FAMILY’S MAST FEARS FOR EPILEPTIC DAUGHTER
30/06/2005 Woking News and Mail
By PHILIP SKELTON
A GOLDSWORTH Park family claims it is prepared to sell the family home and move if an application to place a fourth mobile phone mast nearby is approved.
Ade and Carol Gray, from Westmead are worried for their daughter, eight, who suffers from epilepsy, following a plan to build a mast at the junction of Wyndham Road and Lockfield Drive that would make a total of four in the area.
Although the application for a fourth mast was refused by Woking’s planning committee on Tuesday June 14, residents living in the area believe it is likely the applicant Vodafone will launch an appeal against the council’s decision.
If successful, this appeal would overturn the council’s refusal and the mast would be built regardless of concerns about health.
Mr and Mrs Gray have managed to control their daughter’s condition with carefully selected medication but they fear that if a fourth mast is placed close to their house it could prompt their daughter to suffer further seizures.
Their fears are founded on independent research, which they claim shows radiation from phone masts can make a sufferer’s epilepsy worse or even trigger the condition in other people.
Mr and Mrs Gray spoke about a case study published last year that focused on a girl from Wales.
Her epilepsy was successfully controlled to the age of six and with the help of medication she was able to limit her seizures to one a month on average.
After a mobile phone mast was put in place these increased to four every day yet stopped when she was taken away from the property and when the mast was switched off.
The Gray family also spoke about other health concerns they claim are increasingly found in people living near to phone masts.
These include learning, concentration and behavioural disorders, fluctuations in blood pressure, cancer, headaches and tinnitus.
Speaking from his home in Westmead, Ade Gray said: “We are the experiment.
“If we stay living here and a fourth mast goes up, our children will be part of the experiment.
“If our child’s epilepsy suddenly worsens after years of being well-controlled or if anything else happens to any of us, we will form part of the statistics concerning the safety or otherwise of these masts.
“So will all the other people living near to these masts.
“We are all involuntary live subjects for this real-life experiment while money and profit are being put first.
“Where are the people who will stand up and strongly question the claim that these masts are safe?
“The government should be objectively protecting the public from potential danger when health suspicions are raised instead of hoping they will go away.”
Goldsworth East councillor Bryan Cross said: “I very much support Mr and Mrs Gray.
“I do not think the Gray family should be put in such a position where they have to move house to ensure their family’s quality of life.
“I respect that they have been very consistent in voicing their concerns wherever mobile phone masts applications have been lodged in residential areas and not just in Lockfield Drive.
“I very much share similar concerns and I am concerned with the inability for any member of the public to ascertain the true position regarding the health effects of mobile phones masts.”
By PHILIP SKELTON
A GOLDSWORTH Park family claims it is prepared to sell the family home and move if an application to place a fourth mobile phone mast nearby is approved.
Ade and Carol Gray, from Westmead are worried for their daughter, eight, who suffers from epilepsy, following a plan to build a mast at the junction of Wyndham Road and Lockfield Drive that would make a total of four in the area.
Although the application for a fourth mast was refused by Woking’s planning committee on Tuesday June 14, residents living in the area believe it is likely the applicant Vodafone will launch an appeal against the council’s decision.
If successful, this appeal would overturn the council’s refusal and the mast would be built regardless of concerns about health.
Mr and Mrs Gray have managed to control their daughter’s condition with carefully selected medication but they fear that if a fourth mast is placed close to their house it could prompt their daughter to suffer further seizures.
Their fears are founded on independent research, which they claim shows radiation from phone masts can make a sufferer’s epilepsy worse or even trigger the condition in other people.
Mr and Mrs Gray spoke about a case study published last year that focused on a girl from Wales.
Her epilepsy was successfully controlled to the age of six and with the help of medication she was able to limit her seizures to one a month on average.
After a mobile phone mast was put in place these increased to four every day yet stopped when she was taken away from the property and when the mast was switched off.
The Gray family also spoke about other health concerns they claim are increasingly found in people living near to phone masts.
These include learning, concentration and behavioural disorders, fluctuations in blood pressure, cancer, headaches and tinnitus.
Speaking from his home in Westmead, Ade Gray said: “We are the experiment.
“If we stay living here and a fourth mast goes up, our children will be part of the experiment.
“If our child’s epilepsy suddenly worsens after years of being well-controlled or if anything else happens to any of us, we will form part of the statistics concerning the safety or otherwise of these masts.
“So will all the other people living near to these masts.
“We are all involuntary live subjects for this real-life experiment while money and profit are being put first.
“Where are the people who will stand up and strongly question the claim that these masts are safe?
“The government should be objectively protecting the public from potential danger when health suspicions are raised instead of hoping they will go away.”
Goldsworth East councillor Bryan Cross said: “I very much support Mr and Mrs Gray.
“I do not think the Gray family should be put in such a position where they have to move house to ensure their family’s quality of life.
“I respect that they have been very consistent in voicing their concerns wherever mobile phone masts applications have been lodged in residential areas and not just in Lockfield Drive.
“I very much share similar concerns and I am concerned with the inability for any member of the public to ascertain the true position regarding the health effects of mobile phones masts.”
Starmail - 1. Jul, 23:38
