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TETRAWatch is not alone. Much energy devoted to getting TW up and running is now being used in the background scientific research at h.e.s.e.-UK. Please visit for the latest developments in electromagnetics in the human and natural environment.

 A report says TETRA is dangerously under-performning in Denmark. And that criticisms are being silenced.

 Bedfordshire, West Yorkshire, Essex, Nottinghamshire ... Police forces are using Blackberries to access the Police National Computer. It keeps them on the beat – no bad thing. But Airwave was supposed to do this, and we have been told since 2003 that this is how Airwave would keep the police on the beat. Again: who is paying for both the expensive TETRA kit that cannot, and the additional Blackberries etc. that can? Yes: you and me. And we have remarked already on the electromagnetic burden this adds to Airwave users (all our emergency workers).

 Over the last few years we have told the story of the Bognor Regis masts. Wherever they have gone, from placed without planning consent (no. 1), to ‘adopted’ and converted from GSM to TETRA (no. 2) they have caused people health and TV problems. The effects have been surveyed and recorded, the effects of alterations have been noted, and yet still the location seems to be technically inadequate for reception. Now the latest is a presumptive move to set up TETRA right next to an infants school. Nothing new there, despite going against the IEGMP recomnmendation. Of course it is impossible for emergency services not to have these base stations, and in urban areas difficult to imagine where they can go that doesn’t affect people. So is the bottom line that we have as a nation accepted ‘security’ with a price tag of our health?

 Phone companies have the government round their little finger? Ministers have been apparently colluding with operators, again so they can make more money.

 ‘Everyone is aware of the shortcomings of Airwave ...’. Bearer independence for data matters, but TETRA isn’t well suited: ‘Bearer independence is really the solution and as an industry it should be incumbent upon us all to provide advice to this nature. Everyone is aware of the short comings of Airwave for certain applications yet it is understandable that many forces will want to use the service for data transmission due to the investment levied on the network. There is also a level of fear and intrepidation [sic] since it isn’t clear what the costs will be for using the Airwave network for data. I do believe it is right to look at using the service, but users should also consider complimentary networks too, hence the desire to be bearer independent.’

 The Mobile Telephones and Health Research programme has reported 12 September 2007 that ‘The MTHR programme management committee believes there is no need to support further work in this area (short-term use).’ Case closed. Everything reported by people affected worlwide by electromagnetic fields from mobile and wireless devices over many years, and all the peer-reviewed science of interactions between EM fields and frequencies on living organisms, from cellular effects to cognitive behaviour and sleep patterns: all of this counts for nothing. If ever a programme of ‘science’ failed the highest standards of ‘rigour, respect and responsibility’ (as expressed also today by Sir David Kind as an ethical code for scientists) and served vested interests, MTHR has done it with this statement.
>> Press Release : >> Full MTHR Report

Sounds polemical? The point about TETRA is that of degree of use. The 10 year horizon is notional, and emerges partly from the European Interphone studies, much criticised for defining regular phone use as once a week for six months. Using and wearing TETRA all day, every working day may redefine that horizon, especially as it is 17.6Hz pulsed TDMA technology.

 ‘Six out of ten.’ Airwave receives a police caution as Essex ambulances achieve their rollout. ‘Saving time saves lives’: a useful phrase, especially when A & E units face closure, and relatives face lengthy treks following hospital unit closures. And in the broad context, the latest research finding is that the more you use mobile technology the more you risk brain tumours. TETRA is beefy stuff, and we are asking all our emergency workers to use it all day long throughout their careers.

 Emergency radios cause for concern, says terror attack report: ‘The Airwave digital radio system was never contracted to work in buildings or on the Underground, according to a London Assembly report into the 7 July London bomb attack. ...
‘The report said the Met police found other issues with Airwave radios, including software problems, backlighting issues, short battery life and training difficulties. The Airwave network also has capacity issues, meaning large events such as the Notting Hill Carnival require the police to get additional capacity at more cost.’

And this is before fire and ambulance adopt the service. Not just police, we suggest, but all services, will be under very heavy pressure around the 2012 Olypmics. TETRAWatch has always maintained that the number of base stations would only suit the initial basic contract.

 Police’s Airwave radio system ‘unreliable’, says committee: ‘Richard Barnes, chair of the committee, said the original contract to provide UK police forces with digital radio communications was flawed from the outset and produced a service unfit for police and emergency use in a metropolitan environment.’

 July 2007: The Essex University MTHR study results are now available. Readers of this site will have seen criticisms of the study at the start, though the researchers were pretty thorough with what they did. Powerwatch has made some useful observations as well on the results, the bottom line of which is that no-one is sensitive to short-term RF exposure. Dr Grahame Blackwell has some important observations on the study as well. Is a laboratory environment the same as the real world? A vital difference may be the absence of the natural vertical body electrical potential inside a Faraday cage (as in the Essex lab.). There is as much danger in over-simplifying the environment as leaving unknown confounding factors, and the study of course did not aim to address long-term exposure. One vital extension to the study would be to take those subjects with much greater-than-chance signal identification or physiological response, and repeat the research. If their response stood up, what we would know is whether (under these conditions) some people (rather than an average) really can detect EM fields.

Above all, though, we are still no nearer to knowing what co-factors make people sensitive. It really does not answer for me why I do feel phone masts, DECT, and TETRA in particular, out here in the real world.

