TETRAWATCH: latest news from the national research-based TETRA Airwave safety campaign

News page: 4

The german Ecolog Institute was commissioned in 2000 by Deutsche Telecom / T-Mobile to investigate the current scientific understanding of phones, health and precaution. It was strictly forbidden to examine athermal effects (biological effects unrelated to tissue heating). ECOLOG avoided this by defining the area as ‘micro-effects’. Their report was kept hidden for over a year, before the ECOLOG researchers lost patience and placed the report ‘Mobile Telecommunications and Health’ on the Internet. An English translation is being prepared: watch this space.

DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephones)has been in the news a lot recently. They represent the single biggest radiation exposure source in millions of homes. No-one tells you that. Read our DECT page, or if you’ve been there already, see what the German Radation authorities say, and what industry is doing. You may have read also about DECT-based baby monitors: don’t use one. Placing continuous pulsed microwave transmitters next to babies’ heads is the antithesis of precaution.

A case of pure bullying in Cornwall. Council gives up because it is told it will lose in public enquiry; O2 Airwave has the precedent and the Inspectorate on its side, and will cost the Council dear in court.

Disney phones and content – for adults of course! Duh! Is that right, mmO2? MPs bidding to stop phone marketing to under-16s.

Tetrawatch asked out of curiosity whether TV shows that invite viewers to vote en masse might generate great pulses of activity via mobile masts, especially when voting by SMS text is invited. And sure enough, we received comments like this:
‘We have the experience, and it is so awful, that after experiencing the voting on Pop-Idol a couple of times we got into the habit of reading the TV schedules in the paper, and if there was any voting on, we would go for a drive, until it was safe to go home again.’

In a ‘study’ with a remarkably short bibliography, the HPA concludes that there is no relation between EMFs, melatonin and breast cancer. Here is another point of view on melatonin, and see the links under cell and cancer.

Study shows increase in brain cancer risk from using a mobile or cordless phone for over 5 years. A new study has just been published in the Journal of Oncology (February 2006), showing the most convincing evidence yet that long term usage of mobile and cordless phones may well increase the chance of getting brain cancer. Usage of analogue mobile phones for longer than 1 year was found to increase the risk of acoustic neuroma threefold. Both GSM digital phones and cordless telephones were found to increase the risk by approximately 50 per cent.

SHAME: Schools and Hospitals Against Mast Emissions have an online petition to urge attendance by MPs to support the Curry Bill on telecommunicatiosn planning, 3 March. Add your signature, support and comments now.

Mobile phone technology allows better cyber sleuthing. Have you noticed? Is this the future you want?

Cordless home phones sparks radiation fear. A message getting through? (See also below)

Increased cancer risk for mobile users: studies. Yes, that’s right, the Interphone studies. It all depends if you read them well... This is an Australian report, and as in Israel, they read the reports. Why were their headlines so different from in the UK?

Group calls for screening from masts (Ireland). The effects are everywhere to be seen, and everywhere officially denied. But see also our protection page.

Significant increases in the risk of benign brain tumors, especially acoustic neuromas, following the use of mobile telephones. Another study to be published in February by Hardell et al.: ‘Of primary concern is the finding that the greatest risk of developing these tumors was for persons who were first exposed before the age of twenty years. Thus, this is the first published study directly suggesting higher risks of tumors among teenagers who use mobile telephones.’ Ten-year studies are not enough, but they show the trend: we put it like this: start using a mobile at 14 years old, and the results start to appear by the time you are 24. Makes 10 years seem no time at all.

MSPs probe safety of digital cordless phones. At last, recognition that DECT (cordless phones) are a significant part of the problem. Read the link: it provides a good overview. See also our DECT page.

‘We were up against big businesses and big government. We’re just little people.’ Uzmaston loses its appeal over TETRA; and its democracy: ‘Airwave has got what it wants, and the people of Pembrokeshire have to foot the legal bill – it makes a mockery of local democracy’: Stephen Crabb MP [BBC report]

Remember how O2 Airwave have total geographical coverage and will need no more masts to meet the needs of police, ambulance, fire, and all other possible customers? This time they have an emergency requirement: ‘O2 plan for mobiles mast for emergency services’. Who isn’t telling the whole truth then?

Israeli military reduces its transmitters ‘as a precuationary measur’e. However you paint it, this is a wise move in light of what is known about the effects of EM radiation on people. But The Israeli military has begun using TETRA in 2004 and Israeli newspapers have reported 34 soldier suicides. Of course the mistaken reassurance of ‘tens of thousands of studies proving proximity to antennae is not dangerous’ that the phone companies reiterate globally, is quite false. Someone appears to have picked up the phrase and it has been perpetuated. Now, if you want thousands of peer reviewed studies showing biological interactions of modulated EMF with living organisms, we can point you in the right direction.

There has been a lot of strong feeling about masts in Israel, including this story in Tel Aviv, from the Jerusalem Report, August 2005. (Original article pulled, but available.)

