Posted By RA Hi All, I am just only after being informed that a well known mobile tel co. are about to erect a mast close to my home, my children's creche and school, all within half a mile of each other. So as you can imagine I want to get as many facts together before rushing to an assumption. This company are coming to meet with a few of us v soon and they are giving us an opportunity to put our concerns forward. So this is where I REALLY need you help- does anyone have any information on this subject for the uk- studies, reports or other evidence to give me a clear picture on this issue. RA

Posted By Diane Thomason RA, Take a look at the Health Protection Agency http://www.hpa.org.uk/ra...bile_telephony/index.htm and http://www.hpa.org.uk/ra...ephony/base_stations.htm In the latter there are links to other reports and surveys. I have some material from a very good talk about this - if you'd like me to email it to you please contact me (dew5[cutthisout]@le.ac.uk). (please, no "me too" requests as the material is from someone else and they won't mind me sending it to one person but I don't want to spread it around too widely.) Personally I agree completely with Bob. I do not have concerns about mobile phone mast installations affecting me/mykids, having assessed all the evidence I have seen. I think you are doing absolutely the right thing gathering all the info you can. Ask all the questions you need to and make sure you are satisfied with the answers! BTW the [cutthisout] means exactly that. It protects email addresses on a web page from being trawled by spammers. To send a message, just cut that bit out to reveal the real email address!

Posted By Diane Thomason Goldacre is absolutely right. The info I have seen indicated that exposures from handsets are around 2000x higher than you would typically receive from the mast. Other people have also suggested the same as Goldacre - the more masts we have, the less hard the handset has to work, hence the less exposure from the handset. The NRPB (as was) recommended a precautionary approach, see http://www.hpa.org.uk/hp.../press_release_02_05.htm but as Bob says, there is no actual evidence of health risks.

Posted By John Webster The signal strength from the mast is the same as the signal strength from the mobile in your hand.

Posted By RA Thanks everyone- you have provided food for thought. Meeting with the Co. on Monday evening.

Posted By John Murgatroyd From the hysterical reaction in the press about cancer clusters near mobile phone masts/power lines/nuclear plants, you would expect that given the proliferation of power lines and masts there would be links between each....there aren't. There are more masts/power lines without clusters than with, many more. Another case of incorrect statistical interpretation.

Posted By John Murgatroyd The point I'm making is that there are vested interests on both sides. Poor science results in poor observation and poor results. There have been several thousand items of research on risks from mobile phones and masts, none has revealed any link between either phones or masts and cancer (plenty of links between mobile phones and lack of money though). You would have thought that with the use of the things being expremely widespread, people would have been dropping dead in their hundreds of thousands.......and they have, but not from brain cancer. The same for power lines, a few clusters equals a risk ? There are clusters of cancer everywhere, the majority of them not near any power lines, and not near mobile phone masts either. Another thing, when faced with "we've been transmitting televisions signals now for over 60 years at power levels in the HUNDREDS of kilowatts at frequencies that are much more risky (because of the wavelength) than mobiles and there aren't any clusters near those masts, the "science" community start going into overdrive and muttering about "digital" "antenna design" "colour of the plastic cases"...............etc. The FACTS of the matter are that there are a lot of POOR scientists doing POOR research following POOR grades and trying to make some money out of scare stories. As has been said before, just because a person is a scientist people shouldn't believe they know what they're saying. A good scientist makes a poor statistician. Remember "Meadows law" ? Another poor statistician who knew nothing about what he talked about. The end result should be you giving up your mobile and using landlines again, bearing in mind the FACT that you are exposed to MANY THOUSANDS of times the "radiation" exposure from a handset than from the gear mounted on a mast. And THAT is a FACT. You can always go to the powerwatch site for your "facts"....I doubt you'll pay any attention to it since it long ago went into overdrive about risks.... Make a "risk assessment" about mobile masts, using all the facts available about same. End result ?. You've got more chance being killed by it falling on your head !

Posted By John Murgatroyd http://www.zyra.org.uk/phonmast.htm http://www.apmobile.org.uk/apmobile%20rpt%203.pdf http://www.mobilemastinf...om/information/masts.htm and just for a balance: http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/masts.asp But I'm just wasting time, people will only accept absolute proof that masts are safe....in this world that ain't going to happen....living is a risk. If you want anyone to give you proof that mobile phone masts are safe, you ain't going to get it. The same way you aren't going to get proof that they are unsafe. What CAN be said is this: if your child is standing next to you while you're using your mobile then he/she is exposed to non-ionising radiation 10 (or more) times higher than from a mobile phone mast. So, in the absence of proof that RF radiation is safe I'm going to campaign for a total shut down of every RF transmitter in the country. No TV (transmitters of analogue use several hundred kilowatts and digital multiplexes use multiple transmitters of 10 KW each) No radar (heathrows approach radars pulse at 50 KW) Oh, and no microwave ovens...their leakage is frequently higher than from your personal mobile. And while we're at it, and reading the powerwatch site, better get the electric wiring out of your house as well !

Posted By Lilian McCartney It's been some time since I looked at this but remember that there was no evidence of any known health risks (someone once quoted as saying its hard to prove a negative)and levels they could measure for were well below limits (though with new powerful masts it would be interesting to see what's changed). Also, I was advised that the direct area below the 'mast' was the highest risk and therefore required some thought as to maintenance of said mast and if it was on your roof access/control measures to/for your maintenance people would be required.

Posted By Diane Thomason "Since either the school or council are making money out of this, the best route may well be to find another school for your kids" John, this is irony, right? Spare a thought for the person who posted the question, who is after evidence from which he can make up his mind. You are surely not seriously recommending he takes his kids away from their school?

Posted By Stephen D. Clarke I believe detailed current best practice with regard to base stations and mobile phones is outlined in the Stewart Report, which advocates a precautionary approach and other reports/guidance including the European Directive on Occupational Exposure to EMFs and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister PPG 8 document. These documents are available on the internet.

Posted By John Murgatroyd The facts are this RA; There has never been any direct link between mobile phone Rf emissions and health problems in any person. However, since the "if you don't know there isn't any harm definitely, assume there may be" approach rules.... 1. Find out whether the transmitters use the higher output power and cover a large area. If they do, ask the company if they will make sure that the antennas do not radiate over the school. If they won't, ask them to site the mast somewhere else.

Posted By Charles Robinson Tech SP The following link also relates to the same story http://dailytelegraph.ne...19112507-5001028,00.html

Posted By Chris Knagg http://www.icnirp.de/pubEMF.htm You may find this web site helpful. Mobile telecom sites are built to be ICNIRP compliant.

Posted By RA The meeting was quite informative- the well known Mobile Phone Company brought along a Professor in Applied Physics from University College Galway. This man stated at the begining of the meeting that he had no ties to the co. but throughout the meeting he was seen many times being extremely pro-said co. But to sum it up this professor fell silent when he was challenged on a few matters regarding his relationship with this co. The co. represented itself with the people dealing with land acquisitioning, so no technical info could be given by the company. The co. did say they noted the local concerns, but would proceed with the planning application and if this failed they would go higher to achieve the planning as they have a good "relationship" with the higher authority. At the end of the meeting the farmer who owns the land stood up (fair play to him) and spoke of his concerns, not regarding safety, but regarding the strong feeling of many people regarding its positioning (my main concern was that it was going to be an eyesore in its proposed position- beside a large beautiful lake)and as it is a rural community he said he had a lot to ponder. So the result- we have to wait to see what the farmer decides. So to each of you who took the time out to respond to this post, thank you. It is great to see such a response- especially when my own material was limited on this issue as was my time. Thanks, RA