Dear Editor:
In the Summerland Review of July 16, Chris Gerritsen of Telus stated that the proposed cellular transmitter to be erected off of Fyffe Road in Summerland will emit 15 watts of energy.
This is a deception used by cell phone companies to lead the public to believe that their electromagnetic radiation emissions would be similar to a 15 watt light bulb. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Electromagnetic radiation field strength is determined by wattage and frequency. A cellular telephone transmitter will emit billions times more electromagnetic radiation than a light bulb because it operates at billions of times higher frequency.
You also stated your transmitter emits 160,000 times less electromagnetic radiation than the safety code limits. This is also a deception.
What cell phone companies do not tell us is these safety limits are based upon how much radiation it takes to heat up your body. It takes millions of times more radiation to excessively heat a human than what it takes to trigger your cells to initiate a disease process like cancer.
These diseases are called non-thermal effects.
According to the BioInnitative Report, which can be read online at www.bioinitiative.org, your transmitter, if installed, will emit dangerous levels of non-thermal microwave radiation throughout Summerland.
Mr. Gerritsen, would you sign a statement that the proposed tower is safe for all persons and animals living within the range of the microwave transmitter? Also, if at some time in the future your transmitters are shown to be harmful, will you be responsible for any illnesses as a result of your tower?
Will you sign it, Mr. Gerritsen? Yes or no?
Krista Klingler
Summerland
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feds withheld data on risks of using a cellphone behind the wheel
By Amy Farnsworth | 07.21.09 The Christian Science Monitor.
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/07/21/feds-withheld-data-on-risks-of-using-a-cellphone-behind-the-wheel/#comment-12697
Even more evidence that driving while using a cellphone could be a serious safety hazard came to the forefront Tuesday.
Since 2003, the federal National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has withheld publishing studies and research depicting the risks of drivers using cellphones behind the wheel. On Tuesday, those reports were made public for the first time by two consumer advocacy groups, The Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, who obtained the unreleased documents after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2008. The New York Times has published these documents online.
The papers, which were concealed from the public, detail numerous studies conducted by the highway safety agency to determine the risks of using a cellphone while driving. The papers also include draft cellphone policy proposals.
One of the documents, a draft cellphone policy by the NHTSA recommends that drivers "do not use these devices [cellphones] when driving, except in an emergency. Moreover, we are convinced that legislation forbidding the use of hand-held cellphones while driving may not be effective in improving highway safety since it will not address the problem. In fact, such legislation may erroneously imply that hands-free phones are safe to use while driving."
The New York Times reports that the agency did publish some of the findings in a bibliography on its website, though one of the bibliography's researchers, Chris Monk, says the research, which he called "a stripped-out summary," was "almost laughable."
However, the majority of these documents were never made public by administrators, such as the former head of the traffic safety agency, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, who feared public officials, and members of Congress, would consider such research as lobbying efforts, according to The New York Times. The research ultimately was shelved because the agency found it was "too inconclusive," John Flaherty, former chief of staff for former NHSTA secretary Norman Y. Mineta, told the New York Times.
While hands-free devices were considered safer alternatives, and laws were passed to require the use of hands-free devices in certain states, the New York Times reports that unpublished NHTSA research "shows that drivers using a cellphone are four-times more likely to crash as other drivers, and as likely to cause an accident at someone with a .08 blood alcohol content."
A draft letter addressed to state governors, and written by Mr. Mineta also explains "that both hand-held and hands-free cellphones increase the risk of a crash. Indeed, research has demonstrated that little, if any difference between the use of hand-held and hands-free phones in contributing to the risk of driving while distracted. In either operational mode, we have found that the cognitive distraction is significant enough to degrade a driver's performance."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Swiss Federal Parliament: Bill proposed by 54 MPs
- "Reduce the level of exposure to non-ionizing radiation"
- Demand for the creation of refuge zones of 0.3 V/m for the EHS, and for banning relay antennas close to schools and other sensitive places.
- All Next-up News: www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/2009.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NCC partners ITWorld Magazine on mobile EMR forum
Technology Jul 21, 2009
Stakeholders in Nigeria will come together on August 11, 2009 in Lagos for a one-day public forum to deliberate on the health concerns arising from mobile phones and base stations.
The forum with the theme "Mobile phone, Base Stations and Health Concerns"" is being hosted by ITWorld Int'l Magazine in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders in the industry.
This event is taking place as part of the magazine''s contribution to engender public discourse on issues of public interest to Nigerians on the use of mobile phones and base stations.
The forum will adequately provide information to participants on growing fears that base stations and mobile phones pose risk to health. The editor/chief executive officer of ITWorld Int'l Magazine, Enyi Moses said:
""The increased use of mobile phones in Nigeria and around the world has raised public interest in possible health issues (if any) associated with exposure to electromagnetic energy. People are concerned about the health and safety effects arising from possible harmful emissions from mobile phone handsets and base stations.
""The fears have been elevated to such a level that those who live close to base stations express unnecessary concerns and are beginning to converge to pressure government to order that base stations be cited away from city centres and residential areas. It is the need to provide adequate answers to these growing fears that concerned stakeholders are converging to give the true and scientific reports on the effect of base stations and mobile handsets to humans.
""It is therefore crucial that the Nigerian public is correctly educated to allay their fears that these allegations about base stations and mobile phones are not only unfounded but baseless and not supported by any scientific proof.
It is noteworthy that across Europe and the US base stations and cell sites are sited on top of rooftops of residential buildings without anybody losing sleep about cancer and radiations.
The forum will make the issues of radiation from mobile phone systems and base stations more understandable. It will also provide definitive answers to questions and issues such as what is radiation?
· Are there any health risks if you live or work near a base station?
· Can I get brain cancer or any other related illness from using mobile phones?
Confirmed speakers at this one day forum include William Saad, MD/CEO of IHS Plc; Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice Chairman Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC); Wale Goodluck, Corporate Services Executive MTN Nigeria, keynote presentations from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the Mobile Manufacturers Association based in Belgium, Europe.
If anyone is thinking about believing this (false) statement (from the above story) -
""It is therefore crucial that the Nigerian public is correctly educated to allay their fears that these allegations about base stations and mobile phones are not only unfounded but baseless and not supported by any scientific proof.
They should visit http://www.bioinitiative.org to get the true facts.