Study to assess potential health risks of Wi-Fi access points in Toronto

By: Rosie Lombardi

IT World Canada (18 Jul 2006)

First, children living near power lines were believed to be at risk for leukemia. Then, cell phones were going to fry our brains
http://www.infoworld.com/article/reuters/2006-06-30_N29294149.html . Now, should we worry about Wi-Fi hotzones?

Prompted by citizen concerns
http://wirelesstoronto.ca/lists/archives/wirelesstoronto-discuss/2006-May/002221.html , the Toronto Board of Health is conducting a study of the potential health risks posed by Toronto Hydro Telecom's plans to blanket the downtown core with Wi-Fi access points http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/search/5b12e3f6-1fcf-482e-b412-8ec93a17263d.html .

A meta-study of the research done in this area is under way, but no field research is planned, says Ronald MacFarlane, supervisor of environmental health assessment and policy at Toronto Public Health (TPH), which delivers programs and services determined by the Toronto Board of Health.

In 1999, TPH conducted a health assessment of human exposure to RF, and the objective of this second study is to provide an update.

"When cell phones were becoming popular in 1999, councilors responded to concerns in their wards and asked us to look into cell phone towers and antennae," he says. "Similarly, people are now concerned about Wi-Fi initiatives, and we've been asked to look into this so we can come back to council with our assessment."

Based on the recommendations of the first study, the Toronto Board of Health adopted a policy of 'prudent avoidance' in 1999 and determined that the level of exposure to radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields should be set at 100 times below Safety Code 6, a guideline developed by Health Canada.

"At this point, we're trying to determine if there's a conflict between prudent avoidance policy and actual usage of Wi-Fi," says MacFarlane. "The initial indications are that Toronto Hydro's Wi-Fi RF would be below our recommended level, and there would be no need to alter plans to meet the standard."

He expects the study and its recommendations to be completed and presented to council in early 2007.

To put the issue in perspective, MacFarlane explains that all manner of infrastructure and consumer devices – power lines, radio towers, Wi-Fi routers, cell phones, radio and television, and so on – emit electromagnetic radiation at different frequencies, with varying effects on biological systems.

The electromagnetic spectrum is divided into two major categories, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone-radiation1.htm

High-frequency radiation with shorter waves at the ionizing end of the spectrum, such as X-rays and gamma rays, has undisputed detrimental effects on human health. At the borderline between ionizing and non-ionizing is ultraviolet radiation, emitted by the sun, which also has a clear link to skin cancer.

Controversy rages at the non-ionizing, lower-frequency end of the spectrum. At the lowest end are electromagnetic fields (EMF) such as those created by power lines. "The longer the wave, the fewer health effects we tend to find," says MacFarlane. "I know studies have looked at cancer caused by exposure to power lines, but the evidence is weak."

Radio waves, which are used in cell phones, Wi-Fi, radio, television and other consumer devices, operate at a higher frequency than power lines. Microwaves, which are used in radar and ovens, are a sub-set of radio waves, and have an even higher frequency. For RF emissions, there are few studies showing a clear impact, says MacFarlane.

However, he says he is reviewing research conducted in Switzerland that provides some fair evidence of a link between RF emissions from radio towers and sleep disturbances.

"This is something we see quite often in the literature – the RF impact on sleep," he says. "The Swiss changed their laws regulating RF emissions based on that study." But this is just one of a multitude of studies, some with conflicting findings, that the TPH is reviewing and considering to determine the patterns of risk.

Considering the vast array of infrastructure and devices that produce RF emissions, how much more would a Wi-Fi hotzone add to the totality of emissions people are exposed to in downtown Toronto? "It's like noise," says David Dobbin, president of Toronto Hydro Telecom. "We're already bombarded by radio waves. Our equipment operates in the same frequency and under the same licensing conditions as cordless phones, baby monitors and garage door openers.

Cell phone towers operate at 10,000 times the power of our Wi-Fi units, and FM radio towers are 100,000 times."

Tony Muc, a physicist and professor at the University of Toronto's department of public health sciences, agrees with Dobbin's description. "This particular application is yet another specific signal within this sea of electromagnetic fields we live in," he says.

