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Industry Member Becomes Cell Tower Activist - Police radios gave us breast
cancer - Orange ordered to cover phone tower risks - Occupational EMF
library hazard reported in Japan (2/12/02)
Tramès per Klaus Rudolph (Citizens'
Initiative Omega)
Industry Member Becomes
Cell Tower Activist
June 18, 1997
In a move that has brought a smile to many activists opposing the unsafe
siting of wireless communication facilities, Ann Shirreffs of Pepper Pike,
Ohio, has resigned from her job as a cellular telephone saleswomen and
has taken up the battle cry of "Just Say No" to cellular towers
on the school grounds in her community.
Ann has gathered 950 signatures of residents in the community opposed
to the proposed AT&T school yard cell towers and is leading a well
organized opposition to the proposed facilities.
In fact, one piece of evidence Ann presented to the Orange School District
authorities is a letter from Kathleen M. Fagen, M.D., the Medical Director
of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine for MetroHealth
Medical Center in Cleveland who writes:
"I strongly urge you to consider the possible health effects of RF
exposure in the plans for the construction of the towers...These towers
should be located so as to minimize exposure to people in schools, homes,
apartments, offices and factories. Other alternatives should be considered
before advancing in the plans to construct towers near schools. For example,
collocation with other existing towers, building on landfill property,
and other nonresidential areas are a couple of choices to consider before
putting children at risk.
We clearly live in a time of rapid technological advance. With all the
advantages that such progress brings, we have also witnessed all too often
the adverse human health and environmental effects created by hurried,
ill-conceived planning. I ask you to consider all the public health implications
of the proposed microwave and RF transmitting tower."
Consumer activists welcome this cell phone dealer turned cell tower activist
to the growing international network of individuals concerned about this
very vital issue. Perhaps Ann's brave move to protect her children from
the possible adverse health effects from the radiation from the proposed
towers will encourage other industry members to examine whether or not
they want their children going to school where towers are used as playground
equipment. Until we are sure of the risks - why make our children the
guinea pigs in this bio-effects experiment?
In other news from Ohio, at least a dozen communities neighboring Ann's
Pepper Pike area are challenging wireless carriers who wish to erect similar
towering facilities. In fact, just this morning an activist from Yellow
Springs reported to The EMR Alliance that just last night a 6 month moratorium
was unanimously approved to give the town time to prepare an ordinance
to properly govern these facilities.
More news on this and other consumer activism within this debate will
be reported in the Summer issue of Network News which is due out on June
30th.
Cathy Bergman
The EMR Alliance
410 W. 53rd Street, Suite 105
New York, NY 10019
SUNDAY MIRROR
INVESTIGATES: POLICE RADIOS GAVE US BREAST CANCER
POLICEWOMEN fear their mobile radios may have given them breast cancer.
And women officers are so worried they will demand an urgent probe into
the possible links at next month's Police Federation conference.
It follows a case of six women police constables suffering from cancer
in the West Yorkshire area alone.
This has sparked fears that "mobile phone" type radiation emitted
by radios pinned to WPCS' lapels or breast pockets may have caused tumours.
Dr Gerard Hyland, a specialist in the field from the University of Warwick,
said: "The problem of police radios has been a long-standing one.
"Laboratory tests have shown that the radiation they emit cause chromosomal
damage to cells, which in turn can cause cancer. "With the devices
attached to a lapel or next to the breast, the radiation would be going
straight into that part of the body."
The Police Federation, which represents the majority of policemen and
women, is now contacting police forces nationwide in a bid to collate
vital medical evidence to establish any potential links.
And last night, Dr Alan Preece, Britain's foremost expert on microwave
radiation, welcomed the Federation's move. Dr Preece said: "Research
in this area would really put people's minds at rest - or else identify
that there is a problem."
And cancer specialist Professor Ian Fentiman, of Guy's Hospital, added:
"If the police are going to communicate with each other by radio
and there is any risk of breast cancer, it should be looked into urgently."
Ex-chief inspector Dorothy Bell, who wore one of the radios for 25 years,
first raised fears of a link, following the removal of her left breast
after a cancer lump was discovered close to where she attached her transmitter.
Mrs Bell, 65, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and thousands of other policewomen
used the PYE radio system since it was first introduced in the 1960s.
