** It is unclear whether the new school year will open in Einstein school in Haifa, because the school is irradiated by an army A.M antenna and parents oppose their children will study there. One of the pupils is the grandchild of our Environment Minister. This antenna has been there for many years and in the 90's it was blamed for the high cancer rate in Einstein street, the citizens fought and as a result, the antenna was closed. Now, in summer 2004, the A.M station multiplied to a cellular antennas farm, with 4 huge towers very close to houses and to the school. Still, the A.M station is again at the center of events. After the residents in the area have heard the army radio station "Galey Zahal" through the electronic equipment in their houses - through turned off computer's loudspeakers, through the T.V., telephones, entercom, the cars remote controls don't work - the Cities Union hired Ehud Neaman to measure the radiation there, and it was found that in one of the houses it was 400% more than the 20 uw/cm2 which is the israeli Environment Ministry non-obligatoy standard, and near the school 2.8 fold more than this standard. The mayor demands to close immediately the station but the army says that it rejects the radiation claims, the army spokeperson says that a year ago, the Env. Ministry measured the radiation there and it was ok.

Actually, the Env. Ministry measured the radiation but didn't find anything [well that's what they say], and that's the reason the Cities Union hired Ehud Neaman who found the high radiation. Now, after the results were published on local & national T.V and in the newspaper, the Ministry claims that it found similar results as Ehud Neaman found. Within a week the school year is supposed to open and what will happen with the pupils is unclear, the parents say they are not sleeping well now and don't agree to send their children to Einstein school.

** Also in Israel- a new governmental team will investigate the radiation from the antennas. As a results from the citizens complains, a committe of the ministers of science and technology will investigate the radiation.

This news item says that although there is accumulation of knowledge that is funded by the cellular companies, we don't have a national body that gathers all the information and produces reliable guidelines.

The science minister Ilan Shalgy says that this subject is a hot potato that everyone throws from hand to hand. He says that the knowledge is gathered in different hands but nobody coordionates them and no upper body took the responsibility to give answers. He says the subject is not advanced although it has been treated by different governmental committees for about 10 years. The team is expected to recommend within 3 months on the way to establish a national knowldge center for research on electromagnetic radiation and its effects on public health.

** The investement bank Meryl Linch made an international comparison and found again that Israel is the second in the world in the quantity of the cellular phone calls. In the first quarter of this year Israel was first in the world, with penetration of 102% procents. In Israel there are more phones than citizens.

This "achievement" is attributed to the low prices that were at the beginning of the technology in Israel, because the communication ministry and Cellcom company wanted the technology to penetrate "the deepest it could".

Also another reason is that Israelies accept very easily new technologies, they tend to adopt new technologies quicker than anywhere else in the world. [that is why it will be so hard to try to make a change in Israel]

** Yesterday it was reported that a teenager felt suddenly headaches in a party, a sensitivity to light was diagnosed but the doctors didn't unserstand what's wrong with him because all his checks were normal. He had migranes, and he is unconscious now. The doctors "solved" the problem by claiming it is a virus.

From Iris Atzmon
(excerpt)