The Henderson Center Concerned Neighbors take the position that a cell tower should not be sited in ANY neighborhood.
Our concerns are:
- visual pollution
- possible adverse effects upon health in the vicinity of a cell tower
- health effects due to the addition of new devices to the tower as the industry develops
- psychological problems due to fear of adverse effects upon health
- depression of property values (up to 20% in some reports)
We understand that, under existing law, a municipality cannot deny a cell tower site merely out of health concerns.
Even if cell companies and the FCC say that health is not affected by living in the vicinity of a cell tower, their protestations are not necessarily true. It is well known that the 1996 regulation was bought and paid for by the cellular industry, and that people migrate back and forth between the FCC and the industry they are supposed to regulate.
There is a growing body of evidence that cell towers and cell phones are harmful to our health.
There are a number of articles available regarding precautions one might take when using cell phones themselves. From the University of Pittsburg Cancer Institute: “Important Precautionary Advice Regarding Cell Phone Use”
http://www.upci.upmc.edu/news/upci_news/072308_celladvisory.cfm
However, people living in the vicinity of a cell tower (sometimes called a base station) have no recourse, except perhaps to sell out at a depressed value and move.
PERHAPS AN INCREASED AWARENESS OF HEALTH EFFECTS IN THE VICINITY OF A CELL TOWER CAN MOTIVATE US TO FIND WAYS TO PROHIBIT THEIR SITING IN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS. (Please excuse the emphasis).
It is primarily the fear of health effects that cause the depression in real estate values. From a New Zealand study, "The impact of cell phone towers on house prices in residential neighborhoods.":
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-5011857_ITM
"Both the survey and market sales analysis find that CPBSs have a negative impact on the prices of houses in the study areas." Note that "New Zealand has proposed yet more stringent levels, at .02 microwatts, 50,000 times more protective than the U.S. standard." This latter quote is from an article by Karen J. Rogers, an environmental scientist at the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center:
http://www.mountshastaecology.org/Archive/Health_Effects_from_Cell_Phone_Tower_Radiation.html
This article also notes that “The current U.S. standard for radiation exposure from cell phone towers is 580-1,000 microwatts per sq. cm. (mW/cm2), among the least protective in the world. More progressive European countries have set standards 100 to 1,000 times lower than the
U.S.”
A 2002 French study concludes that "From these results, and in applying the precautionary principle, it is advisable that mobile phone base stations be not sited closer than 300 meters to populations and most significantly because exposed people can have different sensitivities related particularly to their sex". Note the 300 meters, rather than 300 feet.
In a letter to Mayor Young and the Langford Council, Langford, B.C. from Martin Blank, Ph.D., Associate Professor of physiology and cellular biophysics, Columbia University, dated September 11, 2008:
"I have been an active researcher on biological effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) for over twenty five years at Columbia University. I was also one of the organizers of the 2007 online
Bioinitiative Report on the subject. Because of this background, I have been asked to provide background information regarding current discussions about the proposed cell tower.”
“There is now sufficient scientific data about the biological effects of EMF, and in particular about radiofrequency (RF) radiation, to argue for adoption of precautionary measures. We can state unequivocally that EMF can cause single and double strand DNA breakage at exposure levels that are considered safe under the FCC guidelines in the USA. As I shall illustrate below, there are also epidemiology studies that show an increased risk of cancers associated with exposure to RF. Since we know that an accumulation of changes or mutations in DNA is associated with cancer, there is good reason to believe that the elevated rates of cancers among persons living near radio towers are probably linked to DNA damage caused by EMF. Because of the nature of EMF exposure and the length of time it takes for most cancers to develop, one cannot expect 'conclusive proof' such as the link between helicobacter pylori and gastric ulcer. (That link was recently demonstrated by the Australian doctor who proved a link conclusively by swallowing the bacteria and getting the disease.) However, there is enough evidence of a plausible mechanism to link EMF exposure to increased risk of cancer, and therefore of a need to limit exposure, especially of children."
The Bioiniative report he references is at http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/index.htm
This is "An International Scientific Review by 14 world leading scientists, public health & public policy experts – based on the assessment of 2,000 published studies – states “It appears it is the
INFORMATION conveyed by electromagnetic radiation (rather than heat) that causes biological changes – some of the biological changes may lead to loss of wellbeing, disease and even death. The Report has been written to document the reasons why current public exposure standards for non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation are no longer good enough to protect public health."
- see SECTION 1
<http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/docs/section_1.pdf>: Summary for the Public (Conclusions)
I am a home owner within 300 feet of the Apostolic Church on Harris Street.
