Hi All
It is strange, that in the past birds have been able to adapt and live in very polluted conditions in cities around the world. Now there is electro magnetic radiation polluting cities, even the birds cannot live. Reports such as this (below) have appeared in many different cities and different countries.
Martin Weatherall
---------------------------------------------------
As the crow flies: birds flee Tehran's polluted air
Exodus of the resilient black crow follows flight of other wildlife from Iranian capital
Robert Tait
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 January 2009 14.36 GMT
Article history
Tehran's notoriously bad air pollution has long been a health hazard for its 12 million people, but now the toxic mix of fumes has sent a different set of residents fleeing – the city's black crows.
Environmentalists say the hitherto pollution-resistant population of crows have fled in large numbers in recent days after air quality reached crisis levels. Unregulated urban development has also destroyed the birds' habitats.
The crow exodus occurred less than three weeks after high levels of carbon monoxide and other gases in the air drove off other species of bird, including nightingales and pigeons.
Experts fear the departure of the crow – long decried in Iranian culture as a symbol of bad news and gossip – could be the death knell for wildlife in Tehran, where many plants have already lost their smell and colour as a result of the polluted atmosphere.
Mohammad Bagher Sadough, the head of the city's environment agency, said the crow exodus was a sign of a disturbed ecosystem. Eventually the remaining bird species will also leave, turning the city into an urban desert of high-rise buildings and traffic jams.
"Pollution is not the only element in the flight of crows and others birds, but it is among the most important," he told the Mehr news agency. "Habitats have been destroyed and the perpetuation of bird life has become impossible.
"The continued existence of crows, particularly with the departure of other birds, had given us hope that wildlife could survive in the city. With their migration that hope is fading and our concern over the destructiveness of urban environments has deepened."
Dr Jamshid Mansouri, an Iranian biodiversity expert, said the birds would be forced to seek new habitats in rural environments, where they were threatened by predators and possible extinction.
"If the process continues, eventually no birds will be able to live in Tehran," Mansouri added.
The polluted air is traditionally at its worst in winter, when a thick curtain of smog hangs over the city for days on end – frequently forcing residents to wear protective face masks. On occasions the poor air quality has prompted the authorities to close schools and urge people with respiratory ailments to stay indoors.
The city council estimates that 80% of the toxic gases are caused by cars, with large numbers of motorbikes compounding the problem. A new report by Tehran's Controlling Air Quality Company estimates that cars in the city emit 4,400 tonnes of pollutants each day.
----------------------------------------------
Hello All,
I am forwarding an email that I have just sent to Thames Water. I will let you know if I get a reply.
Best wishes
Andrew
P.S. "Electromagnetic Fields and Health: Executive Report - 2009" is now on the Mast Sanity Website at http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=262&Itemid=136 - The tinyurl is http://tinyurl.com/89ztqe It seems to be quite popular.
--- On Mon, 19/1/09, ANDREW GOLDSWORTHY <andrew.goldsworthy1@btinternet.com> wrote:
From: ANDREW GOLDSWORTHY <andrew.goldsworthy1@btinternet.com>
Subject: Mobile Phone Antennas on Water Towers
To: cr_feedback@thameswater.co.uk
Date: Monday, 19 January, 2009, 9:01 AMDear Sirs,
You are doubtless aware that there are many water conditioners on the market that are designed to remove lime scale from plumbing and also to prevent new scale forming. They nearly all work by applying a weak pulsed electromagnetic field to the water as it passes through the supply pipe. This affects the balance of ions bound to colloidal impurities to make them more attractive to calcium ions. The affected colloidal particles can then slowly remove lime scale from plumbing as well as forming efficient crystal nuclei that results in any new scale forming on them (and remaining in suspension) rather than on surfaces.
The point I want to make is that the pulsed radiation from mobile phone antennas mounted on water towers could have a similar effect on the water stored inside so that the entire water supply from the tank could be conditioned (N.B. the conditioning effect can last for several days). At first sight, this might seem a good thing, but conditioned water can have biological effects (see attached paper) and could be mildly toxic in its own right.
However, perhaps more serious is that if it were to remove the protective lime scale from lead plumbing, the water would become contaminated with lead,and the customers concerned would suffer lead poisoning. Perhaps you should investigate this as a matter of urgency and, if my fears are justified, ask the mobile phone operators concerned to remove their antennas from your water towers.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Goldsworthy BSc PhD
Honorary Lecturer
Imperial College London
