Best, Imelda, Cork, Ireland

Surrey BC - AT&T antenna protest meeting

Parent, student and community opposition to placement of AT&T cell phone antennas on Sullivan Heights High School in Surrey, BC prevails. This account comes from Milt Bowling, coordinator of Canada's Electromagnetic Radiation Task Force and board member of The EMR Network. Milt participated in the public hearings.

From: Milt Bowling

Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 12:20 AM
Subject: Sullivan Heights School, Surrey BC, protest meeting

Ding, dong, the witch is dead!

The Surrey School Board trustees just voted 6 to 1 to renege on the school board's signed, industry one-sided, 20 year contract with AT$T, worth over a quarter of a million dollars. The industry spin was that both parties mutually agreed to terminate the contract.

Skeptics would have said that the school board and AT$T bowed to the relentless pressure of the students, their parents, other relatives and friends, and the school staff, and neighbors, against this multi-antennae installation [the first of many] on the roof of Sullivan Heights High School, based almost exclusively on everyone's health
concerns.

Here's the sugar coated message delivered by the school board.

"Furthermore, the Board directed Administration to pursue a cooperative solution to the issues of concern raised within the Sullivan Heights Secondary School committee."

At a special In-Camera [meaning private, away from public scrutiny] meeting, "the Board took the following action:

""It was moved by Trustee McEvoy, seconded by Trustee Stilwell:

That Administration be directed to accept the offer from Rogers AT&T Wireless to mutually terminate the license agreement between themselves and the Board regarding the installation of a cellular base station on the Bell Performing Arts Centre, according to the terms contained in their letter dated 2003-03-12.

CARRIED"

These two trustees were the most vocal in supporting the industry position. Funny how politics works. The fight against the antennae went on for two years, and suddenly the trustees finally agree "to pursue a cooperative solution". Couldn't do with re-election, could it?

This industry adopts the moral business position of a cockroach. They go about their business in the dark, and scurry for cover when the lights are turned on. Industry "experts" melt when they have to debate in a public forum, particularly when the audience knows something about the subject. Mary McBride couldn't even convince the school children about her industry's PR message about alleged safety.

The real message here is that even though federal government approved industry contracts supposedly hog-tie local authorities, a squeaky wheel can make offending parties "mutually agree" to take a hike. Business is business. No investor likes the idea of a bad message affecting their investments.

I hope and trust that all of you reading this message will take comfort in this victory for all.

Anyone can beat city hall. Any time you make up your mind to do so.

Milt

Message (excerpt) from Janet Newton at EMRNetwork

Mobile mast worker attacked

Parents are worried about the alleged effects of phone masts punched as he tried to put up a mobile phone mast near a primary school. A team of contractors were confronted by the man as they arrived to start work on the equipment opposite St Wilfrid's Primary School in Newton Heath, Manchester.

The proposals have sparked opposition among parents who are worried about the alleged health risks. They recently organised a picket outside the school with some parents taking their children out of classes to join in.

The organisers of the protest have condemned the assault, but said that they will fight to stop the plans.

Pamela Flynn, a shop owner and grandmother to four pupils at the school, said: "We don't want acts of violence, but we will take legal steps." I am shocked at the violence and the experience was obviously very frightening

O2 spokeswoman

The mobile phone company O2 hired the contractors to start work on the mast at Newton Heath Cricket Club. The firm was granted planning permission for the mast after an appeal.

'Very frightening'

A spokeswoman for O2 said: "I have never come across anything like this. "I am shocked at the violence and the experience was obviously very frightening."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said the incident was under investigation.

The government has said a recent study showed that emissions from mobile masts in the UK are well within international guidelines.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2849861.stm

Informant: Robert Riedlinger

Exposure to electromagnetic fields during pregnancy

Koren G.
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont.

QUESTION: Several of my patients quote recent media coverage claiming that working with home appliances could increase the risk of misarriages. What is your advice?

ANSWER: Two recent epidemiologic studies from California have suggested an increased risk of miscarriages associated with exposure to magnetic fields.

Source: Can Fam Physician 2003 Feb;49:151, 153 (excerpt)

Low-frequency electromagnetic fields induce a stress effect upon higher plants, as evident by the universal stress signal, alanine.

Ben-Izhak Monselise E, Parola AH, Kost D.

Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer-Sheva, Israel

15N NMR analysis reveals alanine production in Duckweed plants exposed to low intensity sinusoidally varying magnetic fields (SVMF) at 60 and 100Hz, and fed by 15N-labeled ammonium chloride. Alanine does not accumulate in the absence of SVMF. Addition of vitamin C, a radical scavenger, reduced alanine production by 82%, indicating the roll of free radicals in the process.

Alanine accumulation in plants and animals in response to exposure to a variety of stress conditions, including SVMF, is a general phenomenon. It is proposed that alanine is a universal first stress signal expressed by cells.

Source: Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2003 Mar 7;302(2):427-34

How Much are Anesthesiologists Exposed to Electromagnetic Fields in Operating Rooms?

Lee JH, Lee HC, Kim HD, Kim JY, Kim DW, Nam YT, Kim KJ.

Department of Anesthesiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134
Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea.

Numerous electronic devices have been introduced into the operating room. Although little is known about the relationship between exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health hazards, some authors reported its association with cancer or other diseases.

We measured the amount of EMF exposure that an anesthesiologist gets in the operating room. The density of the magnetic field was checked by an extremely low frequency (ELF) field strength measurement system in the 19 operating rooms of our hospital. We measured the magnetic field intensity at a distance of 30 cm, 50 cm, and at the place where the anesthesiologist usually stands from the center of the main monitor. The average exposure quantities of magnetic fields in 19 operating rooms were 2.22 +/- 1.13 mG at 30 cm, 1.29 +/- 0.84 mG at 50 cm and 1.00 +/- 0.78 mG at the anesthesiologist's standing points respectively.

Because quantities over 2 or 3 mG were accepted to be high radiation levels of EMF by many reports describing the hazards of EMF, we set 2 mG to be the cutoff value. In some of the 19 operating rooms, the measured EMF density exceeded our cutoff value.

Although the health hazards related to EMF exposure are still equivocal, anesthesiologists should consider making an effort to improve their environment and reduce their exposure to EMF.

Source: Yonsei Med J 2003 Feb;44(1):133-7

Informant: Reinhard Rückemann

Electrosensitives support group

I am starting an electrosensitive support group in Cape Town, South
Africa. Any one interested can contact me,
Dorothy, at dellis@pathcare.co.za