"People have exploited radio waves since Marconi's time. And historically, natural electromagnetic phenomena have occurred as well. Biological entities have been exposed to them forever."

Dobbin points out that Toronto Hydro Telecom's equipment is more than fully compliant with all regulations set by the Canadian government. "Our emissions are a fraction of levels recommended by Safety Code 6 and the Toronto Board of Health. We've even gone so far as to get technical compliance declarations from our vendors such as Siemens to guarantee their equipment puts out less."

But many environmentalists distrust the regulations setting levels of exposure to RF, pointing out that it took decades to establish clear links between the harmful effects of DDT and regulatory decisions to ban it outright, and that no longitudinal studies have been done for RF.

"My response to that is that long-term studies have been happening in society since the advent of electricity," says Muc. "The background level of electromagnetic radiation, or 'electronic smog', has been increasing exponentially since about 1900. If we could look at a spectrum analysis then, we would see little beyond background 'noise', or the hiss of the universe."

Muc also points out that if RF emissions had been banned in Marconi's time, it would have prevented the progress of critical technologies society relies on today, such as the invention of television, radar and wireless.

But the spikes associated with human-generated RF are not easy to quantify or understand. "Take the CBC, for example, the transmission associated with that radio station, at that specific frequency, if we compare the ratio of the level today to 1900, it would be about a million," says Muc. "But that's a narrow window of the spectrum. If you go 10 kilohertz on either side of that band, you would only see an increase of maybe 10 or 100 times."

As a consequence, Muc has strong views on regulatory decisions setting RF levels below Safety Code 6. He says it is an international standard developed by scientists who've done extensive studies to find substantive connections between emissions and risks to human health.

"I think it's terribly misguided, under the rubric of 'prudent avoidance', to undercut standards. I think it's scientific nonsense, it's political, and it's socially short-sighted," says Muc. "So what is the point of the standards in the first place? It's trying to say, 'Because I'm ignorant, I want the number to be this.'"

He says this tactic creates even more public distrust of RF standards. "They're contributing to that distrust and that's why I'm against it. It's not all motivated by the military-industrial complex. I believe these standards are the result of good science."

But some disagree with that view. "My retort to that is that you have to question all authority," says Dr. Fred Gilbert, president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which created an international stir and a precedent cited by critics of Toronto Hydro's Wi-Fi plans by banning Wi-Fi on campus
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/20060228.html .

"Every person viewed as an authority operates from a perspective that is limited. A physicist is not a biologist, nor is a biologist in a position to determine the effects caused by physical forces," says Gilbert, who believes in a precautionary policy in the face of evidence that is suggestive if not irrefutable.

He points out that the cause and effect relationship of smoking and cancer was not teased out for decades. "What we have is a set of standards that might be ill-based at this point in time."

No particular study swayed Gilbert, whose own background is in zoology, rather it is the preponderance of evidence suggesting behavioural, cellular and other impacts that were seen decades ago to be precursors to cancer in other scenarios. And some emerging evidence on new issues also played a role.

"Some of the evidence provided to me has been shocking from individuals who have electrosensitivity, who've been able to demonstrate their case and who've suffered abuse in trying to indicate to health professionals what they're dealing with is real," he says.

Muc has reviewed studies of in this area and says he is perplexed by the findings. "What I'm skeptical of is the demonstrable link between what they claim to observe or feel and actual electromagnetic fields. I remain baffled by that but I can't deny that people experience these things. It's like the issue of clairvoyance or predicting cards – it's hard to determine if they're random occurrences."

Gilbert acknowledges some of his personal experiences have also played a role in his reasoning. "I have some very good friends who are dealing with brain cancer
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId110117 and they are people who, because of their business, made extensive use of cell phones. You look at all this information and say, yes, it's anecdotal, but at what point do you as individual who has access to this information say I don't want this risk?"

Toronto Hydro Telecom's Dobbin is aware that emotions run high on the issue of RF exposure. "It's an emotional issue. I understand that people have concerns and that some people believe they've been negatively affected by RF. I sympathize with their position," he says. "But wireless services are a benchmark for modern living, and they are proliferating everywhere."