 Something seems not to be right in TETRA land. Since placing comments below about complaints that ‘TETRA is a lot worse’ from several regions all over the country, more people have contacted TETRAWatch saying the same. Heightened sensitivity, especially sleep disruption and nosebleeds, itchy skin and heart rhythm problems. Maybe it is the addition of new phone masts, about which we are apparently no longer being told. But whatever, this is very worrying, because no-one in our health or protection organisations is listening. Do keep us informed.

 £3bn emergency service radios ‘seriously flawed’. Weaknesses found in new system two years after 7/7; Devices won’t work in some police stations. Part of the problem is the low carrier frequency chosen for emergency services.

 July 2007: Should‘ve gone to Specsavers’? It is the shortsightedness of denying the effect that the increasing digital microwave environment is having, that is so staggering. In the last few days reports have come from various parts of the country of an increased awareness (usually electro-sensitive people being more unwell than usual), whether of TETRA in particular, or the adddition of civic WiFi, or hot spots in public buildings and shops. But something seems to be going on with Airwave, whether increased power for connectivity insurance due to recent terrorist activity, or testing software upgrades, or simply increased traffic. Perhaps you can let us know what it is like in your neck of the woods. But either way, this cannot go on for ever without compromising emergency service effectiveness and productivity. Even low-grade unwellness causing absence (and increased propensity for stress-related absence) seems likely as a result of TETRA.

 May 2007: Phone mast locations kept from public. Ofcom, intimidated by the operators is helping to keep valuable information about new base stations from us. No-one can hide a base station, it just makes it very difficult for ordinary people to assess their environment or to object to contraventions of planning consents. For people who need to find somewhere to live away from masts, Sitefinder, with all its shortcomings, can be invaluable.

 The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields, Andrew Goldsworthy, 2007: What the power and telecoms companies would prefer us not to know.

 From O2 to Telefonica, now to Macquarie Bank in Australia. Hot potato or cash cow? Either way the profits are from our taxes.

 Wi-Fi: Children at risk from ‘electronic smog’. There has been a lot of media coverage at last for the need to monitor not power densities against an irrelevant standard, but the well-being of people, especially children. And not just the UK; here is Detroit with a new city WiFi. Same symptoms, same denial.

 Cancer victims ask: ‘Is it the phone mast’s fault?’. 15 years under a mast and a line of 30 cancers. Plus the kids with the regular nosebleeds. Maybe clusters just do happen in nature, but clusters are also the result of causes and it is criminal negligence to go on avoiding investigating these occurrences.

 Phone cancer report ‘buried’: T-Mobile, the mobile phone giant, has been accused of ‘burying’ a scientific report it commissioned that concluded handsets and masts contribute to cancer and genetic damage.
The report argued that officially recommended limits on radiation exposure should be cut to 1/1000th of those in force. The suggestion has not been taken up by the company or by regulators. [Read the ECOLOG report yourself.]

 ‘More needs to be done’, because Airwave isn’t achieving quite the coverage and backup that the O2 PR suggests. So it is still a case of more antennae, taller masts, new bases – or the fire and ambulance contracts will not live up to the promises. Meanwhile underground transport remains vulnerable.

 We don’t want this mast to get higher. Airwave: too good to be true, constantly improved, upgraded, enlarged long after it has been declared complete, just to keep it working and filling in the gaps. And no chance of challenging this essential need on grounds of well-being, unsightliness, property values ... Just more power, higher and multiplied antennae regardless.

 Airwave faces fine for missing deadline on fire service radio. Firelink has delays in delivery of planning and design information. No, it’s not too few masts (we were told that before the contract was awarded) despite those still in planning. And it can’t possibly be because delivery of both voice and data is a bigger issue than Airwave thought it was going to be. Just lack of preparedness and over optimism in the tendering process. Telefonica no longer sees Airwave as a good bet. Any offers?

 What is your police force’s response to ocupational health, related training, and welfare? TETRAWatch has been made aware of forces making occupational health and welfare (not core health and safety) redundant. Clearly this is a cost saving – until you take into account that no-one at force level is monitoring the use of TETRA and related devices for impact on health: especially stress and depression. This is a cost that will continue to mount.

 Avon trial reveals limits of £2.9bn police Tetra network. Why is TETRAWatch unsurprised? Airwave was oversold by government right from the start, which makes Airwave plus whatever add-ons are required (a) a very expensive system for voice communication, (b) a very unhealthy system as more microwave devices need to be carried and (c) a bit of a let-down for ambulance and fire. Of course as the article says, it’s expectation management: you just have to use the system differently.

 Speaking of costs, our emergency services (actually that means us) not only pay to rent the Airwave network, buy the TETRA handsets, buy the PDAs or alternative data terminals, but also have to pay air time. That’s why there is a new training course in ‘Airwave speak’ to cut voice time down and control the expense of talking.

 Police officers: have you been told not to always carry your Airwave radio in the same location? To move it from shoulder to chest to waist? This sounds like sensible advice, but you must ask why. TETRAWatch understands from the scientific research that the effect of chronic exposure to pulsed microwave radiation is cumulative. And have you been advised about use of handsets in vehicles or distance to stand away from a vehicle acting as a repeater? This is extremely important advice. Even Volkswagen advise in their vehicle handbooks never to use a (lower-powered) mobile phone in a car without external antenna.