New Mobile Phone Use and Glioma paper. BMJ, January 20 2006. The paper. A curiously fragmentary study featuring ICNIRP committee authors, that proves nothing yet claims to defend the safety of mobile phones. DECT phones not included, fast growing tumours excluded, timespan 10 years. But still glioma features on the side of the head of phone use. Explanation? The people couldn’t remember what side they use a phone (?!). An analogy: study car accidents but only those involving Ford cars, over a few weeks, and then exclude those travelling over 40mph. Conclusion? Cars are not associated with fatal accidents, therefore all cars are safe. Here is an alternative view to that of the national media. And as a reminder to those who distinguish acoustic neuroma as ‘benign’, here is a personal story. Read how scientists have responded to this study in the BMJ.

Norfolk reports: ‘There’s a challenge in as much as we would like to have 100 per cent coverage for everywhere, but there’s only a finite budget’. Not 100 per cent? That’s not what O2 Airwave VP Jeff Parris said in February 2005 when bidding for Firelink. But then huge contracts like this are rarely won on honesty, are they?

Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Bill. 3 March 2006. See Planning Sanity. Why you must write to your MP and ask:

Do you think that your constituents’ right to determine their own living and working environment is respected by the current situation regarding the erection of mobile phone masts of all kinds?
Does the current planning situation reflect the intentions of the Aarhus convention?
Given the huge and continuing concerns about the potential risks to human health from long-term constant exposure, is it acceptable that community concerns should be completely disregarded in the face of purely commercial interest?

If your MP concedes any one of these, then they have a moral duty to represent you, their constituents, and be present to support the Bill.

Simple and clear; we want our MPs there on the 24th, and to vote.

Alzheimer mortality: why does it increase so fast in sparsely populated areas? Hallberg and Johansson, European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics, 2005, vol. 1 issue 3. ‘The mortality in Alzheimer’s disease appears to be associated with mobile phone output power. The mortality is increasing fast and is expected to increase substantially within the next 10 years.’

Call for an EHS sanctuary. What do you think? Is it too late? A sanctuary would inevitably be policed, and served for fire and ambulance, all with TETRA.

Guns, Money and Cell Phones: just a timely reminder of how the voracious appetite for mobile devices, out of date and discarded (sorry, upgraded) annually, touches the lives of people around the world. Mining of coltan in the Republic of Congo for tantalum involves exploited workers and finance for war. But no tantalum, no mobiles. So with your next call, remember who scraped the earth in poverty to bring it to you, and more dollars to someone else’s war. No blood on my cellphone? (BBC, 2001) Biased reports? You have no ethical choice? Read this and if you need more, Google ‘coltan Congo’.

Playboy Channel, brought to you by mmO2, sponsored by the Church of England. The contract with QS4, part of the Qinetiq defence group (about to float, worth£1.1bn), has been used to override the moral and ethical objections of local parishioners. What a complete irony: an establishment built entirely on faith and belief refuses to accept health risks because they are not scientifically definitively proven! Also from Qinetiq: how you don’t want to be seen at the airport. It is worth remembering that the heavily political US arms/defence group Carlyle has 51% voting shares in Qinetiq and its purchase price so undervalued that it is a scandal. Carlyle bought its stake from the Ministry of Defence in 2002 for £42.2m, but it is now worth £341m.! BBC report.

Israel opens the way for full compensation for loss of property value from mobile masts. Operators will have to pay compensation, even without a proven health harm.

A reminder about DECT phones; for many this is a much greater threat than a mast 400m away: whether it is yours or your neighbour’s. More about DECT.

45 dead around transforrmer and mobile phone mast in Majadahonda, Spain. Bear with the auto-translations; the official word is that electromagetic fields are harmless, but here is yet another warning bell.

Airwave radio newspeak. Time to tighten procedures to shorten calls. Saves capacity problems as new services join, on the promise of 100 per cent coverage for all time. It also reduces user exposure a little.

British Nuclear Group is replacing its emergency communications services with TETRA. Perhaps this explains vehicle electronics not working at Wylfa power station. Let’s hope an emergency system does not prevent vehicles entering or leaving in an emergency. The vehicle interference continues to be a problem, and it is one thing to say ‘the manufacturer is at fault for not predicting the future and guarding against this’, but quite another to allow what can be quite dangerous (let alone nuisance and expensive) things like this from happening.

‘TETRA mast fear will fade’. ‘There were further cries of disapproval when David G. Holmes, town planner and surveyor for O2 (UK) Ltd, said the visual impact of the mast would also fade as people gt used to it.’ This condescending veteran of appeals (where people have rejected masts, and the ODPM largely manages to pass them) has no qualification for answering the experiences of adverse effect that those with local TETRA masts report.

