About COST 281

COST is the acronym for "European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research". It is a framework for international research and development cooperation, allowing to coordinate national research at European level. COST does not fund research as such, but coordination of research. COST includes as member states countries from the European Union, and a number of other European countries. More information about the COST framework can be found at the COST TIST website.

COST 281 is an action within COST-Telecommunication Information Science and Technology, which is one of 18 domains existing in COST at the present time. More information can be found in the Memorandum of Understanding. (Download in WinWord (DOC) or Portable Document (PDF) format)

The main objective of the Action is to obtain a better understanding of possible health impacts of emerging technologies, especially related to communication and information technologies that may result in exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Some secondary objectives are the providing of

• a scientific evaluation of the available data for use by various decision makers involved in risk management of electromagnetic
• a basis for risk communication efforts related to emerging technologies, electromagnetic fields and possible health risks and
• data on electromagnetic field exposures related to emerging technologies on a European level.

For the time being, 25 signatory countries decided to actively participate in this action:

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republik Croatia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland

Italy Latvia Lithuania Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Slowenia Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

several others have already expressed their intention to join in the near future.

Besides this, contacts have been made with international bodies such as WHO, ICNIRP and EBEA and authorities and research organisations across the Atlantic ocean like Japan, Korea and the USA.