
Working Papers
Risk management and communication in Germany
Symposium proceedings
Risk perception of mobile EMF and citizen movement in Japan