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Health risks of Wi-Fi and WLAN on our health
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1122031/

Swedes hit hard by WiMAX waves
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2163464/

Victory in six-year fight to recognise electrosensitivity condition
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2372636/

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/oms_who_van_deventer.htm



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Deventer
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Repacholi

On behalf of Friends of the Earth, Kurt Lesser, Denmark, sent a letter to EU to complain about the installation of DECT, WLAN and other wireless systems in public places like libraries, trains, hospitals. A great number of people, especially the Electrosensitive, are now excluded from visiting these public places. This is handicap discrimination and a case of curtailing the human rights of many citizens.

The answer he received (after a long time) contained the usual arguments, but there are some points that may be of interest for some of you. So see the attached answer from EU.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/e.u._answer.pdf


Sianette Kwee
Sensommervej 16
DK-8600 Silkeborg
Denmark

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WLAN, DECT in Schools and Kindergardens
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1579030/

The people of Malta were fed with lies at the conference by the WHO/ ICNIRP

Malta: the next victim of Repacholi, Veyret and Vecchia

Many people in Malta were fooled by the World health organization and the ICNIRP at a conference on the 7 July 2006. Read the sad story of how Repacholi, Veyret and Veccia travelled to Malta and misled the public. By the way: were the traveling expenses part of the $150,000 Repacholi receives every year from the cellular industry or is it a separate payment? Poor innocent Malta. Let's remember for whom the WHO and the ICNIRP work, with the wonderful article by Don Maisch that is attached:

Conflict of Interest and Bias in Health Advisory Committees: A case study of the WHO’s EMF Task Group http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2178233/

The sad story of Malta:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/the_reality_behind_emfs.htm

Read also on the same website, how there is a causal relationship between EMF and leukemia at # The Case for EMF Precautionary Policies
http://www.microwavenews.com/docs/mwn.dec_04.pdf


Iris Atzmon



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Repacholi

New sleeping pills from the WHO factory against public "wrong" perceptions: see news at www.microwavenews.com about the "problem" with public perception, and Drs Repacholi and Veyret want to prescribe the public a new "quick fix":
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/prescription_for_misperceptions_from_repacholi.htm


Iris Atzmon



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=repacholi

It has just been reported in the Australian media that there has been a further occurrence of breast cancer at the ABC building at Toowong, Queensland. Concerns were raised earlier in 2005 and the Queensland health department’s 2005 report is at:
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/ABC_Breast_Cancer_Investigation_Report.pdf

Note in the first of the three news items below where Konrad Jamrozik, a Professor of “Evidence Based Health Care” takes the bizarre opinion that there are no known environmental causes of breast cancer. To quote: “Not pesticides, not background radiation, not mobile telephones, no, none of those things.” However the professor does suggest that a factor may be the woman’s consumption of alcohol may be important !!!!!!!!! Perhaps it was those Friday afternoon drinking sessions at the local pub that are the cause! The inference of the professor is that it is probably the fault of the woman because of their life styles.

Professor Jamrozik’s ignorance of the evidence is inexcusable. Is this what “evidence based health care” is all about? For a start the professor should read the breast cancer archives on this list:

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?cat=41&submit=GO

AND what about the EMF testing to date? Did they try the same old spin as at RMIT? All is fine as the measured levels were below the NH&MRC guidelines. Lets hope they do an honest investigation and not rely on evidenced based bullshit. Of course the EMF possibility may not be a factor at all. But the CLEAR evidence to date in Australia shows a great reluctance to even consider the possibility.

Don Maisch


PM - ABC Brisbane considers move over cancer cases
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1680764.htm

PM - Thursday, 6 July , 2006 18:33:08

Reporter: Melanie Christiansen MARK COLVIN: The ABC’s Brisbane management says it will consider moving its staff to another building because of a cluster of breast cancer cases.

ABC staff were advised today that another employee had undergone a mastectomy operation this week. It’s the ninth confirmed case of breast cancer among ABC Brisbane staff in 11 years. But ABC management say there’s still no evidence of any link between the cases, as Melanie Christiansen reports.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Journalist Jo Stone was 31 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time she was working as a producer in the ABC’s Brisbane newsroom.