 January 2007: A few degrees tilt of an antenna can make all the difference. TETRAWatch wonders why? Coverage of Airwave in Bognor Regis suffered when local campaigners successfully ousted Airwave from an illegal site in 2005. The new site at Felpham provided a very interesting single-blind case study on health effects. But its coverage is poor. Now, with a few degrees more tilt on the antennae (perhaps to accommodate a little more power or to provide better helicopter coverage) suddenly, the symptoms felt in the local community are at last relieved. Now isn’t that interesting? But not to Dr Jill Meara at the HPA, for whom mast ‘tinnnitus’ is all in the mind (this must surely be diagnosis by remote viewing [a quantum or electromagnetic effect?] – or dogmatics).

 Scottish government grant to get police mobile. ‘£1.2m development will enable officers to complete paperwork whilst on the beat.’ Wot? No Airwave? This was what we were told Airwave would do for all (our) money in the first place! What is disturbing is the multiplication of mobile devices our emergency services are asked to carry or use all day every day.

 Essex University gets £266k of MTHR money to establish if there are any ‘short-term health effects of TETRA’. They are looking for volunteers, so if you are sensitive to TETRA, use it and get headaches etc., consider taking part (contact in the link).
The first Essex study has returned results to volunteers, and will report later this year. Clearly they did not think another quarter million would be a waste of time and money.

 Police and military ‘battling over spectrum’. More on the problems of data. ‘PITO’s mobile data project manager, Gary Cairns ... said data transmission was slow through the narrowband network, which has always been intended as a voice service.’ Which is what we said from the start. [See Does it work?]

 TETRA will not carry data, so Airwave uses a portal to commercial networks via PDAs. Are you a ‘dual user’? PDA warning, in a research paper about to be published in Bioelectromagnetics Journal: Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Cell Phone Units Produce Elevated Extremely-low Frequency Electromagnetic Field Emissions. The main issue is the very high ELF EMF emissions produced by the PDA units, which are typically carried on or close to the body. ... This is far higher than a cell phone emits. There is essentially no other source of ELF EMF that people would normally come into contact with in typical living and/or working environments. The closest comparison would be to sleeping with your head immediately adjacent to your electrical [consumer unit]. It may be an issue for cancer, fertility and pregnancy outcome, and some of the relevant literature on ELF EMF and these endpoints are discussed in the paper. We have also indicated some ‘prudent avoidance’ measures that will reduce exposures, but still allow use of these devices.

Does using a TETRA handset on belt or shoulder and a PDA throughout your working day make good sense? Who is looking out for you in this regard?

 More reliable radios for ambulance crews. ‘The Department of Health said that the new system minimised the risk of interference with vital medical equipment and was more secure and reliable.’ Really? What is new about the ambulance TETRA that makes it less likely to cause interference with medical equipment? Less likely than what? Airwave TETRA as first released? (an admission) or less than VHF radio? (hardly)

This ambulance service rollout amounts to £390 million for 18,000 users. £21,000 per user worth of value. And that is for the Sepura handsets and control room kit. Does it include the PDA bill for carrying the promised patient data? Or hasn’t anyone asked that yet?

 Telefonica puts Airwave up for sale; ‘O2’s owner Telefonica has decided that its priorities now lie elsewhere.’ ie, the debt burden from O2 is too much, and the Airwave contract is underwritten, so it is the most saleable part. But aside from the public money Telefonica will claim now as profit, how good a product is it?

 The latest reassurance ruse about mobile phones and cancer from Denmark is not all it seems.

 Airwave set to be sold for £2bn as O2 reviews options. ‘... potential buyers are understood to be circling, despite concerns among health campaigners about the safety of the Tetra masts.’ From public money (ours) to fat profit (theirs) but potential liabilities. Perhaps not an ethical investment?

 Emergency radios only work for five hours. ‘Airwave's limitations mean it fails to comply with the Government’s guidelines. The Cabinet Office recommends that companies have back-up enough power to last at least 18 hours.’ Does this bode well for Firelink and major incidents? ‘A spokesman for the Home Office admitted the problem and said: ‘We have committed an extra £400 million to improve resilience and update the system.’ ’ Sorry – whose money to fix another shortcoming? More, from Computing magazine.

 Police PDAs to have national connectivity. How many years late? ‘The Airwave network already in place can support small amounts of data ... Software applications will be developed by O2 Airwave and will operate through its existing mobile applications gateway, helping to achieve the aims outlined in the police’s 2002 UK National Strategy for Mobile Information.’ Another big contract for Motorola. (Who’s paying all this extra? Yup; you and me.)

 Health fears lead schools to dismantle wireless networks. Why is it ‘for individual schools to decide’ about EMF risk to young people? Where is the quality information the schools (teachers, governors and parents) are given? Where is the investigation when staff or pupils are ill and the cause could be EM fields? Why is it so paranoid to take a look, to listen, to think? Visit our health links pages, which are full of just a small amount of the research finding that EM fields in very subtle doses affect living organisms. It is quite reckless to place masts on or near schools, and now wireless-networked IT suites and schools are a cheap, convenient and accidental way of raising the risk.

