Impacts

"Wherever we go, we will be immersed in a sea of low-level pulsed microwave signals." Ross Adey, M.D. Eminent scientist with over 20 years of research experience on non-ionizing radiation Professor of biochemistry, University of California at Riverside, California

Introduction

"Electrosmog: At What Price Convenience?" was written by B. Blake Levitt and Theresa Morrow, the activist who inspired a public form in April '07 on environmental radiation issues and who died of breast cancer in May '07, shortly thereafter.

Children's Health

Our children's health and well-being are among our greatest concerns. In late 2000, the UK Department of Health announced plans to require warning labels on cell phones and recommended limited use of cell phones by children and not siting wireless facilities near schools. Walt Disney Corporation announced they were pulling licensure agreements which gave cell phone manufacturers the right to market cell phones sheathed in Disney characters (see: http://www.wirelessimpacts.org//impacts/disney.html). Yet, in spite of these major cautionary developments, the wireless industry continues to aggressively market these devices to children and schools (see: http://www.vote.com/magazine/editorials/editorial1653001.phtml) by encouraging schools to site wireless facilities on school buildings and playing fields and to purchase wireless computers for use in the classroom. Such proposals need to be closely examined by school boards and parents. (See: Wireless Devices, Standards, and Microwave Radiation in the Education Environment, http://www.emrnetwork.org/schools/brown_paper.htm).

Here are a few examples of what is going on:

• The community served by Ossining High School in New York State became concerned about a cellular tower placed on school property and prepared this site to educate the parents and teachers: http://www.cyburban.com/~lplachta/safeweb2.htm

• The Effects of Non-Ionizing Radiation, a resolution which was introduced by School Board Member Julie Korenstein to the Los Angeles Unified School District banned cell towers on or near school properties. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org//impacts/la_resolution.html.

  The Los Angeles Unified School Board as of June 2000, passed a resolution opposing the future placement of cellular telecommunication towers on or adjacent to school property because of the potential health effect. California PUC (Public Utility Commission) issued an advisory on siting towers near schools and residences in 1995 which is not being enforced. http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/board/secretary/html/agendas/mt/mt06-27-0 0.html. Scroll down to Agenda Item IX. Motions and Resolutions for Action

• In Provo, Utah, the School district outlawed "distracting devices" such as mobile phones and pagers. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/provo_schools.html.

• School districts are taking action to protect children and teachers at school. Here is an example of what a town in England has done. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/school_alert.html.

• Wireless school plans on hold, Marin Independent Journal, Marin County, California, May 6, 2001. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/marin.html.

• California State PTA Resolution On Wireless Equipment/Cellular Phones and Antennas submitted to: the California State Parents and Teachers Association by Fletcher Hills Elementary PTA, Unit #1378, January 27, 2001. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/fletcher_hills.html.

• Antennas and towers proposed for elementary and secondary schools continue to be controversial

• Siting on college campuses are controversial as well

"...human demand for wireless and other broadcast technologies is actually fatal to some species. Songbirds, who migrate at night and navigate by the stars and Earth?s magnetic field, flock to lights near their flight level, such as those atop communications towers, when overcast skies limit visibility. Collisions with the tower, its surrounding guy wires, or other birds crowding toward the same lit space often prove fatal. Ornithologist Bill Evans estimates that U.S. towers kill 3 to 5 million birds annually (in Northeastern U.S. alone) Green Guide, Mothers and Others "The Cellular Tower Wars", May 1999, Alison Sloan, Associate Editor

Churches and Other Places of Worship

Churches are vulnerable to solicitations from commercial wireless carriers. Most churches need money for capital improvements and congregations are shrinking. In April 1999, a public forum on EMFs, called "Going Wireless" was held at Westminster Church in Tiburon, California, sponsored by the Council on Wireless Technology Impacts. This was one of the first forums in the U.S. for citizens, scientists and government officials to meet and discuss whether cellular phones and transmitting antennas posed a health risk to man and the environment. Westminster Church cancelled a contract with Sprint in 1997 after learning there were potential health risks. Their position, was and still is: "forgo the lease income and not allow the antenna to be placed on the steeple, "to be a good neighbor", just in case."

Here are some related news reports from that time:

• San Francisco ~ RF Health Forum ~ April 10, 1999
• An International Public Forum: Cell Phones, Antennas, Radio/TV Towers Health Risks of Going Wireless
• A Call for Public Cell Studies
• Cell Study: Hazards Are Real

Electrical Sensitivity

WHO Director-general reports she is electrically hypersensitive. "But I understand the scientists who warn. I think we have reason to be cautious, and not use the [mobile] phone more than necessary. And the younger you are, the more reason to take this seriously. I think you should follow the precautionary principle", Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General says. March 9, 2002.. English translation: http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/brundtland.html.

How Safe Is Wireless Computer Networking?, by Charles Moore, Contributing Columnist, Road Warrior, 09 December 1999. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/road_warrior.html.

Cleaner Air Signage Program in California -- In late 2001, California exercised strong initiative by adopting a new building standard that encourages voluntary compliance in providing disability access for persons with multiple chemical sensitivities or electrical sensitivity to and through public buildings or any facilities leased or rented by State of California. The purpose of the new standard is to allow safer paths of travel and cleaner air for persons with these disabling conditions so they may attend to their needs in publicly funded facilities. Concerned citizens and interested parties can help make this program work by encouraging voluntary adoption if this standard by managers of publicly funded buildings. For details, go to http://users.lmi.net/wilworks/events/clnerair.htm.

Environment

Sites on towers and effect on migratory birds

www.Towerkill.com

http://www.abcbirds.org/letter3.htm

"Wireless Personal Communications Services (PCS) Antenna and Tower Sitings: "Strategic issues and options for industry and local government" by Mark Brose brose@freenet.msp.mn.us Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/brose/papers/pcs.html#_Toc389511494

http://www.naco.org/counties/codes/cat_res.cfm?Category_Code=C41

Wireless tower locator http://www.berkana.com/tower.php3

 

Cash Comes Calling as Churches Rent Spacehttp://www.atheists.org/flash.line/church13.htm

Public Safety

Emerging information on the new public safety systems being installed around the world, their operating systems, the frequencies they employ for transmitters and handsets, which can be more powerful than cellular or 3G and, that transmit high frequency pulsed modulated digital signals and, the potential health effects. While CWTI supports improved public safety communications, we are concerned about the long term health effects on public safety personnel and the general public. More research is needed to justify the increased microwave pollution that these systems create.

Key Links:

• Dr. Grahame Blackwell
• TETRA overview from the European agency that sponsors the standard (ETSI) (PDF Format)
• Tetrapol info

Reflections On What It All Means

"Accept the evidence and minimize the (EMF/EMR) exposure by good design... One of the important things I promote is energy efficiency -- passive solar -- because that means you use the sunshine and the wind for your energy flows and you don't need electricity for most of it. So, you can drastically reduce your electrical requirements hence, your electric current and your power bill, and your health risks, by having good design, renewable energy. If you can use the energy that falls on your property, whether it's ventilation energy, solar energy, or rainfall energy, then you have a much more sustainable and cleaner environment, and sustainable society. We have been encouraged to move to technological control. I'm suggesting we ought to smart design, because that when I'm talking about, the Greeks knew 3,000 years ago. And forgetting that is costing us a great deal in our economy and also in our health." - from talk by Neil Cherry, O.N.Z.M, PhD., San Francisco, March 2002.

Hear Tell: Invisibility, Invasiveness, and the Cell Phone by Chellis Glendinning. Published in Wild Matters, March 2002. http://www.wirelessimpacts.org/impacts/chellis.html.