JO STONE: I was diagnosed in March last year, after another producer was diagnosed, and I’ve had four operations now. I’ve had lymph nodes removed, I’ve had radiation, I’ve gone two years of drug treatment as well.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: For her, the latest case of breast cancer at the ABC is shocking news.

JO STONE: It’s just devastating. It’s devastating to hear, and it’s frightening, and I’m angry, I’m really angry and I want to know why. I want to know, there’s no … they say it’s just a coincidence, but it just seems too much to be a coincidence now, especially now. And I think, I think that the ABC should close that place down while they do testing.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Jo Stone has now left the ABC in Brisbane. Another of the women affected, Nadia Farha, is still working there.

NADIA FARHA: It’s pretty, I think troubling, and unsettling to hear of the news, because I think you try and put it all behind you and get on with your life, and then you hear something like this and it brings all back into focus and it throws into doubt, you know, your future. And you wonder, you know, should I still be working here? Your head says be sensible and they can’t find anything, but your heart says well maybe there is something there that no one can pinpoint and requires further investigation.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: But she’s not sure about calls to move the ABC’s Brisbane operation.

NADIA FARHA: I know some people are saying that, and I know some people want to walk out of the building and not come back. I really don’t know. I spoke to my breast surgeon about the situation, and he even said to me it was a really freaky occurrence, and I told him the history, I told him they’d looked at the building and done the investigation, and I said to him what do you think we should do? And he said tear down the building.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Lisa Backhouse is the weekend newsreader and presenter of Queensland’s Stateline program. She too is still undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

LISA BACKHOUSE: I think it’s time we took the issue seriously. When RMIT recently had a case where they had seven brain tumours in their staff and in students, they closed the building and said that the safety of their staff was their priority and no one was going to be allowed back into the building until they had thoroughly tested the site, the soil, the water, the air. I think it’s time that the ABC had a very close look at the premises here at Toowong, to consider whether perhaps it’s time we took it as seriously.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: But the ABC’s Queensland Director, Chris Wordsworth, says the site has already been thoroughly tested by Queensland Health and others for any possible cause of breast cancer.

CHRIS WORDSWORTH: We’ve have undertaken a number of tests by independent organisations and, like the Queensland Health investigation, they have cleared the site of any known or probable link between breast cancer and working on this site.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: People have talked about whether the operation should be moved from this site. Is that something management would consider?

CHRIS WORDSWORTH: You and I have just come from a meeting with concerned staff, and I have given them my word that I would look at all suggestions from them.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Given these are colleagues and friends, as you said, would you be happier if the operation moved sites?

CHRIS WORDSWORTH: If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes, but to date, there is nothing that we have been presented with by independent third parties or anyone else for that matter that would lead us to taking that sort of drastic action.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: That’s a view supported by Konrad Jamrozik, a Professor of Evidence Based Health Care at the University of Queensland.

KONRAD JAMROZIK: In thinking about breast cancer and its distribution in the world, and within particular countries and populations, there is at the moment no major recognised environmental factor. A woman’s reproductive history, and increasing evidence about the amount of alcohol that women consume may be also important.

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: But nothing environmental?

KONRAD JAMROZIK: Not pesticides, not background radiation, not mobile telephones, no, none of those things.

MARK COLVIN: Professor Konrad Jamrozik ending that report from Melanie Christiansen.

9th ABC cancer woman
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,19710767,00.html

07 July 06 A NINTH woman in 12 years has been diagnosed with breast cancer while working at an ABC newsroom in Brisbane.

ABC state director Chris Wordsworth said staff at the Toowong site were told yesterday that the employee underwent a mastectomy this week.

A Queensland Health investigation last April found no link between the cases and the Toowong site.

Mr Wordsworth said independent tests, including for electromagnetic and radio frequency emissions, had also not identified a cause.

“We have undertaken a number of tests by independent organisations and, like the Queensland Health investigation, they have cleared the site of any known or probable link between breast cancer and working on the site,” he said.

Jo Stone, an ABC television reporter at Toowong diagnosed with breast cancer last March, called for the site to be relocated.

“They say it’s a coincidence but it just seems too much to be a coincidence now,” she said.