 Mike Repacholi, ex-head of WHO EMF project, is now working for the industry helping them avoid precautionary measures: and making good use of his industry subsidised WHO materials that we criticised him for. Was he ever trustworthy? His WHO legacy remains and is in part the basis for UK resistance to recognising EHS and mast problems.

 Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility: more research from India shows that increased mobile phone use means decreased fertility. Comments that there cannot be a connection between a phone on the ear and radiation damage to the testicles are surely short-sighted. The more you use a phone, the more likely you are to wear it, typically in a pocket or on the waist. The more you call, the more you are likely to be called. That phone, all day in the wrong place, is live and kicking, and the chronic exposure is not just about heat. [More about fertility and phones.]

 A reminder from Dr Grahame Blackwell of the contradiction inherent in the UK interpretation of the precautionary principle: On the Precautionary Approach and the Stewart & NRPB Reports.

 We began with demanding single-blind mast-testing to prove that the adverse effects people were experiencing were from TETRA, and were not anxiety driven. The Case of the Felpham TETRA mast raises serious questions.

 Right from the start of TETRAWatch we observed that O2 was not in this contract for anything other than maximising profit. Now that we have all paid, and handsomely, for a national infrastructure for our vital emergency services (like parking attendants in Sheffield?), O2 Airwave is selling on to all ‘eligible’ takers. In other words, now we have paid Airwave for the system (with total government backing), they are free to make money out of it, (a) by selling mast space, gained in places where only ‘for security and emergency services’ was sufficient cause, and (b) by selling the service to all comers. And when capacity runs out? To preserve ‘national security’ we will be paying all over again for enhanced infrastructure, including more masts, relays etc.! The Firelink contract was won on ‘perfect capacity’, so why are masts still being erected, and more to the point, why are there still operational blackspots waiting for fire and ambulance to discover?

 Motorola bidding for spectrum around 400MHz. But they aren’t saying what for. Could be all the troubles of TETRA in a new guise – the old Dolphin TETRA bands are up for sale.

 Increase of breast cancer near antennas. A seven-fold increase (Steinbach-Hallenberg, Germany)..

 Firefighters: You are about to take TETRA. Take a moment to read this Safe Wireless Initiative for firefighters in the US. TETRA also will add to the hazards of other exposures in your work. This will help you be aware.

 Source of Funding and Results of Studies of Health Effects of Mobile Phone Use: Systematic Review of Experimental Studies. Conclusion: ‘The majority (68%) of the studies assessed here reported biological effects. [...] Our study indicates that the interpretation of the results from existing and future studies of the health effects of radiofrequency radiation should take sponsorship into account.’

 Egyptian study: people living near mobile phone base stations suffer headache, memory loss, dizziness, tremors, depression and sleep disturbance. Published in Neurotoxicology. It sounds just like the Sussex surveys done by TETRAWatch (see item below).

 Health warning on mobile use by 91% of preteens. You will have heard the news. Is it safe for so many so young to be clamping mobiles to their heads? precaution from the HPA Radiation Division is a tad late. We have been asking for Dept of Health leaflets (just two sides of A4) to be updated and guaranteed circulation for years. No action. What is really mising here? No mention of use of acoustically coupled headsets (or ferrite beads), or keeping phones away from the body. The industry response? They’re safe because they compy with ICNIRP cooking guidelines. Oh, give us a break!

 In October 2004, we surveyed a town in Sussex for effects of TETRA [first survey]. What are things like two years on? We went back and asked those living closest. Read this short summary, or the full report and analysis. These are not statistcally valid proofs of anything, but they are observations that continue to cause concern and deserve full attention.

 Do we have a right to know where mobile phone masts are and who owns them? Actually, you may have noticed they are not hard to spot. They sort of, well, stick up off buildings and towers ... But, not, this is secret! And we learn that under Freedom of Information, we do have a balance of interest. But what’s that: Ofcom can only oblige operators records on Sitefinder to be accurate to 100m?! And if we can have all their locations instead of trawling Sitefinder, they might stop playing ball ... Sitefinder, for many of us, reamins the not-too-accurate source for finding places that are healthy to live.

 Cell Phones and Children – Hazardous Mix? Recent news has been filled with concerns of what we are doing to children’s childhood. And it’s oh, so Luddite to gainsay their toys and gadgets. But what are we storing up for them by their 20s? Should we believe the industry reassurances? And pray that all the research showing harm is very wrong? See this paper as well: it says that the actual brain exposure (SAR) in a 10 year old from a mobile phone can be 80% higher than for an adult...

 City powerless to stop masts. NetRail comes to town, and because it’s on Network Rail land, no planning process is required. This is the UK’s eleventh national microwave infrastructure. More GSM. Alongside this we have the start of WiMax (eg Norwich and Milton Keynes) set for every city. And none of this requires planning, notification or location information. Brilliant technology maybe, but the indications that the chronic exposure to low-level microwaves are clearly pointing to real problems, the the low level is getting ever-higher, with more powerful transmitters closer to where we live and operating at ever higher frequencies.

  Prescott’s ethics fiasco ‘hampering democracy’. Can a councillor who uses a mobile phone vote on mobile phone mast issues? prescott said no. If you feel strongly about anything for your local community you cannot be part of the decision-making process. But the government can.