New WHO ‘factsheet’: ‘Electromagnetic fields and public health; Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity’. Note the advice on limiting exposure differs from the UK Health Protection Agency, in saying if the kitchen is too hot, stay there: just think cool. And see how definitive the Rubin and Wessely paper (American Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine) is becoming in refuting any connection between EMF and EHS.

Where Airwave fails, mobiles take over. Thames Valley Police are trialling XDA palm tops so they can do what Airwave was supposed to do: access the Police National Computer, but via mmO2 or Orange! At an extra £200+, that’s a snip. TETRA handsets cost (us!) £800+.

When an £800 TETRA handset isn’t quite a useful as a £5 a month mobile.

Breast cancer and radio-frequency exposure. The malignant tissue is more absorbant of RF/EMFs. See our health links pages for more.

Subtle fields more than strong ones, disrupt the cancer-healing properties of Tamoxifen and melatonin. But the history of such research findings is withdrawal of funding.

Australia: Three years to see if mobiles hurt kids and commentary on this ‘experiment’.

Hide Cellular Phones From Children. Hard hititng advice from the Russian Science News Agency.

Cellular telephones and children: Canadian documentary as Swedish scientists speak out.

So let’s give toddlers Teddyfones! To keep them safe!! Or the MyMo: Baby’s first cellphone. Sheer idiocy; marketed on fear and spurious sense of safety.

Teddy bear mobile ‘puts 4-year-olds at risk from radiation’

Mobiles, kids and the politics of fear.

‘Mast should help 999 response’ Is this about capacity or coverage? For the local ambulance trust that is under threat? Or for the fire service to come online? Or because the police already have a blacksopt there? The Airwave network is complete and resilient and required no more than 10 more masts back in February 2005! It’s true, Airwave V-P Jeff Parris said so in bidding for the Firelink contract.

TV transmitters are more powerful. Therefore they must be more of a health risk than a mobile phone mast. Therefore, 11 national infrastructures, 80,000 mobile phone masts, a wireless LAN in every school, a WiFi hotspot in every travel interchange, a DECT in every home and a mobile in every pocket, must be harmless. (Mike Repacholi, WHO, Nov 2005)

(Link to London Evening Standard 15 Nov 2005 missing.) ‘But [Airwave’s] failure to operate on the Underground raises questions over the police’s ability to handle an incident on the scale of the 7 July bombings. Today, Ian Johnston, chief constable of the British Transport Police, called on the Government to intervene. ... British Transport Police officers, who already have Airwave, have to carry two radios, one for the surface and another below ground. But Met officers only carry one radio and are supposed to be with a Tube worker or a BTP officer when they are deployed on the Underground. The issue was highlighted by the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell station after the 21 July attacks. Neither the Met marksmen nor the surveillance teams following Mr de Menezes, who they thought was a suicide bomber, could communicate directly with the Scotland Yard control room once they were underground. ... In April a Metropolitan Police Authority report said the Met’s ability to respond effectively to a catastrophic incident on the Tube was at risk because of the failure of radios to work underground.’

Tipperary: Call for council ban on masts near schools and populated areas. Here in the UK, our Health Protection Agency would call this irrational, and the mobile operators would call it impossible. We call it sensible precaution. Note the decision ‘took into account scientific evidence that emissions from the masts cause adverse health affects’.

No surpise here. The Firelink contract goes to Airwave. Same masts as police and ambulance trusts. Roll-out by 2009. And remember: there will be no more TETRA masts going up, because they won’t be needed. Jeff Parris, Airwave V-P said so. Hmmm... another new TETRA mast?

‘Transmission impossible’: some really good news for mobile phone radiation? At least a step in the right direction, if xMax reduces signal strengths as claimed and kills off the need for our plague of masts.

Another angle on the benefits of Airwave. Contact your policeman!

A patio or conservatory will add to your Council Tax. A power line or phone mast will reduce it. Recognition there is a problem here, or a bribe to ask for one? What do you think, Hazel Blears?

Is there more than just a suspicion that male fertility is at stake? There may be a reason; can we afford it?

This Proposed New Telecommunications Bill : 2006 is another attempt in Parliament to devise a better and more demoocratic guide on the siting of mobile phone masts.

HPA trivialises electrosensitivity, with a desk report superficially reviewing papers whilst excluding aetiology and radio frequency sources. Official HPA advice: if electrical appliances or systems (including cars) give you ES, avoid them. Better still, recognise that ES has nothing to do with electricity and go for cognitive behavioural therapy. Oh, give us a break ... [more]

‘It will take until 2009 before O2 Airwave, the Tetra-based communications network rolled out by mmO2 to every police force in the country, is able to extend the network across the Tube system, once contract negotiations are agreed.’ O2 Airwave is filling the gaps with a team of engineers, Landrovers and mobile antennae. Airwave TETRA was criticised in the report on the response to the 7/7 London bombings.

Sunday Times Ireland: Freeze on all phone masts near schools. ‘Despite the fact that we are absolutely confident this installation complies in all respects with the relevant safety guidelines, the OPW is aware of a continued level of unease over such installations being sited in the vicinity of schools for young children.’