The Toowong cases follow a recent cancer cluster scare at an RMIT University building in Melbourne, where seven people who worked on the top floors have been diagnosed with brain tumours in the past seven years. Health authorities insist there is no evidence of any link with mobile phone towers on the site’s roof.

AAP


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1680848.htm

Last Update: Friday, July 7, 2006. 7:00am (AEST)

Management to consult staff on ABC cancer cases A senior ABC news manager from Sydney will travel to Brisbane today as staff at the Toowong site consider industrial action over the ninth reported case of breast cancer in 11 years. Today’s visit by Alan Sunderland, the ABC’s head of network and state coverage, follows yesterday’s revelations another worker had surgery for breast cancer this week. “The reason I’m going up there is not to tell people everything is okay,” he said. “The reason I’m going up there is to find out what further investigations we can do.” The union will also meet staff. David Waters from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance says some are demanding they be relocated. “While there are ongoing diagnoses of cancer, the most determined action needs to be taken,” he said. ABC management says tests have cleared the Toowong site of any link to the ‘cancer cluster’. But Mr Sunderland says he understands why some staff want to move the inner Brisbane operation after yesterday hearing about the latest case, and he does not rule that out. “ABC’s keen to do everything it possibly can to make sure it’s investigating the situation, taking the best advice available to it, I’m confident we’re doing that,” he said. “But obviously I want to hear from the staff themselves. I’m interested in hearing any suggestions for what more we can do or should do.”

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=511



Comments about: http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=511
from Iris Atzmon

“Not pesticides, not background radiation, not mobile telephones, no, none of those things.” - I think the Israeli cancer association would readily hire him. It is indeed the fashion among “the cancer industry” to speak like that. They call it “evidence based”. I call it “cash based”. The evidence is the last thing on their minds. I would check who funds him.

With regard to measurements, here are some general lessons I learnt from the Israeli experience:

- never to believe easily to the reported results until you check them yourself and until you know exacly where they measured the radiation. For example measurments in Israel are done many times in places where the person is not present like behind trees, outside buildings instead of inside and tricks like that. Especially to be suspicious when the results are not given in clear numbers but in vague sentences like “percentage from the standard” or “stands within the standard”. What are the exact numbers? This is the question. Saying that results are similar to other places doesn’t prove anything, maybe also in other places there are clusters that are not reported? etc.

- There may be a calibration problem in other countries as there is in Israel. It was found out that the Israeli laboratory that calibrates the measurement devices is not an authorized laboratory by the national authority for laboratories authorization, which means it is not authorized to calibrate the radiation devices because it does not stand in ISO 17025 standard. There was a meeting about it in the parliament with the Env. ministry but the Environment ministry (that changed its name lately to “environmental protection ministry”, I don’t really know why because it’s not what they are doing) still ignores the problem. There were found significant differences between results from the laboratory and results that were received in other devices that were calibrated abroad. Sometimes 10 fold differences. Still, the state insists to calibrate in this particular laboratory, and the head of the laboratory who actually calibrates the devices (although his laboratory is not authorized) gives lectures to the public which are paid by industry which is conflict of interest, and generally he is very connected with the industry. This situation can be also in other countries, Israel didn’t invent the wheel.

Iris

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=512



Spinning the ABC breast cancer cluster
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=513

ABC Toowong to close after cancer scare
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=604

ABC may face cancer lawsuits
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=607

Toowong breast cancer cluster
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=642

Correction to the message: Toowong breast cancer cluster
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=643

The Courier Mail mentions “new” report on Toowong ABC studios
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=644

Toowong: still no hard data from ARPANSA
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=645

Keeping the heat on the Toowong ‘cover-up’?
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=646

Removing incriminating evidence at Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=647

Comments on re: Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=648

Interim Report presented to staff
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=649

Cancer fight 'cost my job' at Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=650

Toowong ABC expert panel head refuses to release ELF report
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=651

More on the continuing debacle at Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=656

The continuing saga at Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=671

Greens Senator Bob Brown's Senate questions on Toowong
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=672

More on the half-hearted ABC Toowong breast cancer investigation
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=745

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Cancer fear makes ABC move out

December 21, 2006 - 1:45PM

http://tinyurl.com/yxxzc5

ABC's news department will abandon its Brisbane studios following an investigation that blamed the workplace for the high incidence of breast cancer among female workers.

