Brain damage fears over plan to erect 700 police radio masts
Health
and environmental concerns over £2.5bn system
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
Plans to erect 700 police radio transmitters across Scotland
are running
into fierce opposition from local residents and environmental
campaigners
alarmed about the dangers to human health and damage to the
landscape.
The mobile phone company O2 wants to install new aerial transmitters
in
every region of the country over the next two years in order
to give the
emergency services a comprehensive new digital communications
network.
It has already submitted 200 planning applications, predominantly
in the
south of Scotland.
Between 90 and 100 transmitters are planned in each of seven
police
force areas: Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, Dumfries and
Galloway, Central,
Tayside, Grampian and Northern. A further 30 have been proposed
for
Fife, the police force smallest area.
O2, which used to be part of BT, says that for at least 40%
of the new
transmitters it will have to erect masts. The company is hoping
that the
remaining 60% can be fitted on existing masts or buildings.
But there are growing fears about the health risks of the
new
trans-mitters, which some experts regard as more dangerous
than
conventional mobile phone masts. The new £2.5 billion
system being
introduced throughout the UK is known as Tetra -- Terrestrial
Trunked
Radio -- and transmits a signal with a frequency of 17.6Hz.
This is very close to the frequency which the government's
Indepen dent
Expert Group on Mobile Phones warned might affect brain activity.
In May
2000, it said: 'As a precautionary measure, amplitude modulation
around
16Hz should be avoided, if possible, in future developments.'
Some studies have suggested that radio waves around this
frequency could
cause calcium to leak from the brain and other tissue. This
in turn
could trigger damage to the nervous and immune systems.
According to Gerald Hyland, a biophysicist from the University
of
Warwick, the electromagnetic radiation may also cause mood
swings,
headaches, sleep disruption and short-term memory loss. It
could even
retard the academic development of children.
Some people would be more susceptible than others, he argued.
He said,
'Is there an established potential risk to human health from
exposure to
Tetra radiation? The answer is undoubtedly yes.'
Alison Mackay lives just 200 metres from the site of a proposed
new
Tetra radio mast on Tarvit Hill near Cupar in Fife. She is
organising a
campaign to oppose it, and other masts planned for the area.
'It is a techno-nightmare. This system has not been tried
and tested,
which means that anyone living close to one of these masts
will in
effect be a human guinea pig,' she said.
'O2 should be required to prove conclusively that there will
be no
long-term impact on human health before permission is given
for the
system to be installed.' She accused the company of trying
to erect
masts with as few people as possible knowing about them.
Other local residents are worried that the masts will be
an eyesore in
an attractive landscape. 'We will take the campaign to the
Scottish
Executive,' Mackay promised. 'And, if necessary, we will take
it to the
courts.'
Police officers in England, where the Tetra system has already
been
introduced to 10 forces, have complained of ill-health after
using the
mobile handsets. According to one report, more than 170 officers
in
Lancashire claimed to suffer from migraines, sleeplessness
and lack of
concentration after using the system.
Tetra radio waves could also interfere with life-saving equipment
in
hospitals. A government regulator, the Medical Devices Agency,
has
warned
that the operation of heart pacemakers, defibrillators and
ventilators
could be affected.
An expert group set up by the government's National Radiological
Protection Board was equivocal about the health risks. It
concluded that
'current evidence suggests that it is unlikely that the special
features
of the signals from Tetra mobile terminals and repeaters pose
a hazard
to health'.
But it added: 'Although, when viewed as a whole, the epidemiological
research that has been carried out does not give cause for
concern, it
has too many limitations to provide assurance that there is
no hazard.'
Although the Scottish Executive insisted that it was not
complacent
about the risks, it welcomed Tetra as 'the cutting edge of
21st century
technology'.
The system will, a spokeswoman said, 'improve police effectiveness
through a range of new features available to officers, including
greater
clarity of voice communications, improved security and the
potential for
officers to be linked to the public telephone network'.
O2 also stressed the benefits to police effectiveness and
public safety
of the Tetra system, which it has branded Airwave. 'Airwave
aims to
secure the level of service requested by police forces, whilst
taking
into account local views and concerns about the siting of
transmitters,'
said a spokeswoman for the company.
'Health and safety issues are very important to us. Science
cannot
categorically prove anything to be absolutely safe, but the
World Health
Organisation holds a database of over 450 studies on the biological
effects of radio frequency emissions and no risk to health
has been
demonstrated.'
The company's reassurances were dismissed, however, by a
group called
Mast Sanity which is campaigning across the UK against the
Tetra system.
'There has been no significant research into the effects of
Tetra and it
is a totally unproven system,' said the group's director,
Lisa Oldham.
'It is becoming an increasing problem for many campaign groups
in every
corner of the country as the government tries to force this
dangerous
system on us and on the police.'
Source: http://www.sundayherald.com/32689
Informant: Volker Hartenstein, Member of the Bavarian
Parliament
A
pupil of 3rd grade of Zoran died from brain cancer
The dread of the antennas in the village is not ending: In
addition
to the death case, cancer was found in 1st grade pupil. Breast
Cancer
was found in 2 women. A 39 years old woman from Zoran died
from cancer.
Tomorrow the residents will protest.
Maariv
Eitan Rabin
13.4.2003
A girl of 3rd grade from the school in the village Zoran died
in the
weekend from brain cancer. Several days ago it was found that
a girl in
first grade at the same school, got cancer. Several days ago
died from
cancer a village resident, 39 years old, mother of three.
The doctors
say that her cancer was found while she was living in the
village. In
addition two women were found with breast cancer.
These numbers are added to cancer cases and misscarriage
cases in the
village. Michael Akerman chair of battle told Maariv:
"Everything that surrounds our children is radiation
from the antennas
of Bezeq which cause grave diseases. We are going to remove
our gloves.
We will block the crossroad, will strike the school and village.
A whole
village is going with the head in the ground. People die here
from
cancer, and nobody does anything to close here the radiation
station".
**************************************
Remember the critisicm committee decision to remove the non
transmitting
antennas by now? Remember the "good news"? Nothing.
Nothing was done.
Iris
Informant and translation in English: Iris Atzmon
To
Susan Clarke
In your response to the residents of Berkeley, California
who are
fighting a proposed cellular base station, you state that
you have
fought 'hundreds of these battles all over the U.S.' Can you
name one
such case where the local government used health considerations
to deny
an antenna proposal, was sued in Federal court by the wireless
carrier,
and won its case on the basis of the distinction you make
between
'environmental' and 'health' effects of the RFR from these
antennas?
Such information would be helpful, not only in Berkeley,
but to others
around the country.
Thanks.
Doug Loranger, San Francisco, CA
The
Tom Bearden Website
The correspondence section has been brought up to date with
a number of
interesting posts.
http://www.cheniere.org/correspondence/index.html
There is also a new Technical Paper at
http://www.cheniere.org/techpapers/index.html
Also new Reference Papers at
http://www.cheniere.org/references/index.html
Regards
Tony Craddock
Cheniere Press/ The Tom Bearden Website
www.cheniere.org
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