TETRA has been noted for the effect on certain tree species (photo at this page foot). If you notice dying trees, let Tetrawatch know the species, and send a photo if you can.

Tim Eden, Manchester Christie hospital, calls for more studies into a 50 per cent increase in incidence of cancer in young people since 1975. Six teenagers a day are now diagnosed with cancer. Tetrawatch health links reveal a number of reasons why phone radiation is a part of this. But just ask yourself: why are we spending so much on curing cancer and so pitifully little on the causes? We are surrounded by carcinogens, in food additives, synthetic materials, cosmetics, pollution and EM radiation. Are we saying we find this acceptable?! Because the denials of cause and liability go on.

Young hit by mouth cancer increase. ‘25 per cent of mouth cancer cases in younger people involve none of the common risk factors’ (binge drinking and smoking). What do most young people regularly clamp to the side of their mouths that causes cellular stress responses? Do teeth braces and metal fillings not make a contribution as well?

Response to our Health Protection Agency’s refusal to investigate the case of Nicola’s epilepsy. A letter about half-truths on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours, 12 October 2005. And the follow-up exchange. But please, read Nicola’s story for yourself.

Court victory is a first for cell-phone programmers. Sharesa Price’s brain tumor was caused by exposure to radio-frequency radiation. Yes, non-ionising radiation.

Mobile operator to invest £100m in Tetra. ‘Mobile operator O2 has warned it will spend around £100m more than expected on capital expenditure in its current financial year, mainly due to an increased investment in Airwave.’

More comment from users; ambulance trusts and crews: take note.

The news from Israel is just the same... A corporate juggernaut, a compliant and unconcerned government, and people claiming they suffer and are at risk.

Interphone researchers misled the media — Cell phone cancer link misreported. Israeli inquiry into press coverage that mobile phones do not cause brain cancer (see item lower down).

St Andrews mum calling for cancer answers. Is TETRA a bad combination with radar as well? Who is finding out?

RF-Induced DNA Breaks Reported in China. Our Health Protection Agency continues to disagree with all these studies.

Mast firm foots bill to cure TV reception. Airwave admits TV interference?! Take this to your MPs all round the UK! (See our TV interference page.)

Epilepsy girl, 12, will learn at home after radio mast victory. The police spokewoman said: ‘Currently, there is no definitive scientific proof that airwave base stations affect people who are susceptible to epilepsy.’ But please take time to read this paper on masts and epilepsy. How many people will suffer needlessly like Nicola before ‘proof’ has meaning: Proof? Or scientific proof? Or definitive scientific proof? How on earth are we going about caring for each other? The BBC news story.

Clergy criticise the Church over links with British weapons firm. QS4, the site procurer, has a deal (since 2002) with QinetiQ (Ministry of Defence) to put mobile phone antennae into churches that can be shared by more than one operator. An arms manufacturer’s solution to avoiding certain planning restrictions, to get residentially-sited 3G masts where no-one wants them.

Human Aerials Electric Storm. Stories of real people living with TETRA in Scotland.

So who is sponsoring a Labour Party Conference fringe featuring ‘health scares in the media’, with Science Minister Lord Sainsbury? Yes, the Mobile Operators Association. And full of ‘culture’ (the future is bright: the future is gambling and porn — Paying for 3G) Hutchison is sponsoring a meeting with culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

Blood Test Hope For Mobile Phone Mast Victims. A two-month opportunity to gather test results in a vital new study with Mast Sanity. Are you affected? Consider taking part.

Tetrawatch has learnt that new TETRA masts have gone up all over Muswell Hill. That’s odd; Airwave went live there some time ago and O2 Airwave VP Jeff Parris said in February 2005 that they only needed 10 more masts in the whole country! But then we do get told time and again by police officers that there are black spots with dodgy coverage all over ... Who is paying for all the extras, we wonder?

(1) Electrical fields can make you sick: HPA recognition at last? (2) Read why this is important. (3) For more links and information about electro-sensitivity, see our links page.

But the HPA says ‘Not so fast!’ with this notice. Looks like the ODPM got onto the HPA as soon as they saw the Sunday Times interpretation, doesn’t it? The stakes for recognition of EHS are very high. Will anyone blink first?

Mobile operators are aware of what might happen if adverse health effects are seen to affect their insurance liabilities. Irrelevant guidelines like ICNIRP therefore remain imperative for them.

Mobile phones may cause brain cancer. That is not what the press reported on 30/31 September 05. Update with comments from Lloyd Morgan, Central Brain Tumor Registry, USA.

Mast Sanity press release explains

Common sense in Hong Kong?

Comment on TETRA. The Interphone study showed increased risk after 10 years, based on insecure case histories, of usage of about 1 hour a week. Bias or no bias in this sample, emergency workers using TETRA all day are most definitely at risk, with no health and safety guidelines to protect them.