The independent review could not pinpoint the cause of the cancer, but concluded it was related to the office environment, ABC radio reported.

Some staff would move out today, others would go coming days.

Experts have spent the past five months conducting an investigation after it was revealed 12 women who worked at the Toowong office in Brisbane's inner-west had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 11 years.

Eight of the women worked in the newsroom and most had been there for more than five years.

ABC managing director Mark Scott met with staff today to discuss the findings of the investigation and tell them of the planned relocation.

Earlier this year Mr Scott said he would not relocate staff unless the investigation found evidence of a cancer cluster.

The study showed women who worked at the office reported breast cancer at a rate 11 times higher than the general working community, ABC radio reported today.

Almost 100 ABC staff members walked off the job in July to demand a relocation.

All female staff working at the Toowong office were immediately offered free mammograms, and a free counselling service was made available during the investigation.

Mr Scott has today extended the offer to women at other ABC sites around Australia, ABC radio reported. he review, chaired by Sydney University public health professor Bruce Armstrong, concluded it would have been reasonable for 1.6 women in the studio to have suffered breast cancer, but the prevalence could not be due to a statistical abnormality.

It found women who worked for the broadcaster in Brisbane were between three and 11 times more likely to suffer breast cancer.

The report ruled out a number of lifestyle and environmental factors, but was unable to pinpoint the cause.

The women did not have a higher level of personal risk factors, as all did significant amounts of exercise, were non-smokers and none had a family history of cancer.

The investigation also tested radiation levels in the building and ruled that out as the cause.

An ABC reporter who attended the meeting with Mr Scott said about 250 people worked at the studio.

Staff in the newsroom, where the concentration of cancer was highest, would move out today, she said.

Most would probably work temporarily at the Ten Network and Network Seven's newsrooms.

Staff at other programs such as Australian Story and Landline would be moved to a temporary location in coming days, she said.

"When Mark Scott, the managing director, handed down the report, there were a number of women who were crying," the reporter said.

"A combination of emotions for the people they know, the women who have had breast cancer, and of course for these young girls in their early 30s who are now concerned that they might have ... conducted breast cancer because they've worked there."


Informant: binstock

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ABC television studios new low radiation levels cancer probe
http://www.topcancernews.com/news/43/1/ABC-television-studios-new-low-radiation-levels-cancer-probe



ABC TV on cancer cluster

12/03/2007

Australian Story looks inside a health and workplace crisis that's been described as a first in Australia and possibly the world.

Arguably it's a situation that could have happened anywhere. But it happened at the national broadcaster and it involves people more used to reporting the news than making the news.

The crisis became a major news story just before Christmas when the ABC announced the closure of its Queensland headquarters because of the confirmed high level of breast cancer among women employees, many of them only in their 30s and early 40s.

The closure, thought to be on a scale that is unprecedented, followed a report by an independent scientific panel appointed by the ABC's new Managing Director, Mark Scott.

The report found that the incidence of breast cancer among women working at the ABC in Brisbane was around six times higher than expected. The chances of this being a statistical fluke were put at "one in a million''.

Mr Scott says, "breast cancer clusters like this hadn't been found anywhere else in the world.'' He recalls that when he first heard the statistic he had to check that he was hearing correctly.

But no on-site cause could be found at the time, although investigations are continuing.

Australian Story has the personal stories of the women who say their long campaign against the site has been justified. And the program – comprising two episodes - looks at the medical and scientific mystery that remains and the possible implications for women everywhere.

PROGRAM EXTRAS

Million to One (Part 1) - Transcript
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s1870108.htm

With kind regards

Sarah Dacre
MSc
ACIB London, UK


Informant: Martin Weatherall

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Fears of cancer cluster grows
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3716868/

EMF ruled out as cause of ABC cancer cluster?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3452756/

SERIOUS CONGLOMERATES OF CANCER AND OTHER PATHOLOGIES THAT HAVE BEEN TIE BY THE POPULATION NEXT TO ANTENNAS OF TELEPHONY
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/466717/

Cancer Clusters in Vicinity to Cell-Phone Transmitter Stations
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/580224/

Cancer Cluster in Spain 2000-2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1319986/

University brings in experts as staff fears of cancer cluster grow
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3716868/



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Breast+cancer
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=cancer+cluster
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Toowong

Please see important message from Alasdair Philips, Powerwatch, UK.