 And a thought concerning all those mast applications passed in planning because the companies (‘Code Operators’) claim they have a right to erect what they like and where just because they claim a perceived ‘commercial need’. Well, they have been claming rather too much on behalf of the government, and the Dept. of Communities and Local Government (Prescott’s ex-ODPM) is starting to distance itself and tell operators to be more careful what they say. So just remember with the 3G (UMTS) applications swamping the country, there is no statutory right or obligation for any of these masts, because a telecoms infrastructure already exists. The requirement is purely commercial, not statutory.

 The Latest Study on the Risk of Brain Cancer From Wireless Phone Use. Pictures often clarify where words avoid meaning. Mobile phones don’t cause cancer do they? Read, and think for yourself. TETRA might be regarded as a special case because of the higher power, lower carrier frequency, and because it is an occupational requirement for our emergency services to have a particularly high usage.

 Two new studies again suggest altered gene expression under EM fields: Gene expression changes in human cells after exposure to mobile phone microwaves, and Mobile phone radiation causes changes in gene and protein expression in human endothelial cell lines and the response seems to be genome- and proteome-dependent. Also, electrically-stimulated wound healing is also mediated genetically: Electrical signals control wound healing through phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase-γ and PTEN. All are a cause for concern that this may be a route whereby enzyme imbalances are triggered. These are critical, and key enzyme imbalances are explanatory in all the reported bio-responses from EM fields.

 A while ago Tetrawatch prepared a precautionary paper about EM fields and epilepsy. Here is a new study saying ‘research should be pursued into the possibility that this kind of radiation [GSM] may ... affect brain function in human subjects with epileptic disorders’.

 ‘EMF emitted by mobile phones has effects on brain oscillatory responses during cognitive processing in children’, due (it seems) to intervention by frequencies aligned to the Schumann resonance and/or ‘brain waves’. [more links like this]

 Spare a thought for all those people who suffer greatly when Airwave ‘adjustments’ take place. Make no mistake, they are to all intents and purposes being experimented upon. Adjustments in Aldwick, Bognor Regis, recently affected a number of people suddenly and badly. Neurotic? Then why did the birds depart (even the seagulls this time) for three days as well? Some poeple are still close enough to local wildlife to see these things and notice, but we expect Airwave folk lack the incentive, curiosity or initiative. Either that, or they have their own ‘sensitive’ people to try it on. People out in the real world talk about ‘TETRA 2’ and ‘TETRA 3’ to describe these different experiments.

 TETRA down the tubes? (More) vans will be rushing to the scene, like Royal Mail delivering email until this can be sorted out. More expense (who pays?). Really. Did no-one think about this at the point of contract?? ‘The public was also scandalised to discover recommendations for emergency services to be provided with underground communications following the King’s Cross fire and had been effectively ignored for 18 years.’

 The mysterious demise of Michael Repacholi. Hero of BBC ‘Horizon’ only last week, telling us that a little ionising radiation might be good for you and the Chernobyl evacuation was a mistake. Suddenly and without announcement on the WHO website, the leader of the WHO EMF project (and also of ICNIRP), who has accepted so much funding from the electricity and mobile sector to take him round the world declaring its safety, has apparently resigned. The legacy of this one man’s limited view of science versus the benefits to mankind of all forms of radiation, will be little short of carnage. His successor at WHO EMF is Emilie van Deventer. Is a senior member of IEEE about to believe that EM fields might be globally harmful? Perhaps not. The industry still rules (nay, is) the watchdog.

 Scots ambulances get £48m Airwave: Should be up and running in 18 months. Here is Tetrawatch, reaching you through hi-tech and broadband (but no WiFi!). We aren’t technophobe. But here is technology rolling out that is already soon to be superseded. Its true data capacity is still bypassed by other services with PDAs. But above all the blindness to its human bio-effects persists. Users, and residents in the ‘line of fire’ really are suffering badly from TETRA. Changing signal patterns, whether from TETRA adjustments and upgrades, or from increasing cross-currents from 3G, are crippling some people, and worse. We ask what will become of EHS people trapped at their most vulnerable in a TETRA-enabled ambulance? Meanwhile, it appears UK police cancers are known about more in Germany than here in the UK.

 Now available in English, the Swedish ‘Black on White: Voices and Witnesses about Electro-hypersensitivity’. details

 A correspondent to this site reminds us that Firelink (and the ambulance trusts) may well result in a further round of masts. Not so! say O2 Airwave, who bid for Firelink on the basis of their coverage even ‘reaching the remote barn in Wales’. Well, we know better, not least because new mast planning applications are still going in 18 months later. These should be challenged as not being necessary. Either O2 VP Jeff Parris was lying about coverage, or the agents applying for planning permission are lying by saying more masts are required. Which? Or both?

 The Australian university cancer cluster, which may or may not be due to an antenna cluster. An inexcusable refusal to permit examination of the association between the two.

 Long distance lorry driver Peter Orr told the Eye [Private Eye, 7 July 2006, ‘Road Rage’) how his modern truck, equipped with a high-tech engine control unit (ECU) suffered brief loss of control as it passed through areas of interference: ‘Interference from powerful radio signals is knocking out the brakes and gearbox in my truck and others. In the last two years there’s been a massive boost in radio aerial power. We’ve had serious issues with our trucks. It affects the gearbox and braking of 44 ton trucks, but it doesn’t leave a memory in the computer system. It just says: There’s a fault on your ECU’.’
He said the problem was acute in France but also occurred in Britain. including at a motorway service station, where there were communication masts either side of the road. He had reported the issue to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the government body overseeing vehicle safety, in February 2005, but feels he was brushed off.