	TETRAWATCH: latest news
See our Newsfeeds DVD resource free Acrobat Reader for PDF files	News page: 4 older News more recent News The german Ecolog Institute was commissioned in 2000 by Deutsche Telecom / T-Mobile to investigate the current scientific understanding of phones, health and precaution. It was strictly forbidden to examine athermal effects (biological effects unrelated to tissue heating). ECOLOG avoided this by defining the area as ‘micro-effects’. Their report was kept hidden for over a year, before the ECOLOG researchers lost patience and placed the report ‘Mobile Telecommunications and Health’ on the Internet. An English translation is being prepared: watch this space. DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephones)has been in the news a lot recently. They represent the single biggest radiation exposure source in millions of homes. No-one tells you that. Read our DECT page, or if you’ve been there already, see what the German Radation authorities say, and what industry is doing. You may have read also about DECT-based baby monitors: don’t use one. Placing continuous pulsed microwave transmitters next to babies’ heads is the antithesis of precaution. A case of pure bullying in Cornwall. Council gives up because it is told it will lose in public enquiry; O2 Airwave has the precedent and the Inspectorate on its side, and will cost the Council dear in court. Disney phones and content – for adults of course! Duh! Is that right, mmO2? MPs bidding to stop phone marketing to under-16s. Tetrawatch asked out of curiosity whether TV shows that invite viewers to vote en masse might generate great pulses of activity via mobile masts, especially when voting by SMS text is invited. And sure enough, we received comments like this: ‘We have the experience, and it is so awful, that after experiencing the voting on Pop-Idol a couple of times we got into the habit of reading the TV schedules in the paper, and if there was any voting on, we would go for a drive, until it was safe to go home again.’ In a ‘study’ with a remarkably short bibliography, the HPA concludes that there is no relation between EMFs, melatonin and breast cancer. Here is another point of view on melatonin, and see the links under cell and cancer. Study shows increase in brain cancer risk from using a mobile or cordless phone for over 5 years. A new study has just been published in the Journal of Oncology (February 2006), showing the most convincing evidence yet that long term usage of mobile and cordless phones may well increase the chance of getting brain cancer. Usage of analogue mobile phones for longer than 1 year was found to increase the risk of acoustic neuroma threefold. Both GSM digital phones and cordless telephones were found to increase the risk by approximately 50 per cent. SHAME: Schools and Hospitals Against Mast Emissions have an online petition to urge attendance by MPs to support the Curry Bill on telecommunicatiosn planning, 3 March. Add your signature, support and comments now. Mobile phone technology allows better cyber sleuthing. Have you noticed? Is this the future you want? Cordless home phones sparks radiation fear. A message getting through? (See also below) Increased cancer risk for mobile users: studies. Yes, that’s right, the Interphone studies. It all depends if you read them well... This is an Australian report, and as in Israel, they read the reports. Why were their headlines so different from in the UK? Group calls for screening from masts (Ireland). The effects are everywhere to be seen, and everywhere officially denied. But see also our protection page. Significant increases in the risk of benign brain tumors, especially acoustic neuromas, following the use of mobile telephones. Another study to be published in February by Hardell et al.: ‘Of primary concern is the finding that the greatest risk of developing these tumors was for persons who were first exposed before the age of twenty years. Thus, this is the first published study directly suggesting higher risks of tumors among teenagers who use mobile telephones.’ Ten-year studies are not enough, but they show the trend: we put it like this: start using a mobile at 14 years old, and the results start to appear by the time you are 24. Makes 10 years seem no time at all. MSPs probe safety of digital cordless phones. At last, recognition that DECT (cordless phones) are a significant part of the problem. Read the link: it provides a good overview. See also our DECT page. ‘We were up against big businesses and big government. We’re just little people.’ Uzmaston loses its appeal over TETRA; and its democracy: ‘Airwave has got what it wants, and the people of Pembrokeshire have to foot the legal bill – it makes a mockery of local democracy’: Stephen Crabb MP [BBC report] Remember how O2 Airwave have total geographical coverage and will need no more masts to meet the needs of police, ambulance, fire, and all other possible customers? This time they have an emergency requirement: ‘O2 plan for mobiles mast for emergency services’. Who isn’t telling the whole truth then? Israeli military reduces its transmitters ‘as a precuationary measur’e. However you paint it, this is a wise move in light of what is known about the effects of EM radiation on people. But The Israeli military has begun using TETRA in 2004 and Israeli newspapers have reported 34 soldier suicides. Of course the mistaken reassurance of ‘tens of thousands of studies proving proximity to antennae is not dangerous’ that the phone companies reiterate globally, is quite false. Someone appears to have picked up the phrase and it has been perpetuated. Now, if you want thousands of peer reviewed studies showing biological interactions of modulated EMF with living organisms, we can point you in the right