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13 May 2004
Dear Mr Davidson
Thank you for your letter plus enclosures of 21 April 2004 to Peter Erskine regarding your concerns about Tetra and health research, which have been passed to me for reply.
As you will know from your previous correspondence with various people in O2, including David Varney, O2's policy with regard to research into radio technology is to ensure it is managed independently by the best scientific experts in the field, to prevent the credibility of findings being called into question.
In the UK, this is taking place thanks to the establishment, as recommended by the Stewart report, of the Mobile Telecommunications Health Research (MTHR) programme, to which O2 contributes, along with the rest of the mobile phone industry and central government. Research into Tetra, funded by the Home Office, is also now being managed by the MTHR programme, which we believe is a positive development.
Regarding your local concerns, you will know that Dr Mike Clark of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) is actively encouraging those with so-called 'anecdotal evidence' to report it to the secretariat of the MTHR programme so that proper consideration can be made of how it might be investigated further. You will recall that Dr Clark made this point quite openly at the presentation you and I attended in Bognor Regis.
Given the need for all research in this area to be led by the appropriate experts – in order to ensure the highest levels of credibility – we would suggest that you follow Dr Clark's advice.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Berle
Head of Regional PR
O2 Airwave
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