In this context, you might find New Scientist, July 2006 concerning: Road crash could set off nuclear blast.

 Microwave News, July relates the thrust of WHO. With travel expenses most probably paid for by industry to the tune of $15,000, WHO does more to promote the benefits of wireless technoilogy than to safeguard us from the potential riks from EM fields. Global harmonisation under the one and only safety standard (ICNIRP’s) that has zilch to do with chronic exposure or non-thermal bioeffects, is their goal.

 Are you electrosensitive? TETRAWatch is part of a new initiative to develop the availability of good science, much in other languages that needs translation, in collaboration with scientists across the world. Please fill in and send this short questionnaire (Word doc) to tell your story.

 Hands-free car phones are ‘as dangerous as drink-driving’. Just yet another reminder really. Phones and cars don’t go together well. But we love them, so that’s alright! How did we ever get to let them take over our lives? Phone-addiction is becoming a serious problem for some, and there are equal psychological, sociological and physiological reasons for why it happens. Fortunes are spent, and soon fortunes will be lost by online gambling by phone. And if forecasts of brain tumours are realised, over the next 20 years there will be an epidemic as costly as tobacco. But we didn’t believe that either until it was too late. Are you sure that the benefits of mobile phones are all what they seem? Using them alters neurotransmitters, blood flow, brain electrical activity, and the long term effects can be debilitating to fatal.
[more: health links]

 Letter from Martin Blank, ex-president of the Bioelectromagnetics Society to ICNIRP: are they going to take the latest non-thermal bioeffects of EM fields at ELF and RF into account? If not, why not?

 TETRA heading for Eire? Just a matter of time, perhaps; all part of the big worldwide secure connectivity.

 What should investors in mobile technology companies think? The very big question on the horizon is what happens when what we are seeing as regards the health effects of chronic microwave exposure, both phones and masts, becomes undeniable. It will come; you can only insist on ‘scientific certainty of harm’ for so long. The big problem is the universality of EM pollution: once a harm is acknowledged in court, there is going to be an awful lot more right behind it. And the question is: are any of the operators or landowners insured against likely losses arising from successful legal cases? The answer is no. So who will pay? Yes, the shareholders. So if you are an investor, think very, very carefully about the risk implied in this industry.

 The things you learn from people who work on the antennae ... Like being allowed only to work 15 minutes at a stretch because antennae are not switched off. Or that subcontractors are often completely unaware they are working ‘live’. And engineers who feel nauseous and have headaches working on antennae, and who leave well-paid jobs as a result. Or Orange, who are careful not to place picocells within 50m of classrooms; why what research do they have that shows harm? For sure it isn’t research on children, and anyway, how do they know they are different? Just remember these are the people who tell us 20 (even 40!) years of research shows there is no harm from microwaves.

 ‘A town in Sussex’ was surveyed in 2004, and revealed 58 per cent of people living within 250m of a TETRA mast reported adverse health impacts starting from the time of operation. We are having to return, because an unusual number of cases of strokes and cancers reported. If it were not for two reasons, this might be overlooked: first, there are many other places where ‘clusters’ are appearing around transmitters, and second, there may well be a direct connection between the electro-sensitivity exhibited early on and the chronic disease. Again, we are working on the science research behind this. (See our health links.)

 15 June 2006: MEPs fail to get health and electromagnetic fields included in the latest European Research Budget. Money for how to get more technological (ie economic) leverage from the wireless world, yes; but no ear for those suffering from it. Such is the power and influence of the WHO EMF project under Dr Michael Repacholi, in asserting that everything in the electromagnetic garden is lovely. Vested interests? You decide by reading this paper: ‘Conflict of Interest and Bias in Health Advisory Committees: A case study of the WHO’s EMF Task Group’

 Consumer Groups Warn Public of Cell Phone Industry Tactics. Only in the USA? No. This is a global industry, and a major concern here is the manner in which mobile phone companies ‘sponsor’ the very charities that might be concerned about mobile phones and health, or the environment. Approaching a health charity with the EMF issue inevitably results in the charity being immediately reassured that concerned people are cranks and that the industry is in possession of the truth. Welcome to global business.

 A newspaper poll in Horsham reveals that 82 per cent of people want mast planning overhauled. Just 8 per cent feel it needs to be as it is so they can get good reception ...

 Tell me what the majority of ordinary people think about this attitude by O2? ‘Stuff you, we’re making money and the government is behind us.’

 A reminder of what commercial networks can offer very cheaply. Just in case Airwave proves less than adequate, Leicestershire leans on Orange...

 The report on the 7 July London bombings slated emergency services communications. Naturally Airwave press released how wonderful it would have been if everyone had been using Airwave. And had been able to wait for the Airwave white vans to arrive and drop feeders into the tunnels – after the event. In fact PITO has a five year contract for three vans with 10 m masts and cable trailers, available at half an hour’s notice. Some comfort. But don’t worry, they have thought of a real innovation: blue lights and bright colours! It makes them go fast in busy London roads.