direction. There has been a lot of strong feeling about masts in Israel, including this story in Tel Aviv, from the Jerusalem Report, August 2005. (Original article pulled, but available.) New Mobile Phone Use and Glioma paper. BMJ, January 20 2006. The paper. A curiously fragmentary study featuring ICNIRP committee authors, that proves nothing yet claims to defend the safety of mobile phones. DECT phones not included, fast growing tumours excluded, timespan 10 years. But still glioma features on the side of the head of phone use. Explanation? The people couldn’t remember what side they use a phone (?!). An analogy: study car accidents but only those involving Ford cars, over a few weeks, and then exclude those travelling over 40mph. Conclusion? Cars are not associated with fatal accidents, therefore all cars are safe. Here is an alternative view to that of the national media. And as a reminder to those who distinguish acoustic neuroma as ‘benign’, here is a personal story. Read how scientists have responded to this study in the BMJ. Norfolk reports: ‘There’s a challenge in as much as we would like to have 100 per cent coverage for everywhere, but there’s only a finite budget’. Not 100 per cent? That’s not what O2 Airwave VP Jeff Parris said in February 2005 when bidding for Firelink. But then huge contracts like this are rarely won on honesty, are they? Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Bill. 3 March 2006. See Planning Sanity. Why you must write to your MP and ask: Do you think that your constituents’ right to determine their own living and working environment is respected by the current situation regarding the erection of mobile phone masts of all kinds? Does the current planning situation reflect the intentions of the Aarhus convention? Given the huge and continuing concerns about the potential risks to human health from long-term constant exposure, is it acceptable that community concerns should be completely disregarded in the face of purely commercial interest? If your MP concedes any one of these, then they have a moral duty to represent you, their constituents, and be present to support the Bill. Simple and clear; we want our MPs there on the 24th, and to vote. Alzheimer mortality: why does it increase so fast in sparsely populated areas? Hallberg and Johansson, European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics, 2005, vol. 1 issue 3. ‘The mortality in Alzheimer’s disease appears to be associated with mobile phone output power. The mortality is increasing fast and is expected to increase substantially within the next 10 years.’ Call for an EHS sanctuary. What do you think? Is it too late? A sanctuary would inevitably be policed, and served for fire and ambulance, all with TETRA. Guns, Money and Cell Phones: just a timely reminder of how the voracious appetite for mobile devices, out of date and discarded (sorry, upgraded) annually, touches the lives of people around the world. Mining of coltan in the Republic of Congo for tantalum involves exploited workers and finance for war. But no tantalum, no mobiles. So with your next call, remember who scraped the earth in poverty to bring it to you, and more dollars to someone else’s war. No blood on my cellphone? (BBC, 2001) Biased reports? You have no ethical choice? Read this and if you need more, Google ‘coltan Congo’. Playboy Channel, brought to you by mmO2, sponsored by the Church of England. The contract with QS4, part of the Qinetiq defence group (about to float, worth£1.1bn), has been used to override the moral and ethical objections of local parishioners. What a complete irony: an establishment built entirely on faith and belief refuses to accept health risks because they are not scientifically definitively proven! Also from Qinetiq: how you don’t want to be seen at the airport. It is worth remembering that the heavily political US arms/defence group Carlyle has 51% voting shares in Qinetiq and its purchase price so undervalued that it is a scandal. Carlyle bought its stake from the Ministry of Defence in 2002 for £42.2m, but it is now worth £341m.! BBC report. Israel opens the way for full compensation for loss of property value from mobile masts. Operators will have to pay compensation, even without a proven health harm. A reminder about DECT phones; for many this is a much greater threat than a mast 400m away: whether it is yours or your neighbour’s. More about DECT. 45 dead around transforrmer and mobile phone mast in Majadahonda, Spain. Bear with the auto-translations; the official word is that electromagetic fields are harmless, but here is yet another warning bell. Airwave radio newspeak. Time to tighten procedures to shorten calls. Saves capacity problems as new services join, on the promise of 100 per cent coverage for all time. It also reduces user exposure a little. British Nuclear Group is replacing its emergency communications services with TETRA. Perhaps this explains vehicle electronics not working at Wylfa power station. Let’s hope an emergency system does not prevent vehicles entering or leaving in an emergency. The vehicle interference continues to be a problem, and it is one thing to say ‘the manufacturer is at fault for not predicting the future and guarding against this’, but quite another to allow what can be quite dangerous (let alone nuisance and expensive) things like this from happening. ‘TETRA mast fear will fade’. ‘There were further cries of disapproval when David G. Holmes, town planner and surveyor for O2 (UK) Ltd, said the visual impact of the mast would also fade as people gt used to it.’ This condescending veteran of appeals (where people have rejected masts, and the ODPM largely manages to pass them) has no qualification for answering the experiences of adverse effect that those with local TETRA masts report. New WHO ‘factsheet’: ‘Electromagnetic fields and public health; Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity’. Note the advice on limiting exposure differs from the UK Health Protection Agency, in saying if the kitchen is too hot, stay there: just think cool. And see how definitive the Rubin and Wessely paper (American Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine) is becoming in refuting any connection between EMF and EHS. Where Airwave fails, mobiles take over. Thames Valley Police are trialling XDA palm tops so they can do what Airwave was supposed to do: access the Police National Computer, but via mmO2 or Orange! At an extra £200+, that’s a snip. TETRA handsets cost (us!) £800+. When an £800 TETRA handset isn’t quite a useful as a £5 a month mobile. Breast cancer and radio-frequency exposure. The malignant tissue is more absorbant of RF/EMFs. See our health links pages for more. Subtle fields more than strong ones, disrupt the cancer-healing properties of Tamoxifen and melatonin. But the history of such research findings is withdrawal of funding. Australia: Three years to see if mobiles hurt kids and commentary on this ‘experiment’. Hide Cellular Phones From Children. Hard hititng advice from the Russian Science News Agency. Cellular telephones and children: Canadian documentary as Swedish scientists speak out. So let’s give toddlers Teddyfones! To keep them safe!! Or the MyMo: Baby’s first cellphone. Sheer idiocy; marketed on fear and spurious sense of safety. Teddy bear mobile ‘puts 4-year-olds at risk from radiation’ Mobiles, kids and the politics of fear. ‘Mast should help 999 response’ Is this about capacity or coverage? For the local ambulance trust that is under threat? Or for the fire service to come online? Or because the police already have a blacksopt there? The Airwave network is complete and resilient and required no more than 10 more masts back in February 2005! It’s true, Airwave V-P Jeff Parris said so in bidding for the Firelink contract. TV transmitters are more powerful. Therefore they must be more of a health risk than a mobile phone mast. Therefore, 11 national infrastructures, 80,000 mobile phone masts, a wireless LAN in every school, a WiFi hotspot in every travel interchange, a DECT in every home and a mobile in every pocket, must be harmless. (Mike Repacholi, WHO, Nov 2005) (Link to London Evening Standard 15 Nov 2005 missing.) ‘But [Airwave’s] failure to operate on the Underground raises questions over the police’s ability to handle an incident on the scale of the 7 July bombings. Today, Ian Johnston, chief constable of the British Transport Police, called on the Government to intervene. ... British Transport Police officers, who already have Airwave, have to carry two radios, one for the surface and another below ground. But Met officers only carry one radio and are supposed to be with a Tube worker or a BTP officer when they are deployed on the Underground. The issue was highlighted by the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell station after the 21 July attacks. Neither the Met marksmen nor the surveillance teams following Mr de Menezes, who they thought was a suicide bomber, could communicate directly with the Scotland Yard control room once they were underground. ... In April a Metropolitan Police Authority report said the Met’s ability to respond effectively to a catastrophic incident on the Tube was at risk because of the failure of radios to work underground.’ Tipperary: Call for council ban on masts near schools and populated areas. Here in the UK, our Health Protection Agency would call this irrational, and the mobile operators would call it impossible. We call it sensible precaution. Note the decision ‘took into account scientific evidence that emissions from the masts cause adverse health affects’. No surpise here. The Firelink contract goes to Airwave. Same masts as police and ambulance trusts. Roll-out by 2009. And remember: there will be no more TETRA masts going up, because they won’t be needed. Jeff Parris, Airwave V-P said so. Hmmm... another new TETRA mast? ‘Transmission impossible’: some really good news for mobile phone radiation? At least a step in the right direction, if xMax reduces signal strengths as claimed and kills off the need for our plague of masts. Another angle on the benefits of Airwave. Contact your policeman! A patio or conservatory will add to your Council Tax. A power line or phone mast will reduce it. Recognition there is a problem here, or a bribe to ask for one? What do you think, Hazel Blears? Is there more than just a suspicion that male fertility is at stake? There may be a reason; can we afford it? This Proposed New Telecommunications Bill : 2006 is another attempt in Parliament to devise a better and more demoocratic guide on the siting of mobile phone masts. HPA trivialises electrosensitivity, with a desk report superficially reviewing papers whilst excluding aetiology and radio frequency sources. Official HPA advice: if electrical appliances or systems (including cars) give you ES, avoid them. Better still, recognise that ES has nothing to do with electricity and go for cognitive behavioural therapy. Oh, give us a break ... [more] ‘It will take until 2009 before O2 Airwave, the Tetra-based communications network rolled out by mmO2 to every police force in the country, is able to extend the network across the Tube system, once contract negotiations are agreed.’ O2 Airwave is filling the gaps with a team of engineers, Landrovers and mobile antennae. Airwave TETRA was criticised in the report on the response to the 7/7 London bombings. Sunday Times Ireland: Freeze on all phone masts near schools. ‘Despite the fact that we are absolutely confident this installation complies in all respects with the relevant safety guidelines, the OPW is aware of a continued level of unease over such installations being sited in the vicinity of schools for young children.’ TETRA has been noted for the effect on certain tree species (photo at this page foot). If you notice dying trees, let Tetrawatch know the species, and send a photo if you can. Tim Eden, Manchester Christie hospital, calls for more studies into a 50 per cent increase in incidence of cancer in young people since 1975. Six teenagers a day are now diagnosed with cancer. Tetrawatch health links reveal a number of reasons why phone radiation is a part of this. But just ask yourself: why are we spending so much on curing cancer and so pitifully little on the causes? We are surrounded by carcinogens, in food additives, synthetic materials, cosmetics, pollution and EM radiation. Are we saying we find this acceptable?! Because the denials of cause and liability go on. Young hit by mouth cancer increase. ‘25 per cent of mouth cancer cases in younger people involve none of the common risk factors’ (binge drinking and smoking). What do most young people regularly clamp to the side of their mouths that causes cellular stress responses? Do teeth braces and metal fillings not make a contribution as well? Response to our Health Protection Agency’s refusal to investigate the case of Nicola’s epilepsy. A letter about half-truths on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours, 12 October 2005. And the follow-up exchange. But please, read Nicola’s story for yourself. Court victory is a first for cell-phone programmers. Sharesa Price’s brain tumor was caused by exposure to radio-frequency radiation. Yes, non-ionising radiation. Mobile operator to invest £100m in Tetra. ‘Mobile operator O2 has warned it will spend around £100m more than expected on capital expenditure in its current financial year, mainly due to an increased investment in Airwave.’ More comment from users; ambulance trusts and crews: take note. The news from Israel is just the same... A corporate juggernaut, a compliant and unconcerned government, and people claiming they suffer and are at risk. Interphone researchers misled the media — Cell phone cancer link misreported. Israeli inquiry into press coverage that mobile phones do not cause brain cancer (see item lower down). St Andrews mum calling for cancer answers. Is TETRA a bad combination with radar as well? Who is finding out? RF-Induced DNA Breaks Reported in China. Our Health Protection Agency continues to disagree with all these studies. Mast firm foots bill to cure TV reception. Airwave admits TV interference?! Take this to your MPs all round the UK! (See our TV interference page.) Epilepsy girl, 12, will learn at home after radio mast victory. The police spokewoman said: ‘Currently, there is no definitive scientific proof that airwave base stations affect people who are susceptible to epilepsy.’ But please take time to read this paper on masts and epilepsy. How many people will suffer needlessly like Nicola before ‘proof’ has meaning: Proof? Or scientific proof? Or definitive scientific proof? How on earth are we going about caring for each other? The BBC news story. Clergy criticise the Church over links with British weapons firm. QS4, the site procurer, has a deal (since 2002) with QinetiQ (Ministry of Defence) to put mobile phone antennae into churches that can be shared by more than one operator. An arms manufacturer’s solution to avoiding certain planning restrictions, to get residentially-sited 3G masts where no-one wants them. Human Aerials Electric Storm. Stories of real people living with TETRA in Scotland. So who is sponsoring a Labour Party Conference fringe featuring ‘health scares in the media’, with Science Minister Lord Sainsbury? Yes, the Mobile Operators Association. And full of ‘culture’ (the future is bright: the future is gambling and porn — Paying for 3G) Hutchison is sponsoring a meeting with culture secretary Tessa Jowell. Blood Test Hope For Mobile Phone Mast Victims. A two-month opportunity to gather test results in a vital new study with Mast Sanity. Are you affected? Consider taking part. Tetrawatch has learnt that new TETRA masts have gone up all over Muswell Hill. That’s odd; Airwave went live there some time ago and O2 Airwave VP Jeff Parris said in February 2005 that they only needed 10 more masts in the whole country! But then we do get told time and again by police officers that there are black spots with dodgy coverage all over ... Who is paying for all the extras, we wonder? (1) Electrical fields can make you sick: HPA recognition at last? (2) Read why this is important. (3) For more links and information about electro-sensitivity, see our links page. But the HPA says ‘Not so fast!’ with this notice. Looks like the ODPM got onto the HPA as soon as they saw the Sunday Times interpretation, doesn’t it? The stakes for recognition of EHS are very high. Will anyone blink first? Mobile operators are aware of what might happen if adverse health effects are seen to affect their insurance liabilities. Irrelevant guidelines like ICNIRP therefore remain imperative for them. Mobile phones may cause brain cancer. That is not what the press reported on 30/31 September 05. Update with comments from Lloyd Morgan, Central Brain Tumor Registry, USA. Mast Sanity press release explains Common sense in Hong Kong? Comment on TETRA. The Interphone study showed increased risk after 10 years, based on insecure case histories, of usage of about 1 hour a week. Bias or no bias in this sample, emergency workers using TETRA all day are most definitely at risk, with no health and safety guidelines to protect them. older News more recent News	Hiding behind a barn, TETRA at Lambleys Barn, Lancing, West Sussex.
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