"It was crackling away eight hours a day," said Mrs Bell, who
had a 30-year career with the West Yorkshire force, stationed at Bradford
and its headquarters in Wakefield. "But I never gave it a second
thought. "I know of two other policewomen who have had breast cancer
and a civilian who worked alongside a communications console in headquarters
developed breast cancer and then died from a brain tumour. "It can't
be a coincidence, there must be some connection between this radio equipment
and these cancers."
And yesterday, the husband of a former policewoman who died of breast
cancer called for an investigation into the possible links between the
disease and communications equipment. Coach driver Bernard Leadbetter
said: "I'd welcome anything that could be done to stop other women
going through the same nightmare my wife did." His wife Joan died
aged 49, just two years after it was discovered she had cancer of the
left breast. Mother-of-two Joan spent three years in the police, leaving
the West Yorkshire force in 1973. But it was more than 20 years later,
in 1994 that she was found to have the disease.
Bernard, 53, from Durkar, near Wakefield, said: "It's shocking to
think there is a possibility the radio she used could have been responsible.
"If there is a connection between this and breast cancer it has to
be looked at."
It is understood there are six more cancer cases in the Bradford/Leeds
area involving WPCs.
More than 21,000 women work for police forces across the country.
And a Police Federation spokesman said last night: "We now intend
checking forces throughout Britain to see if they have any further cases
of WPCs with breast cancer."
A completely new and more powerful system than PYE - called Tetra - is
currently being introduced and has been installed in about half of Britain's
forces...but health experts have already raised fears about it.
CASE 1
Chief Inspector Dorothy Bell
Had a mastectomy to remove her left breast after a lump was found where
she wore her transmitter. "The radio was crackling away eight hours
a day - I just never gave it a thought."
CASE 2
Policewoman Joan Leadbetter
FORMER WPC Joan died of breast cancer at 49. Her husband Bernard said:
"I'd welcome anything to stop other women having to go through the
nightmare she suffered"
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P9S3.shtml
Informant: Robert Riedlinger forwarded
message from Roy Beavers
Orange ordered
to cover phone tower risks
Thought this article may be of interest to your readers. Was in
the major Sydney newspaper (Sydney Morning Herald) this morning. Our detectors
are already measuring unacceptable levels of RF being emitted from this
tower which is located close to the famous Bondi Beach. Lets hope that
there are more of these indemnities being requested. Will be interesting
to see what happens. Andrew Hol tExpozure RF Detectors www.expozure.com.au
Australia Orange ordered to cover phone tower risks.
By Sue Lowe
A Sydney council has told the mobile communications company Hutchison
it must indemnify it against phone tower emissions that prove harmful
to residents.
The move, by Waverley Council, follows an application by Hutchison, which
operates the Orange brand, to put another 19 dishes and two antennas on
the Bondi Junction tower.
After protests by local residents, the Mayor of Waverley, Paul Pearce,
agreed to the dishes, but only on condition the company "sign a waiver
of any future liability to council arising from any future human health
impact which may arise as a result of electro-magnetic radiation".
However, the council has rejected the two antennas on the basis of Hutchison's
own admission that they are more prone to electro-magnetic leakage.
Residents are worried about the largely unknown health implications of
the transmitters, particularly on nearby schools and child-care centres.
They are also angry about not being told where smaller transmitters are
located.
The Telecommunications Act overrides all local government planning rights,
meaning phone companies do not have to tell councils when and where they
are installing new transmitters. But protesters say they are being installed
on residential apartment blocks without consultation.
It was only because of the Birrell Street tower's heritage listing that
Hutchison had to seek approval.
Bernard Purcell, head of the Tower Watch protest group, said: "Federal
legislation has paved the way for these people to put [transmitters] up
almost willy nilly, without proper consultation, without due care and
without safety monitoring."
Cr Pearce is pushing for a Senate inquiry into the regulations, specifically
"whether the installation of telecommunication equipment should be
subject to State planning laws so as people can have some say as to what
goes on in their neighbourhood".
A spokeswoman for Hutchison, Jacqueline Crompton, said it was company
policy to inform local councils of all installations. Hutchison was also
complying with a Waverley Council policy requiring equipment emissions
to be 1000 times less than the national standard, she said. Hutchison
had not received the wording of the indemnity clause so could not comment
on whether it would be accepted.
"It's an unusual step, particularly as Waverley has a telecommunications
policy of its own," Ms Crompton said. "It suggests the council
doesn't have confidence in its own policy."
