Village in Granada to hold a referendum on mobile telephone coverage
The inhabitants of Los Villares, in La Peza in the province of Granada will decide today by referendum whether they want to have mobile telephone coverage in their vicinity which only has around 120 inhabitants. The initiative for the referendum came from La Peza’s Mayoress, Celia Santiago (PP).
Los Villares is one of many rural communities in Spain without a mobile phone signal and, according to Celia Santiago, a lot of locals have expressed interest in having the option of using mobile phones. Most of the population of Los Villares are over 60 years old and, according to their Mayoress, they worry about needing to contact someone urgently. Locals who work in the countryside have also expressed interest in being contactable by mobile phone.
However, in order to put Los Villares on the mobile network, an antenna would have to be installed in the village centre next to the social club which is why the Mayoress decided to call a referendum.
She claims that there are no definite findings over whether this type of antenna is damaging to health or not, but prefers for the locals to make their own decision about installing one so near.
The referendum is being held today between 10.00 and 20.00 hours in the locality’s Cultural Centre. It will be controlled by the Town Council’s secretary along with 3 other Council officials. The local police from La Peza are in charge of security with back up from police in Darro. The result of the referendum will be known this evening.
Related: Guide to Granada
Congratulations on keeping your beautiful village free from phone masts.
I am one of the many cancer victims who believe that radiation from a phone mast caused my breast cancer at the age of 38; I discovered that I was living in a cancer cluster surrounding the mast in Wishaw, Sutton Coldfield, UK, we have since discovered that we are not alone and know of many other cancer clusters around phone masts after long term exposure. Many people are also suffering from a condition known as electrosensitivity.
I have enclosed a copy of the recent and very important BioInitiative Report, I would be grateful if you could read this report and share it with your friends, family and colleagues, also read the details about the Alaska Supreme court decision award for RF Radiation injury below thermal exposure levels.
The BioInitiative Report demonstrates that the ICNIRP thermal standards currently promoted by the mobile phone Industry and Government are clearly out of date and new safety standards need to be urgently adopted, we should encourage our decision makers to listen to this group of renowned scientists who have produced the BioInitiative Report and are issuing another wake-up call after reviewing over 2000 pieces of research.
Kind Regards
Eileen O’Connor
Trustee – EM Radiation Research Trust
http://www.radiationresearch.org
BioInitiative Report:
A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public Exposure Standard
for Electromagnetic Fields (ELF and RF)
Each of the links below opens a PDF file in a new browser window. When done with a particluar file, closing the window will bring you back to this page.
August 31, 2007 – Serious Public Health Concerns Raised Over Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) from Powerlines and Cell Phones. (pdf) (html)
An international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (The BioInitiative Working Group) has released its report on electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health. They document serious scientific concerns about current limits regulating how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.
The report concludes the existing standards for public safety are inadequate to protect public health.
Añadimos a nuestra sección de estudios científicos sobre electromagnetismo el enlace a
BioInitiative Report:
A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public Exposure Standard
for Electromagnetic Fields (ELF and RF)
Contact: info@bioinitiative.org
Cindy Sage Tel: 805-969-0557
Renowned Scientists Issue Wake-up Call on EMF and RF Radiation Hazards
State University of New York at Albany / August 30 / An international working group of renowned scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (The BioInitiative Working Group) has released its report on electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and health. It raises serious concerns about the safety of existing public limits that regulate how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.
The report documents scientific evidence raising worries about health impacts including childhood leukemia (from power lines and other electrical exposures), brain tumors and acoustic neuromas (from cell and cordless phones) and Alzheimers disease. There is evidence that EMFs are a risk factor for both childhood and adult cancers. EMFs from such sources as electric power lines, interior wiring and grounding of buildings and appliances are linked to increased risks for childhood leukemia and may set the stage for adult cancers later in life.
The BioInitiative Report (www.bioinitiative.org) to be released on Friday, August 31, 2007 documents the scientific evidence that power line EMF exposure is responsible for hundreds of new cases of childhood leukemia every year in the United States and around the world.
Wireless technologies that rely on radiofrequency radiation (RF) to send emails and voice communication are thousands of times stronger than levels reported to cause sleep disorders, headaches, problems with memory and concentration and other adverse physical symptoms.
Public health expert and co-editor of the Report Dr. David O. Carpenter, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, New York states:
This report stands as a wake-up call that long-term exposure to some kinds of EMFs may cause serious health effects. Good public health planning is needed now to prevent cancers and neurological diseases linked to exposure to power lines and other sources of EMFs. We need to educate the public and our decision makers that business as usual is unacceptable.
Co-editor Cindy Sage of Sage Associates asserts:
Public health and EMF policy experts have now given their opinion of the weight of evidence. The existing FCC and international limits for public and occupational exposure to EMFs and RF radiation are not protective of public health.
New public safety limits and limits on further deployment of risky technologies are warranted based on the total weight of evidence.