 Dr George Carlo, love him or loathe him, undoubtedly has a hard-hitting researcher’s story to tell. Listen to this US radio interview on the dangers of cell-phone use and the immense resistance by the industry about letting scientific results be known.

 Now here’s an interesting thought received by TETRAWatch! ‘We had a major electricity failure last Thursday from 3 o’clock until about midnight for most of us. Something underground somewhere took the whole of our big village/small town and bits of surrounding villages out. And it took all the masts out too! Wonder how the two policemen fared with NO contact? Thank goodness for the little wired thing (phone!) in my hall. So much for being good in an emergency – can’t even see us through an electricity cut which were told will be common again soon.’

 No link; nobody is talking about this. Airwave (we have said it often) has preached the fantastic coverage of its network. But give it a sporting event and up goes an additional temporay mast to guarantee capacity. We heard of 140 masts possibly being supernumerary. Really? New masts are still going up. Now a US company is elbowing in with better network management systems because Airwave isn’t quite up to scratch. But the problem on the ground is that people who are sensitive to mast radiation, and TETRA in particular, always know when things are changing. Airwave has tried filling the inter-slot gaps (the so-called pulsing) with noise. It doesn’t make people feel well again, it just makes them feel ill differently. And no-one is interested in owning up, and finding out why.

 Indian study of cell damage in actual mobile users’ mouths, show micronuclei damage, the warning from George Carlo’s findings for Motorola.

 A thin blue (or red) line, between corporate hospitality and favours to police chiefs by O2.

 Over 1 in 10 Complain About Cell Sickness. The same problems arise in Korea. Are they just catching hysteria? Or demonstrating the facts about electromagnetic fields?

 Hans-Peter Hutter and team (Vienna) have published two papers on mobile base stations, health and well-being (2002) and on symptoms among people around base stations (2006). What they show is once again clear. And yet still the response is: ‘never mind what is happening to the people; we don’t know why anything should happen, therefore it can’t be anything to do with the radiation!’. But there are entirely plausible mechanisms that explain the very diversity that our health authorities declare have nothing in common. Investigate the impact of microwave radiation on proteins and enzymes in our health links pages and every sign and symptom we see makes sense. ICNIRP is dead, enzymes are alive: it is an urgent priority to recognise the gravity of this conclusion.

  Pylon cancer fears put £7bn blight on house prices is what the media says (28 April 2006). Based on further confirmation by the Draper Report completed 4 years ago, and delayed in publication by 3 years, the government has a real problem. Without a ‘definitive scientific proof’ or a certain mechanism of how childhood leukaemia is raised in the zones around powerlines, what do you do? Do you (a) accept the correlation and do something about it, or (b) go on letting the correlation happen just because you don’t know why? The latter is clearly unethical and socially irresponsible. But the former raises fears (albeit quite correctly), blights homes and locks many people precisely into the danger zones. The parallel with mobile phone masts and TETRA is clear. Are ethics unaffordable, and is deception a necessity to preserve the corporate/government status quo? The truth is the new recommendation paper from the Sage stakeholder group leaked out and the government doesn’t know what to do. The problem has been known about for a very long time and no action has been taken. Now it can’t win. But is is one thing to avoid new building under powerlines, quite another to recognise similar dangers from microwave masts, simply because they are everywhere in residential areas.

 Power frequency EM radiation is just as much an issue, quite possibly for the same reasons as masts. Now, experts rule out houses near pylons. This report was completed nearly 4 years ago ...

 According to Dr David Aldridge, a scientist who has worked developing microwave technology for the US Government, the international ‘safety’ limits which Ireland [and the rest of us] adheres to are out of date and totally flawed. ‘What is happening is that the external signals (from mobile phones) are swamping the body’s natural internal signals.’

 120 volunteers show that using a digital mobile phone alters the working of the brain. Further ‘no hard evidence’ of harm for our protective agencies ...

 School study about cancer and phone masts at Gijon [Spain], 2005. Students plotted the cancers, and found the cluster patterns shaped to mast exposure footprints.

 Did you know, this emergency services system that we have paid for is also being offered under contract to other ‘public safety agencies’ – including Sheffield City Council Parking Services ... Yes, we paid for Airwave, we pay the Council, and the Council pays Airwave to use what we paid for! It’s called Airwave Direct, and offers coverage of 99% coverage of the UK landmass (see next item), connection to the emergency services (with permission), and employee tracking.

 Safety fears as Airwave radio firm plans to switch off masts. Concern expressed in Jane’s Police Review, April 2006 as O2 plan to switch off up to 140 TETRA masts. ‘Contracted coverage’ will not be affected, says O2 Airwave, but it is quite on the cards, if coverage is compromised, that police forces (or fire, or ambulance) will have to pay to have some switched on again. Who wants our fire and ambulance (newly contracted for Airwave at £350 million), operating in low crime-incidence areas, to be the ones to discover they need more than the original police contracted coverage (primarily metalled roads)?

 Where, oh where, is Airwave? West Yorkshire Police are using commercially available Blackberry devices to access police data: local, and Police National Computer. It works. TETRA doesn’t. We are paying for both.