Respectfully submitted,
Kindrick Ownby
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2 comments:
From W.E.E.P. News:
Wifi and Electromagnetic fields.
Andrew Goldsworthy. Oct. 2008
We are constantly being misled by elements of the mobile phone and electronics industries (who have huge vested interests in the infrastructure) into believing that the pulsed microwaves used in cell phones and Wifi are harmless. Their sole justification for this is that the radiation is too weak to generate significant heat when they are absorbed by living tissues.
However, they are seemingly oblivious to the fact that living cells depend on electricity and electrically charged atoms and molecules (ions) to maintain their healthy functioning. They can therefore be damaged electrically by electromagnetic radiation that is far too weak to generate significant heat.
For example, our cells use the energy from food to pump ions out of mitochondria (the cells’ power stations). They are then let back in through an ATPase (an enzyme not unlike a molecular water wheel). Each turn of the wheel generates a molecule of ATP, which is the main energy currency of the cell. In effect, an electric current flowing into and out of these tiny structures provides virtually all of our bodily energy.
Some of this ATP is then used to pump ions out of the cell. When they return via special enzymes (called transporters) in the cell membrane, they can carry with them essential nutrients that the cell needs to absorb. So we use electricity to absorb our food too.
Another example is in our nerve and brain cells. They use ATP to pump sodium and potassium ions across their external membranes. Nerve impulses are generated when these ions are suddenly let back again to give sharp spikes of current.
Last but not least, the membranes themselves (which are only two molecules thick!) are held together electrically. They consist mostly of negatively charged molecules bound together by positively charged ions (mostly calcium), which act as a kind of cement.
Unfortunately, weak electromagnetic fields gently tease out some of these calcium ions, which weakens the membranes and makes them more inclined to leak. As a result, our bodies become less efficient at generating energy and our nerve and brain cells are more likely to generate false impulses.
False impulses generated in sensory cells can give symptoms of electrosensitivity, whereas those generated in the brain can affect mental function and may also lead to stress headaches. Even people who do not regard themselves as electrosensitive, frequently get headaches and other unpleasant symptoms when exposed for long periods to the radiation from Wifi, cordless phones and mobile phones.
Other reported effects from prolonged exposure to pulsed microwaves include an increase risk of cancer and a loss of fertility. This seems to be associated with observable damage to cellular DNA, probably as a result of the leakage of digestive enzymes from lysosomes (tiny particles in living cells that digest and recycle waste) whose membranes have been damaged by the radiation.
Pulses carried by microwaves are particularly dangerous. This is because their very short wavelength allows the transmission of pulses with extremely rapid rise and fall times, and it is the rate of change of the fields (rather than their total energy) that does most of the biological damage; it catapults vital calcium ions away from cell membranes, which in turn makes them leak. This leakage can explain the great majority of the observed adverse health effects of prolonged exposure to electromagnetic radiation (for more on this, together with references, please visit http://tinyurl.com/55286a ).
It is therefore unwise and arguably dangerous to be exposed for long periods to the radiation from Wifi transmitters, cordless phones and mobile phones (especially their base stations, which run 24/7). They should certainly not be deployed in public places until all the risks have been independently evaluated. Any claims that they are harmless because they do not generate significant heat are completely unwarranted.
Andrew Goldsworthy BSc PhD
Lecturer in Biology (retired)
Imperial College London
From W.E.E.P. News:
From www.mastsanity.org
Mobile Phone Masts
There are now over 50,000 Mobile Phones Masts in the UK. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Masts can look like big towers that seem similar to pylons but don’t have wires attached. They can be tall poles that look like lamp posts but don’t have a light on top. Masts can also be what look like sticks or long grey or white boxes put at the top of buildings such as schools, hospitals, colleges, flats and offices. They can even just be small boxes the size of burglar alarms, often placed on the sides of shops in shopping centres and along high streets. Avoiding masts is almost impossible.
What’s Wrong With Masts?
“Cancer Clusters” have been found around Mobile Phone Masts, up to 400 metres from a mast. People living near each other and close to a mast have ended up with rare cancers at nearly the same time as each other. These people live where they are getting the strongest signal from the nearby mast(s). This has been the case in Devon, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire. It isn’t just cancer! Other people living in these areas, close to masts commonly find they get many common symptoms including heart palpitations (flutters), lots of headaches, nose bleeds, problems sleeping, itchy burning skin and feel really depressed.