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A print version is available in PDF format at: http://www.emrpolicy.org/news/press/index.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2007
Contact: Janet Newton – The EMR Policy Institute
Tel: (802) 426-3035
Email: JNewton@emrpolicy.org
Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Award for
RF Radiation Injury Below Thermal Exposure Level
The Alaska Supreme Court (Court) upheld the decision of the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board (Board) awarding an AT&T equipment installer 100% disability as a result of his workplace electromagnetic field exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation at levels slightly above the FCC RF safety limit. The award was based on the psychological and cognitive effects of RF radiation over-exposure. This decision is significant because the FCC RF limit is designed to keep people from being heated and ignores evidence of other adverse biological effects at much lower levels.
The RF radiation exposure level in question was well below the FCC’s recognized level of “thermal” harm. The FCC contends that there are no scientifically established harmful health effects below the thermal threshold. The Board decision agrees with the medical experts who found adverse health effects from this RF radiation exposure which occurred above the FCC safety limit but below the thermal threshold. This decision could have a very significant financial impact on the wireless industry going forward.
The Alaska Supreme Court found that:
Because substantial evidence supports the board’s findings and because the board’s procedural decisions did not deprive AT&T of due process, we affirm the superior court’s judgment that affirmed the board’s ruling.
This precedent-setting case opens the door for any wireless industry or maintenance worker who has been exposed to antenna arrays on the job site that have not been shut off to file disability claims should they suffer similar cognitive and neurological symptoms. US wireless service providers are not required to document compliance with FCC RF safety limits by on-site radiation measurements. Millions of workers occupy worksites on a daily basis where operating antenna arrays are camouflaged and where no workplace RF safety program is carried out.
The complete text of Alaska Supreme Court OPINION No. 6139 – July 6, 2007 is found at:
http://www.emrpolicy.org/litigation/case_law/index.htm
BACKGROUND
AT&T worker John Orchitt suffered a slightly elevated RF exposure while installing new computer equipment at a job site where he believed that the amplifier had been turned off before he and his co-worker entered the job site. When the co-worker’s safety meter registered its highest level of RF exposure the two workers realized that there was a problem. They discovered that the engineer who had provided the specifications for their job had misidentified which amplifier needed to be turned off. Orchitt was exposed to a six gigahertz signal operating at approximately 90 watts.
Immediately after the accident, Orchitt experienced headaches and eye pain. Later he reported complaints of “mental slowing.” His neurologist ordered an MRI examination which showed “tiny areas of hypersensitivity in the frontal lobes.” The neurologist referred Orchitt to Dr. Marvin Ziskin, professor of radiology and medical physics at Temple University. Dr. Ziskin is also a member of the IEEE”S International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES). Using information that Orchitt provided, Dr. Ziskin concluded that Orchitt had been overexposed to RF radiation.
Orchitt sought treatment at the Brain Injury Association of Alaska. His care provider there issued an opinion stating that he was suffering from a cognitive disorder due to his RF radiation exposure. She provided him with ongoing rehabilitation therapy to address his continuing complaints of mental slowing and mood changes. She also referred him to Dr. Daniel Amen, psychiatrist, who performed a SPECT scan with measures blood flow in the brain to identify functional changes. Dr. Amen concluded that Orchitt had some decreased brain activity as well as depression, and given the history, attributed these neurological impairments to Orchitt’s RF radiation exposure.
Numerous subsequent examinations were carried out by the panel of doctors retained by AT&T and also by independent experts retained by the Board, including computer modeling of Orchitt’s RF exposure by Dr. Arthur Guy, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. Guy has done extensive work in the area of the biological effects of RF radiation. Guy’s comprehensive calculations of the “worst case scenario” produced an exposure that was approximately 9.5% over the FCC’s exposure limits, but “not enough to cause biological effects.”
At the conclusion of the hearing process the Board’s decision and order found that Orchitt had been exposed to excessive amounts of RF radiation. The Board decided that Orchitt’s mental deficits and depression were the result of the overexposure. He was awarded temporary total disability and medical benefits.
AT&T appealed to the superior court which affirmed the Board’s decision, finding that the decision was supported by substantial evidence and that AT&T’s due process rights had not been violated.
AT&T appealed the superior court’s decision to the Alaska Supreme Court. Along with arguing that it was not accorded its due process, AT&T argued that none of the experts upon which the Board relied had sufficient expertise in RF radiation exposure to be able to connect Orchitt’s overexposure to RF radiation.
The Alaska Supreme Court decision cites previous case law and states:
The board has the sole power to determine witness credibility and assign weight to medical testimony. When medical experts disagree about the cause of an employee’s injury, we have held that as a general rule “it is undeniably the province of the Board and not this court to decide who to believe and who to distrust.’
The Court concluded that:
The board did not abuse its discretion in its procedural rulings; it therefore did not deny AT&T due process. Because substantial evidence exists in the record to support the board’s findings, we AFFIRM the superior court judgment that affirmed the board’s rulings.
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Janet Newton, President
The EMR Policy Institute
P.O. Box 117
Marshfield VT 05658
Tel. & FAX: 802-426-3035
JNewton@emrpolicy.org
http://www.emrpolicy.org