Hutchison would accept the decision on the antennas and would not try
to install them in another location that would not need approval, she
said.
Growing concern over the radiation effects of mobile phone handsets has
led St Vincent's Hospital to examine the effects of different levels of
exposure on human brain cells.
The chief researcher, Peter French, believes the risks from towers are
much lower than from handsets held close to the head: "It is the
same type of radiation ... but the levels are far greater from handsets."
Informant: Robert Riedlinger forwarded message
from Roy Beavers
An extention of related
events
Klaus I am sending this letter back with an extention of related events.Please
read below.
Robert
Maggie This Man Les Bukle lives aprox 400 ft from a cellphone tower in
Mission BC Canada ,close to me.and aprox 2 blocks from the lady that suffered
very severe Pressure Headaches .Nausea, Fatigue, Pain in Neck and Sensitive
areas.Excessive stomach gas,Imbalance,Hearing loss.Etc. When I went to
visit her I felt the same symptoms she suffered. She died of a burst blood
vein in her head (after suffering for aprox 2.5 years.) May 1998. Her
husband now suffers dementia.Is not able to work or drive.He still lives
in the home.
I can't name the people but I have a copy of the letter (I wrote to Health
Canada)and a signed list of symptoms(by her) that she suffered. I wrote
Health Canada to get help for her in Oct /97 but recieved no reply.
This is unbelievable that this is happening.
Regards Robert
Since the death of Abilia,(the un-named lady,) mentioned above, that died
in 1998,I have met her next door neighbors.Their home is closer yet to
the tower.The lady is a school teacher( 57 years of age)She now suffers
a lot of the symptoms that Abilia suffered before her death.She can no
longer work at her teaching career, Her husband has Parkinson's desease.
Since Abilia's death they have built a large tower even closer to her
home. There are now three towers within view of Abilia's and neighbors
home. I cannot prove that any of these people,did suffer, or are suffering
from, EMF, tower emissions. I will leave that up to your imagination.What
I do know is that I feel completey ill from the symptoms that Abilia suffered
when ever I spend time in the area near her home or Les Buckle's home.
The following are measurements that were taken with a spectrum analyzer
(Aug 2002) in front of Les Buckle's home, which is a short distance from
Abilia's home.
Location 8268 Warton Mission BC Home of Les Buckle
953 Mhz 300uV
892 Mhz 325uV
881 Mhz 2,200uV
782 Mhz ?? 400uV
786 Mhz ?? 100uV
880 Mhz 3,000uV
Regards Robert Riedlinger
Occupational EMF library
hazard reported in Japan
Just thought I'd fill you in on some of the news from my part of the world.
In a very popular weekly magazine called Aera (not a typo), there is an
article this week bringing up the potential dangers of EMFs. The title
is: The Dilemmas of a Library User - Can headaches be caused by EMFs?
A brief summary of the article: There was a new item in the Asahi Newspaper
on Nov. 13 regarding 19 employees of a heavy-use library in Tama Prefecture
(Nagayama Library) who came down with symptoms of dizziness and headaches
and are surmising that the cause is from the magnetizing devices they
use at the check out area. The devices were installed in October last
year and within a few days, employees were complaining about unidentifiable
discomfort at work. After inspection, they discovered that from 2 cm distance
from the device, the meter indicated a strength of 5,000 milligauss, exposing
the library check out staff to 5 times over the 'user standard guideline'
for exposure to EMFs being established by the ICNIRP. This news item caused
a stir among library users. There were complaints by users reprimanding
the library for installing such dangerous devices, mothers are keeping
their children away from the library, etc.
The article goes on to discuss the studies and how they are still inconclusive,
but discuss a trial currently underway between citizens of Oita Prefecture
in Kyushu and the builders of a microwave tower in the neighborhood and
mention studies of EMF health risks being done by WHO, the results of
which will be reported sometime next year. It's just a small sign that
the awareness of the dangers of EMF is out there in the Japanese public.
Electrial appliance stores carry many EMF protection devices here in Japan.
Of course, Japan, like the US and other western counterparts, has always
embraced technological advance, and the telecommunications industry is
probably one of the leading and financially and technologically advancing
industries in this country. I'll keep a look out for any other reports
on this in other news here.
Norie
Fukuda Tokyo, Japan
Informant: Don Maisch forwarded message from
Roy Beavers
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