Your moderator (EMFguru) is a non-technical person, but he is a professional communicator (retired) with many years of experience in the electrical utility industry. He also has worked in military intelligence, nuclear weapons, was a part of the United States' Strategic Arms Talks team (SALT I). He has a bachelors degree from the U. of Missouri and a masters from the U. of Maryland. He has published a great deal and is listed in Who's Who In The World and in Who's Who In America.
He first heard about EMF when he was in the military during the 1960s-70s but it did not register of much consequence at the time. The subject caught his attention in a big way in the latter half of the 1980's when he was working as a lobbyist for the electrical utility industry. A major EMF court case in Houston, Texas (Klein School District v. Houston Light and Power) was decided by the courts during the 1985-1989 period (including judicial review). The outcome of this case--which found Houston Power liable for damages and required them to move their transmission lines away from a school--caused the U.S. electrical utility industry literally to go to "general quarters." (G.Q.--a good navy term which means "all hands to their battle stations.")
At the time, EMFguru was working in public relations and as a lobbyist within the electrical utility industry. He saw the industry's reaction to the EMF threat from the inside. During the 1980's, like most everyone else in the industry, he got his information from industry sources. It was "filtered" by trade associations, industry "experts" (mostly lawyers and electrical engineers), and particularly by EPRI!
EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) is a research organization created and funded entirely by the electrical utility industry. It has no connection with the government. EPRI has made some important research contributions on behalf of the electrical utility industry. Their contributions to greater efficiency in the production and use of electricity are particularly noteworthy.
Unfortunately, when it fell EPRI's role to research the EMF matter, they conceived their mission to be solely that of a bastion of defense against "outsiders" (like Dr. Nancy Wertheimer and Dr. Ed Leeper of the 1979 Denver study) who were trying to "get" the industry with this "EMF nonsense."
Matters were made worse by the fact that virtually the only funding available for EMF research (even outside of EPRI) was coming from the electrical industry. The U.S. government (EPA and others) to its everlasting discredit literally "ran" from the issue. It was too political. The U.S. government didn't just look the other way. It ran. Without doubt, the most striking example was EPA's "censorship" of its own inhouse study in 1992. (More on this in the future.)
So, your moderator is familiar with much of the history of this issue through personal participation from the inside. Your participation will be much more enjoyable and your "worth" to the group in terms of voicing your questions and concerns will be greatly enhanced if you have some familiarity with the basic dimensions of the issue and its history.
EMFguru has been talking to researchers over the past three years ... from MIT to Taiwan, and from Sweden to Washington, D.C. Next month (November 1995) he will attend the annual meeting of the "government contractor researchers" in California. That will be the third year in a row. The progress that is being made is noticeable and it is real!
This is going to be a lively group!!