Best wishes

Eileen O’Connor


Message from Alasdair Philips below:

I think this is the reason - and any political party in power will have problems with it!

From the MOA website:
http://www.mobilemastinfo.com/information/history.htm

UK Economy and GDP associated with the mobile phone industry:

The continual increase in demand for mobile communications has contributed significantly to the welfare of the UK economy. In 2003 the number of employees dependent on the mobile phone sector rose to around 197,000. The industry contributes £15 billion a year to government finances.

1993/4
£1.3 billion

1997/8
£4.6 billion

1998/9
£5.2 billion

2000
£22.0 billion

The UK is one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in Europe and provides the lowest prices for mobile phone usage. With the speed of new technology within the telecoms industry, the swift introduction of the new third generation (3G) over the next few years will be key to maintaining the UK's competitive edge.

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Please see enclosed news reports with regards to Tony Blair, read his views about phone masts.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/blair_backs_phone_masts.pdf

He says there is no evidence. This is the same man who stopped a phone mast from going up in his own constituency some years ago.

I have tried to present Tony Blair with the overwhelming evidence that is available on many occasions. I have requested many meetings through Labour MPs Mike O’Brien and Claire Curtis- Thomas. The last message I got back from Clair Curtis Thomas was on 26th July 2005, she said that Tony Blair’s correspondence secretary e-mailed to say that a meeting with the Prime Minister has been turned down not once, but twice. Once on June 10th and again on June 22nd, Claire Curtis Thomas followed this up with a phone call to 10 Downing St with a final request, this request was also refused.

How can Tony Blair say there is no evidence if he is not prepared to listen?

Kind Regards

Eileen O’Connor Trustee – EM Radiation Research Trust http://www.radiationresearch.org

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Tony Blair's best mate is at it again and they call this democracy?????No wonder people are disillusioned with politics.

Eileen O'Connor


Information from YubaNet.com.
http://yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_38162.shtml

ApplyRefer 2.3

10,000 EPA Scientists Protest

Library Closures Loss of Access to Collections
Will Hamper
Emergency Response and Research By: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Published: Jun 29, 2006 at 08:41

In an extraordinary letter of protest, representatives for 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists are asking Congress to stop the Bush administration from closing the agency's network of technical research libraries. The EPA scientists, representing more than half of the total agency workforce, contend thousands of scientific studies are being put out of reach, hindering emergency preparedness, anti-pollution enforcement and long-term research, according to the letter released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

In his proposed budget for FY 2007, President Bush deleted $2 million of support for EPA's libraries, amounting to 80% of the agency's total budget for libraries. Without waiting for Congress to act, EPA has begun shuttering libraries, closing access to collections and reassigning staff. The letter notes that "EPA library services are [now] greatly reduced or no longer available to the general public" in agency regional offices serving 19 states.

The letter signed by presidents of 17 locals of four unions (the American Federation of Federal Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Association of Government Employees and the Engineers and Scientists of California) representing more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other technical specialists was sent to Congressional appropriators yesterday evening and states:

. "The ability of EPA to respond to emergencies will be reduced" due to a diminishing access to "the latest research on cutting-edge homeland security and public health" topics;

. Approximately 50,000 original research documents will become completely unavailable because they are not available electronically and the agency has no budget for digitizing them; and

. The public and academic researchers may lose any access to EPA library materials as services to the public are being axed and there are no plans to maintain "the inter-library loan process."

"Eliminating library access is an absolutely awful way to run an agency devoted to public and environmental health," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "For example, important research on the Chesapeake Bay is locked away in boxes since EPA closed its Ft. Meade library this February, yet EPA still maintains that restoring the Chesapeake is a top priority."

