Enllaços facilitats per Teresa Drago

After months of attempting to meet with the local mayor regarding their concerns over radiation emissions from telephone masts, which have been erected next to their homes and schools, protestors in the Algarve town of Tavira were finally granted an audience with town hall officials on April 16th.

But it had taken a petition signed by over 1,000 residents, and several public protests, before Mayor Macaroe Correia agreed to allow two of his representatives to meet with leaders of the protest groups. It is understood that prominent coverage given to the protestors’ concerns by The Portugal News during the past two months has also increased pressure on the mayor to, at last confront the problem.

One of the protestors, Teresa Drago, who attended the town hall meeting on April 16th told The Portugal News that the mayor’s representatives were surprisingly more than sympathetic to local residents’ fear of health problems posed by the masts. Of particular concern are three masts erected next to a primary school and kindergarten.

Teresa said that the town hall officials were fully supportive of the protestors and agreed that everything should be done to protect the health of residents and their children. According to Teresa the officials also guaranteed that they would do everything possible to protect the public from the “interests of the giant” network providers responsible for erecting the masts.

Local government officials have arranged to meet with representatives of the network providers to explore the possibility of re-locating all telephone masts in and around Tavira to a distance of 500 metres from residential properties and schools. Some other European countries have already imposed restrictions on masts being built within 650 metres of urban areas. A public meeting called by protesters for April 23rd has been postponed until after the outcome of the discussions between the town hall and network providers is known.

If Tavira’s town hall officials succeed in persuading the mobile phone companies to agree to the 500 metre limit it will certainly set a precedent for the rest of the Algarve, and no doubt the whole of Portugal. But the question still being asked, is how network providers such as Optimus and TMN have been allowed to erect thousands of masts throughout Portugal without official planning permission?

The Portugal News has received many thank-you emails and letters for putting readers, whose homes have been blighted by telephone masts, in touch with experts on the health dangers of radiation emissions. Dr. David Best of London, an independent radiation consultant to BBC TV, has been able to advise many of our readers on the ramifications of living close to masts. So too has Mr. Les Wilson, Managing Director of Microshield Industries, a UK company specialising in anti-radiation devices.

One of the leaders of a protest group has told The Portugal News that assurances given by the Tavira City Hall, that it would do everything possible to protect residents from the harmful effects of telephone masts' radiation emissions, have turned out to be without foundation.

Teresa Drago said that, during a meeting with local government officials, both she and her colleagues were told that the Town Hall agreed wholeheartedly about their concerns regarding radiation emissions from five telephone masts erected close to schools and a housing development. The officials confirmed that they had arranged a meeting with the telephone operators and that the protestors could expect to see the masts removed in the near future. As a result of these assurances the protestors cancelled a demonstration meeting scheduled for April 23rd.

However, the meeting between City Hall officials and the telephone operators appears to have done nothing to allay the fears of local residents living under the shadows of the masts. Mrs. Drago said that no action had been taken to remove any of them. All that has happened is that two of the telephone operators. Optimus and Vodafone, have sent letters to the protest groups stating that radiation emissions from the masts are well within international safety limits and do not pose a health threat.

The letters state that 1,600 studies worldwide prove that mobile phone masts are perfectly safe. They also confirm that the five masts in question have been tested and shown to be well within the World Health Organisation's (WHO) safety guidelines. According to one of the letters, radiation emissions from telephone masts are less dangerous than those from hair dryers, TV or microwave ovens. The May 2000 UK Government Stewart Report is also referred to as giving a clean bill of health to cell phones and telephone masts. Teresa Drago has sent a 17-page reply refuting the claims made by the operators.

The Portugal News has discussed the claims made in the letters with leading experts on the health effects of cell phone radiation. Les Wilson, managing director of London based Microshield Industries, said that the Stewart Report called for safety exclusion zones to be erected around telephone masts and also advised against children using cell phones - points ignored by Vodafone.

Professor George Carlo of Washington DC, USA, pointed out that the 1,600 studies mentioned in one of the letters were no doubt carried out several years ago and are now out of date compared to more recent studies, which prove that cell phones and masts are health hazards. The same applies to the WHO's guidelines. He added that many of these studies were sponsored by the cell phone industry - hardly a platform for impartiality. In the early 1990's the Professor was fired by his US mobile phone sponsors after he published a report stating that radiation emissions from cell phones were a serious health danger.

Teresa Drago and her fellow protestors are determined to continue their fight to have the masts removed. A public meeting held in Tavira City Hall on May 22nd again called upon the Mayor, Mac rio Correia, to protect residents by forcing the telephone operators to remove the masts. They repeated requests for him to explain why the masts were allowed to be erected without the necessary local planning permission - a question he has failed to answer on numerous occasions.