A Machiavellian Spin. Political and corporate involvement with cell phone research in Australia
Don Maisch describes the involvement of politics and industry in cell phone research in Australia.
Sheldon Krimsky, 2003
“The roles of those who produce knowledge in academia and those stakeholders who have a financial interest in that knowledge should be kept separate and distinct”.
Telstra Annual Report, 2004
“The establishment of a link between adverse health effects and electromagnetic energy (EME) could expose us to liability or negatively affect our operations”
A Machiavellian Spin.
Political and corporate involvement with cell phone research in Australia.
Don Maisch PhD
Abstract
Australia has had a relatively long history of involvement in telecommunications health based standards setting and research through the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). This organization was the peak body in this area until 2003 when the federal government removed it from any involvement with non-ionizing
radiation research altogether and gave the task to the newly created Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research (ACRBR). Central to these changes has been a marked shift in emphasis in research priorities away from independent research to a research effort mired in partisan conflicts of interest that ensured conformity with both federal government
and industry policy on telecommunications.