The dogged insistence by the Bush administration on a $2 million cut in an overall EPA budget of nearly $8 billion is particularly curious. EPA internal studies show that providing full library access saves an estimated 214,000 hours in professional staff time worth some $7.5 million annually, an amount far larger than the total agency library budget of $2.5 million.

"The Bush administration apparently decided that it was politically easier to close the libraries than to burn the books, although the end result will be the same," Ruch added, noting that the EPA Administrator brushed aside an earlier request by the scientist unions to bargain about the library shutdowns internally.

In their letter, the EPA scientists cite library closures as "one more example of the Bush administration's effort to suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics." At the same time, other outside observers, such as the Chair of EPA's own Science Advisory Board, are expressing growing concerns over the viability and coherence of EPA's research program.

Cell phone use linked to brain tumors?

[June 23, 2006]

(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

WHEN WE THINK OF A TYPICAL 21st century scenario of an urban dwellers lifestyle, we usually include cell phones, PDAs, notebooks, computers, microwave ovens and TVs in the picture. They are very much a part of our world and to many, its impossible to imagine a life without them. And what do all these devices have in common? With prolonged exposure, they can also be a harmful source of electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation.

EMF pollution causes a different type of environmental pollution which can be more risky to ones health than the usual air pollution we can easily detect and protect ourselves from. EMF radiation is a major stressor of the body and we get a fair amount of it every day, everywhere. Yet, we cant see it, we cant hear it, we cant smell it.

Conflicting results

Some researches seem to suggest that the increased incidence of brain tumors during the last decade or so is attributable to cell phone use. Preliminary data would show that the brain tumor is usually located on the side where the patient would use his/her cell phone.

But results from studies have been conflicting. Last year, the Dutch Health Council, reviewing all available data from all over the world, found no conclusive evidence that radiation from mobile phones and TV towers was harmful. A four-year British survey released early this year also showed no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and brain tumor.

These earlier publications seemed reassuring to cell phone users until researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life observed in their study that the use of mobile phones over a long period of time can raise the risk for brain tumors, contradicting the conclusions of earlier researches.

The Swedish researchers looked at the mobile phone use of 905 people between the age of 20 and 80 who had been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, and they found a link with their cell phone use.

The study noted that 85 of these 905 cases were so-called high users of mobile phones, that is they began early to use mobile and/or wireless telephones and used them a lot. Similar to the observations of previous studies, the tumors were more prevalent on the side of the head where the phone was said to be used.

Increased risk

Dr. Kjell Mild, head investigator of the study, said the figures meant that heavy users of mobile phones, accumulating 2,000 hours or more of cell phone use in their life, had a 240 percent increased risk for a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used. In practical terms, if one uses cell phones an average of one hour a day (total daily use), he would have a 240 percent risk of developing a brain tumor in 5.4 years compared to nonusers of cell phones.

Dr. Mild suggested that to get the risk down, one should use hands-free phones but other experts dont seem to agree. They hypothesize that hands-free devices even serve as an antenna that attract more EMF radiation.

Another important observation in some of these studies is that children and younger people are more vulnerable to EMF waves due to their relatively thinner skulls, which are still maturing and growing. With the unlimited text and call promos available in our country, many youngsters spend minutes and sometimes hours making telebabad on their cell phones. This can pose a potential problem later on.

Inadequate disclosure

Since hands-free devices dont seem to offer any protection, the only safeguard I can think of at this point to minimize EMF radiation from cell phones is to use it only when its necessary. If a landline is available, then we should use it instead of the cell phone.

And just like the cigarette manufacturers, the network providers (Globe, Smart, and Sun) should also have a line at the bottom of their advertisements stating something like: Preliminary evidence suggests that accumulated exposure to cell phone radiation might increase the risk of brain tumors. This should free them from any liability of inadequate disclosure which cell phone users who eventually develop brain tumors might file against them.

Copyright: Technology Marketing Corp. 1997-2006

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-cell-phone-use-linked-bra-tumors-/2006/06/23/1694124.htm

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Can Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=7839105


Informant: Mark G.

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"MOBILE TELEPHONE CAN CAUSE CANCER"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/586356/

Brains and mobile phones
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1888981/



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=brain+tumor
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=cancer