Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2022
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2022
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News

Second Wi-Fi panel member’s conflicts are problematic

Paul Christopher Webster
CMAJ September 17, 2013 185 (13) E605; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4565
Paul Christopher Webster
Toronto, Ont.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Concerns have flared over possible conflict of interest of a second member of a panel chosen by the Royal Society of Canada to examine safety levels for cell towers, cellphones and wireless devices.

The chair of the panel, Daniel Krewski, resigned in July amidst concerns over conflict of interest following a CMAJ report revealing he did not fully disclose details of his government contracts (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4549).

Now, the Oakville, Ontario-based public interest group Canadians For Safe Technology, reports that a second scientist may also be a problematic choice.

According to the group, John Moulder, professor and director of radiation biology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has close industry ties and should be removed.

Moulder has served as “a professional expert witness with a pattern of denying the suspected or identified risks” of electrical radiation, says Frank Clegg, the group’s chairman. “Mr. Moulder is an American industry consultant,” Clegg charges. “He has no place influencing Canada’s safety review.”

Moulder rejected an interview request regarding the group’s charges, citing confidentiality provisions in his agreement with the Royal Society.

The Royal Society of Canada did not respond to an interview request regarding Moulder’s industry ties.

Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, New York, agrees the inclusion of Moulder on the panel is troubling, in part because he has taken “public positions discounting the thousands of scientific studies showing effects,” which calls into question “his ability to be objective or independent.”

Olle Johansson of the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, who organized a panel on Wi-Fi safety in 2009 in Seletun, Norway, says the Royal Society of Canada should have little trouble identifying panel candidates free from conflict-of-interest concerns.

Figure

The Royal Society of Canada’s eight-member panel will update the 2009 safety guidelines for human exposure to electromagnetic emissions from wireless devices, which Industry Canada regulates.

Image courtesy of © 2013 Thinkstock

“There is quite a sufficient number of independent scientific experts without commercial ties,” he notes. “These projects and reviews must be entirely independent of all types of commercial interests.”

The Royal Society of Canada convened its panel, Review of Safety Code 6: Potential Health Risks of Radiofrequency Fields from Wireless Telecommunications Devices, in March at the behest of Health Canada, which provided $100 000 in funding. The eight panel members from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are assessing whether Health Canada should update its 2009 safety guidelines for human exposure to electromagnetic emissions from wireless devices, which Industry Canada regulates.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 185 (13)
CMAJ
Vol. 185, Issue 13
17 Sep 2013
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Second Wi-Fi panel member’s conflicts are problematic
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Second Wi-Fi panel member’s conflicts are problematic
Paul Christopher Webster
CMAJ Sep 2013, 185 (13) E605; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-4565

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Second Wi-Fi panel member’s conflicts are problematic
Paul Christopher Webster
CMAJ Sep 2013, 185 (13) E605; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-4565
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Longer family medicine residency: Boon or bane to doctor supply?
  • The evolving picture of long COVID
  • When are shared decisions false choices?
Show more News

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Canadian government
    • Environmental issues

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • Accessibiity
  • CMA Civility Standards
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2022, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

Powered by HighWire