 Felpham Golf Course. It is the clearest case we know of why adverse health from masts cannot be psychosomatic. (See our local page) Felpham (near Bognor Regis, West Sussex) had TETRA replace a dummy BT Cellnet with no planning notification. The 5 year lease option is up, and still no-one gave O2 Airwave consent: they want the TETRA out. But Big Bully Airwave goes on to threaten trampling everyone’s wishes – again.

 Best evidence yet that mobile phones could be causing brain cancer. The latest study on malignant brain tumours and phone use shows the biggest increase of any study so far, and is statistically significant in all areas. The new study on 905 malignant brain tumour cases shows a 1.7 to 5.9-fold increase in risk for long-term mobile phone and cordless phone users.

 Do they, or don’t they? The publication of the latest and largest Swedish mobile phone study shows increase risk of brain tumours. They call regular use 2,000 hours (=1 hour a day for ten years). The last study you saw, in the British Medical Journal, defined regular use as one call a week over six months, and ignored tumour incidence beyond ten years. Time to listen very carefully to what we are being told.

 Life in the main beam of a mobile phone base station for UMTS and GSM, from Bamberg. A new translation, Jnauary 2005. This is the reality for people all over Europe. Not everyone suffers; but when it is you, and no-one will listen, this case study relates exposure levels to physical response.

 A perceptive view of the current establishment scientists’ approach to environmental issues of our making, and some consequences. Take time to watch this cartoon!

 Mast victory for cancer couple. Just coincidence of course. But well done, ATS!

 The Silent Takeover, shared interests in the development and insertion of TETRA into Europe may have a more insidious background. Read this interesting article on a story that won’t go away.

 Outcome of the ‘Curry’ Bill? The Minister Jim Fitzpatrick made it quite clear that the Government did not support the Bill and that he would talk so long that it would not get a Second Reading. And he did just that. Subsequently, Hansard reported this dialogue:

Mr David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con): Will the Prime Minister empathise and sympathise with my constituents, who are constantly battling against applications to site mobile phone masts in their streets, outside their houses and outside schools? If he is sympathetic, why did his Government kill the Bill on Friday last, which would have helped deal with the matter?
The Prime Minister: There must be a balance between people’s objectives and making sure that we get the facilities that we need. We constantly keep under review the issue as to whether those are safe or not. As far as I am aware, the evidence points clearly and surely to the fact that they are.’

Just two weasel words here: ‘need’ and ‘aware’ ... Remember this from our news last year: “Trust me; I’m a Prime Minister. ‘[Tony Blair] ruled out any immediate change in the planning rules. And he rejected a recall of the influential Stewart Committee, despite a warning from cancer expert and Science and Technology chairman Dr Ian Gibson that mobile phone masts would be banned for five years if the Government took the same cautious approach as it did with the Sudan 1 food dye.’” Well, this week in the Scottish Parliament, Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Ind) pointed out that the evidence and estimated risk for passive smoking was rather less than that for leukaemia and powerlines. EMR continues treated rather inconsistently.

 Toronto concerns about city-wide WiFi. ‘Researchers also say that many more, over a third of us, are a little electro-sensitive and just don’t know it, blaming restless nights, office brain fog and Motrin moments on everything but our electrified environment. While the biological effects of cellphones keep getting slammed in studies and researchers continue to examine the impact of electromagnetic fields on health, few people talk about the impact of Wi-Fi with any real specifics.’

 A lot of this site attempts to embrace the science of the problems underlying digital microwave emissions. But is the Social Issues Research Centre helping you?

 Sometimes it seems we are constantly being told that mobile phones ands EM radiation in general, have no impact on human physiology. Well, it doesn’t answer many questions to take this stance, whilst ignoring significant findings and indicators. Here is yet another study, this time showing alteration in localised blood flow in the brain when you use a mobile phone.

 Radiation and cancer in Icon Magazine from Cancer Active. Read this article from Prof Johansson, (and also support Cancer Active).

 Far be it from us to suspect nefarious intent, but why, after such extensive delay to the Arup review for the ODPM of how the Code of Best Practice is operating, does the ODPM release the report on the eve of debate of the Private Members Bill (Curry) on amendment of the Telecommunications Act? Because their own recommendations (Section 8) will undermine the purpose of the Bill and protect them from criticism? Read the Arup report.

 Health controversy grows as spread of telecoms masts continues apace. TETRA reaches Skye (What, not already? This network was complete mid 2005, according to O2 Airwave!) but not without its effects on people. This is a long press piece, but well-written and worth reading.

 4,000 masts in Derby’s lampposts. Earning £600 each per year, one note of this progress is that you can pay your council tax online using this network. That is, your council tax for one of the other potential users of this city-wide system: the police. One wonders, if TETRA is so superior and does it all better than other technology, why, on top of the immense expense of TETRA (and handsets up for renewal shortly at further £800 each, and then again for TETRA version 2 handsets to finally deliver data speeds), this is apparently something the police will need to use.

 Your mobile phone is a beacon. ‘Obviously you cannot just enter any mobile phone number and expect to track someone.’ You can’t, but 2 minutes with anyone’s phone will do, and in the name of ‘national security’ no doubt many unsuspecting people will be tracked. How would you know?

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TETRA, Lambleys Barn, Lancing, W Sussex Hiding behind a barn, TETRA at Lambleys Barn, Lancing, West Sussex.
 

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