Wednesday, May 13, 2009

interview Dr. Magda Havas / Protest shuts cell tower / Connecticut proclaims EMS /America's Addiction e / Cellphone Ban After Boston Trolley Crash

New 740 AM - Zoomer Radio interview Dr. Magda Havas
 
Magda Havas is going to be interviewed for 20 minutes on the Dale  Goldhawk Radio show in Toronto "the New 740 AM - Zoomer Radio" between 12:10 and 12:30 pm (EST) on Thursday May 14th.  It is going to have a call-in section so some people may want to share their experiences with EHS and CFLs. I don't have the number but they will announce it on air.

Here is their website.

http://www.am740.ca/site/schedule-index.cfm?documentid=1017

People can listen online if they want.  Go to their main site www.am740.ca  and "click to listen"
 
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Protest shuts down cell tower construction

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 4:35 PM AT Comments23Recommend3

Protesters managed to shut down work on a Rogers cell tower in Charlottetown Wednesday by blocking an access road to the construction site.

Joan McNeil is concerned about the effect the cell tower will have on her health.
Joan McNeil is concerned about the effect the cell tower will have on her health. (CBC)

Construction on the tower, approved by Industry Canada over the wishes of city council, began earlier this week. It's in a field behind houses along Mount Edward Road, and local residents are concerned about the possible health effects of having a cell tower nearby. Among the protesters were nuns from a convent that is in the area.

"All the cancer it's caused," said protestor Joan McNeill.

"It's in the middle of the city, and I don't think a cell tower should be in the middle of the city."

Health Canada does not share the protesters' view that radiation from cellphone towers causes cancer, and Industry Canada ruled there was no reason for construction not to proceed.

The protest started in the morning. Demonstrators tied chains through a line of chairs across the access road, and waved work trucks away. The blockade was removed at the request of police, but the trucks did not return.

Charlottetown city council voted against the project in 2007. On Tuesday, the city issued a stop-work order because there was no permit to start construction.

Rogers says it intends to proceed with construction, and is working with City of Charlottetown lawyers to get the necessary permit.

Protesters said when work trucks return to the site, they will be there waiting for them

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Connecticut Governor proclaims May 2009 as Electromagnetic Sensitivity (EMS) Awareness Month.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102308

The proclamation was obtained by the hard work of CHRISTIANE TOURTET B.A. Founder/President of International MCS/EMS Awareness

http://www.nettally.com/prusty/mcs.htm

The direct link to the EMS proclamation is as follows:

http://www.nettally.com/prusty/JREMS2009.pdf

Please circulate the annoncement worldwide.

Thank you,

Christiane Tourtet B.A.

Founder/President

International MCS/EMS Awareness

http://www.nettally.com/prusty/mcs.htm

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America's Addiction To Cell Phones Unsafe

Posted:

05/12/09

Filed Under:The Cram

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/12/americas-addiction-to-cell-phones-unsafe/

Cell phone use has become an addiction in this country, and the results haven't been good.
Even the President found his nicotine habit was easier to kick than his cell phone addiction. President Obama was unwilling to relinquish his BlackBerry after being elected, immediately commissioning a top-secret model to be designed just for him.

But not cellular use has been good natured. Cell phones have helped contribute to much worse than tasteless text messages. Teenage "sexting" has increased, mass transit accidents and car crashes have occurred, prison violence has increased and a witness was assassinated before trial by order of an inmate with a cell phone.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to ask the Federal Communications Commission for permission to jam cell-phone signals at one of its state prisons to demonstrate its effectiveness at shutting down the inmates cell phone use. Cell-phone jammers, which prevent cell-tower transmissions from reaching the targeted phone, are not to be used by state and local agencies per the Communications Act of 1934.

Cell phone use by inmates in the Maryland prison system apparently has become a big problem for the state. In 2008, 947 cell phones were confiscated by corrections officials by using specially trained dogs, according to Gov. O'Malley. Those numbers indicate a 71 percent increase in confiscations since 2006. Cell-phone use has helped inmates coordinate attacks on prison staff which have decreased by 32 percent over the same period.

Last week, a Baltimore drug dealer who used a cell phone in the city jail to plan the killing of a trial witness was sentenced to life without parole. A cell-phone related case also went down in Texas earlier this month, where a death row inmate was indicted in a purported cell-phone smuggling case that led to a statewide prison lockdown.

About 50 people were hurt in a Boston underground train accident. The conductor admitted he had been texting his girlfriend and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is now saying it will ban public bus and train operators from using cell phones.
In San Antonio, a bus driver was fired this month after he rammed his bus into an SUV. A camera on the bus revealed that he had been texting on his cell phone.

Cell phones are being banned in school districts as well. Some teachers even claim that texting is stunting students' writing skills.
Should the government step in even further to avoid costly and potential deadly incidents in the future?

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Cellphone Ban After Boston Trolley Crash

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/us/10boston.html

By KATIE ZEZIMA and LIZ ROBBINS

Published: May 9, 2009

BOSTON — The chief of the Boston area's transit authority said on Saturday that he would prohibit train, bus and trolley operators from carrying cellphones and other personal electronic devices while working.

The announcement of the policy change came a day after the authorities said that a 24-year-old trolley operator ran a red light while he was text messaging and crashed into another trolley, injuring 49 people.

"They're not to have it on their person," Daniel A. Grabauskas, the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said of the devices. "They're not to bring it in the cab of the train or on board the bus. They're to leave it at home, leave it in their car, leave it in their locker or leave it with someone else"

Mr. Grabauskas said that under the policy change, operators who were found with cellphones or other personal electronic devices while on duty would be dismissed immediately.

The chief of the transit workers' union, Stephan G. MacDougall, said he supported the move.

"In our field of expertise, to deliver safe public transportation, it's clear that embracing a policy that prohibits even possessing a phone while operating a vehicle is not just appropriate, it's good public policy that's in the best public interest," said Mr. MacDougall, the president of the Boston Carmen's Union Local 589.

Under current rules, Boston transit employees are prohibited from talking or texting on cellphones while working, a policy in effect in many other places.

But Mr. Grabauskas's proposal would be one of the most restrictive bans on cellphone use by transit workers in the nation, including California, where 25 people were killed and 135 injured last September when the engineer of a Los Angeles commuter train collided with a freight train moments after sending a text message.

James A. Aloisi Jr., the Massachusetts secretary of transportation, said he agreed with the rule change.

"We have to be really firm and say 'you can't have them' because for some people the risk and temptation of using them is too great," Mr. Aloisi said.

The accident occurred at 7:17 p.m. Friday as many people were heading home from work or to Fenway Park for a game between the Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Mr. Grabauskas said that the operator of the trolley, which was outbound on the Green line from the Government Center station in downtown Boston, admitted to the authorities that he was text messaging his girlfriend at the time he rear-ended a trolley that had stopped.

"He was looking down at his phone," Mr. Grabauskas said. "He noticed red lights, looked up, attempted to apply the brake, and it was too late. He struck a train that was stopped at a red signal."

Forty-nine of the 124 passengers aboard the two trains were taken to hospitals, where they were treated for minor injuries, Mr. Grabauskas said.

Katie Zezima reported from Boston, and Liz Robbins from New York.