Mobile Phone Masts give out the same sort of microwave radiation in their signals as microwave ovens use to cook food but the signals also carry data sent along in packets or 'pulses'. Unfortunately the UK Government's Safety guidelines only give us short term protection from being cooked by the microwaves – they’ve ignored the evidence that microwaves can harm us without making us hot.
Many German and European doctors (equivalent to our GPs) are so concerned that they have signed petitions such as the “Freiburger Appeal” to demand that Governments take the other health concerns over Mobile Telephone Masts more seriously.
These Doctors have noticed more and more of the following health problems when Mobile Phone Masts have been put up in their areas:-
• Learning problems
• Trouble concentrating
• Behavioural disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Extremely high and extremely low Blood Pressure – and swapping between the 2
• Medicines stop working as well, so prescriptions have to increase
• Heart Rhythms get upset
• Sudden Heart Attacks and Strokes happening in younger and younger people
• More Brain diseases such as Alzheimer‘s, Parkinson’s, Motor Neurone Disease and Epilepsy
• More Cancers, Leukaemia and Brain Tumours
• More and worse Headaches and Migraines
• Constantly being tired, getting sleepless and being sleepy during the day
• People feeling anxious all the time
• Ringing in the ears (Tinnitus)
• People more likely to get infections, colds, allergies and viruses
• People feeling pains in their nerves and bodies for no apparent cause
When Doctors in a town in Germany (West Kempten) decided to prove that it was the Mobile Phone Mast that was causing these problems they took lots of blood samples from people before and after a new mast was put up and turned on. The people also stopped using their mobiles, cordless phones, wireless internet and other wireless/mobile gadgets too.
The results were very clear. The levels of two vital chemicals serotonin and melatonin found in the blood were found to be seriously altered once the mast was turned on.
Serotonin levels were halved. Serotonin controls your mood, anger, aggression, body temperature, sleep, sexuality, appetite and metabolism. Many of the people found themselves feeling moody, depressed, tired, and lethargic. Some also felt agitated and had lost their appetites. Nearly all felt really down. The people’s Melatonin levels were too high during the day and much too low at night. Melatonin is a hormone that is important in boosting the immune system and fighting cancer. It protects your DNA from damage. Since it also helps regulate sleep you want it high at night time otherwise you will be restless at night and tired during the day. If your immune system isn’t boosted enough you will become ill easier, stay ill longer and can’t fight cancer so well.
The Doctors wanted the Mobile Phone Mast to be turned off again.
In another town in Germany (Naila) Doctors looked at nearly 1000 medical records. They found that patients who had lived within 400 metres of a mast for 10 years were much more likely to get cancer than those further away. Patients fell ill with cancer nearly 8 years younger. 5 years after the mast was installed the chance of people getting cancer near to the mast was 3 times higher than it was for people further away. Other studies
have shown the same kind of pattern.
Some Scientists have also found that levels of nitric oxide and calcium ions in the body are upset by microwaves. Too much nitric oxide can lead to Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes and cancer, whilst too little can cause high blood pressure and damage your arteries.
Calcium ions are used by cells to communicate. If they leak out of cells they stimulate cancer cell growth. If too many get into cells the cells get damaged and your DNA gets broken up. This damages fertility.
What Can I do?
Remember, There Is A Choice. If you really do care about your friends, your family, yourself and the world you live in, please do the following:
• Cancel Your Mobile Phone Contract ASAP if you have one (If you are worried about emergencies swap to “pay as you go” until you are happy to do without.)
• If you must keep your phone, use it as little as possible and just stick to talking and texting – ignore all other functions and activities.
• Realise that every call or text needs a mast, and that more calls or texts mean more masts nearby.
• Put Health First, NOT the profits of the Phone and Gadget companies. They will not pay for you to get well again, so don’t give them the money to make you sick in the first place. You can’t buy your health or your life back, nor those of your children or family, if they become ill or die.
• Tell everyone about this leaflet, its contents and where to get it from.
• Read up on the science, facts and shielding materials at www.mastsanity.org/masts and tell others.
• Write to your MP and local Councillors to tell them that you too are concerned about the health issues and demand that they take real action.
• Take action by joining support groups such as Mast Sanity
• If you already live near a mast you should consider shielding your home from the microwaves The Mobile Companies and Government claim that this technology is all safe – but they would since they are making Billions of pounds from it every year. They can’t afford to admit that it’s dangerous.
Since when should we listen to the safety assurances from these people (who make billions of pounds selling us their products) over and above independent scientists' warnings?
If nothing else look into the facts for yourself – take care to look at the work of truly Independent scientists, not those paid directly or indirectly from Government and the Telecom Companies.
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