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| Texas towers feared for unsafe radiation | |
| USA | Created: 24 Sep 2009 |
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Everyone wants the convenience of supply without the inconvenience of service. What at first appeared to be a classic case of 'Not in my Backyard,' recent complaints regarding cell phone towers revealed concerns about more than just aesthetics. "Cell phone towers seem to be cropping up everywhere, without any control," Medina resident Carol Boyd told commissioners during their Sept. 10 regular session. Citing health concerns, safety, 24-hour flashing strobe lights and declining property values as but a few direct consequences from cell phone towers, Boyd said the Texas towers may launch an epidemic of medical problems that could be fatal. The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the antennas is analogous to microwave radiation, Boyd said, which does not have to be thermal or heated. "It contributes to brain and eye cancer, sterilization, tumor growth...horrible conditions you don't even want to think about," Boyd said. She told the court that a cell phone tower in excess of 320 feet was scheduled for erection on Hwy. 16 just outside of Medina, across the street from a subdivision with 20 lots and other residential frontage properties. Boyd accused the property owner of leasing the land to the cell phone company without any concern for her neighbors or family members. "She had a plan in mind to make money at everybody else's expense," Boyd said. Boyd filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, as well as urged Senators John Cornyn and Carlos Uresti to push for an investigation. She said that reports are ambiguous at best, publishing statements such as endangered species "probably" would not be affected, despite confirmed sightings of threatened species like the golden cheeked warbler on neighboring properties. Boyd said that the birds leave the area in June and return at the onset of spring, which is why they were not seen. "Cell phone towers can literally go anywhere because no one checks these reports," Boyd said. Armed with 24 letters of protest, Boyd said that the International Association of Fire Fighters has voted to oppose the placement of cell phone towers on any properties used as fire stations. "The International Association of Fire Fighters' position on locating cell towers commercial wireless infrastructure on fire department facilities, as adopted by its membership in August 2004, is that the IAFF oppose the use of fire stations as base stations for towers and/or antennas for the conduction of cell phone transmissions until a study with the highest scientific merit and integrity on health effects of exposure to low-intensity RF/MW radiation is conducted and it is proven that such sitings are not hazardous to the health of our members," states the IAFF website. A pilot study conducted in 2004 observed six California fire fighters who worked and slept in stations where towers were located. The study indicated that, after up to five years of exposure, the fire fighters showed symptoms such as slowed reaction time, lack of focus, lack of impulse control, severe headaches, depression and tremors. According to the IAFF, brain scans revealed abnormal changes, which scientists speculate were caused by radio frequency exposure from the towers. Boyd called upon commissioners to take action by forming a planning commission so that they might be able to enact zoning and planning authority. "I cannot believe that the state would allow municipalities to control zoning but not give counties any zoning authority for cell phone towers," Boyd said. "We obviously have to have cell phone coverage, but the towers need to be located not in residential neighborhoods, not on schools or churches or public buildings." Playing devil's advocate, Pct. 2 Constable Ernest Reich, who has held an FCC commercial license for 50 years, offered another opinion on the safety reports from Boyd and the IAFF. He said that the radiation emitted by an antenna is a fraction of what is transmitted in the tower. Reich said that cell phones alone emit 500 Milo watts of radiation. "Towers are not a health threat compared with you holding a cell phone to your head," Reich said. "If [there is an epidemic of] brain tumors, it's because of that cell phone you're holding, not the cell phone towers." |
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| Click here to view the source article. | |
| Source: Bandera Bullertin, Jessica Hawley-Jerome, 22 Sep 2009 | |
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