Newsletter (27 November 2003)

From Denmark..

Friends,

Highlights from the COST workshop on Mobile Telecommunications and the Brain, Budapest

K.Hansson Mild's presentation on "Mobile and cordless telephones and the association with brain tumors in different age groups". The highest incidence occurred in the age group 20-29 years for analogue telephones recorded in the period 1997-2000. The latency period is 5-10 years. This means that for the GSM phones, we have to wait a few more years to see the results, because the boom occurred here around 1995. However, already now Mild urged to apply the Precautionary Principle in the use of mobile phones. It might also be necessary now to look at much younger age groups, such as schoolchildren under 10. Notice that some of these 20-29 years' old, must have started using the mobile phones from the age of 10 years.

P. Achermann et al. on "Effect of RF EMF(type GSM) on regional cerebral blood flow: a PET study". A PET scan of the brain was taken after 30 min exposure to GSM mobile phones and/or a base-station-like signal. It showed an increase in the cerebral blood flow on the side of the exposure. The changes did not match the simulated SAR distribution. It also showed that pulse modulation is an important factor. Scary pictures!

P. Zwamborn et al."The well-being of persons exposed to UMTS basestations signals". The Dutch TNO study was presented by E.van Rongen, since none of the authors were present. He was not part of their team, but his presentation did full justice to the study. They admitted that in reality it was a study of 2 different groups: one of normal and one of electrosensitive persons, since the groups were quite different as to number, age, sex, occupation etc.. The reason was, that it was a very hard to recruit people for the normal group. They had to find them through advertisements on Internet and in newspapers, and even had to pay them a fee. Some people from the EHS group had to discontinue participation in the experiments, because they could not tolerate the exposure. After the first criticism the authors recalculated all the results, but they reached the same conclusion and so they stick to it. There was no doubt that the general well-being of the persons in both groups was affected after exposure to the UMTS base station signal.. According to WHO "well-being" is an important factor in assessing a population's health condition. On the other hand the GSM signal did not give effects in both groups, not even in the electrosensitive. Somebody explained that could be due that the so-called 900 GSM can cover a wide band of several frequencies and some might be sensitive to a specific frequency only.

E. Franke gave a report and overview on the previous workhop on EMF and the Blood-Brain-Barrier, in Regensburg. However, some, who were present at this workshop, said that his report omitted a large part of the content. So if you want to know what really happened there you have to find it elsewhere. Time was used to mention Salford's qualifications as an entertainer. Anyway his findings on EMF effects on the BBB were also confirmed by others.

Meeting in the Council of health

The Cancer Society

This will certainly interest some of you: In a recent newspaper interview J. Olsen, Cancer Society, co-author on many of Johansen's articles, now said, that though they showed in their study from 2001, that there was no connection between use of mobile phones and cancer, today he does not know if this is certain. So he recommends people to keep on their usual phones and not to discard them. He was also present at the meeting above.

TV broadcast with the electrosensitive

Press campaign

As you know the whole discussion about 3G started many months ago, and actually the phone industry etc. did not react at all. Maybe they thought it would disappear by itself. However, since it did not, they have started a slandering campaign in certain newspapers against me. It focuses on the theme: I am unqualified and stupid - Johansen is a much better scientist - I am an errand boy for the EHS people - this is just a case about a fight between 2 scientists etc. So this is purely personal. It has nothing to do with all the scientific evidence. Of course, the idea is to focus away from the real issue: the raising of more 3 G masts. I hope that the public will not get fooled by this.

When I arrived in Budapest, everybody seem to know what had happened in Denmark. Especially some were worried and asked how long this stop for 3G masts would last. They also talked about all these emails, so I am sure that this and previous emails are read by other eyes. There seem to be a intense traffic of exchange of email address lists.

Kind regards

Sianette Kwee  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BBC NEWS

 

A controversial mobile phone mast which was illegally pulled down, is being turned into souvenirs by local residents. The mast at Wishaw, near Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, prompted a number of protests by villagers who blamed it for a cluster of cancer cases. The 22-metre mast fell down on Bonfire Night after bolts were removed from the base, in what police described as an act of vandalism. Residents have now bought the mast from a scrap yard and plan to sell parts of it off as souvenirs.

Overnight vigils

Funds raised from the sale will go towards the residents' campaign to stop a new mast being re-erected. Protestor Derek Villanueva said the message was "piece of mast, peace of mind."

Following the removal of the mast, villagers staged a blockade at the site to stop a new one being erected. Villagers said the mast would go back up "over their dead bodies".

Crown Castle Communications, had said it would work with the residents to find an alternative site. But then the company changed its mind following a statement from mobile phone network T-Mobile, which said it was determined to put the mast back up.

Overnight vigils will continue at the site to ensure the mast does not re-appear, say protesters.

Informant: Associació contra radiacions nocives de L'Escala and Dr Miquel Muntané

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An ATM card under your skin

Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) of Palm Beach, Fla., is hoping that Americans can be persuaded to implant RFID chips under their skin to identify themselves when going to a cash machine or in place of using a credit card.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/997952.asp

From Information Clearing House

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Military exempt from marine mammals, wants exempt clean air, hazardous waste

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1124/p02s02-usmi.html

Informant: Sheila Baker