Epping Forest Guardian

By James Webb

DETERMINED residents have warned Orange "we'll be ready" after the phone company revealed that it may re-apply to put up a mast at Marlow Football Club.

People living near the stadium, in Oak Tree Road, are preparing to lock horns with the telecommunications giant once again. Orange is currently recover-ing from the recent shock of losing its fight to build an aerial.

The Secretary of State's Plann-ing Inspectorate threw out the 58ft application earlier this month, much to the delight of hundreds of protestors, including Green MEP Caroline Lucas.

Orange told the Free Press it would not be appealing against the decision which ruled the mast would harm the living conditions of neighbouring residents.

However, a spokesman said that they hadn't ruled out re-examining the possibility of submitting a new application.

She said: "That is still a possibility. It would not be the same as the previous application as that has already been refused but we can't confirm that we have ruled it out completely."

Residents celebrated the Planning Inspectorate's findings on Friday, May 13, which ruled the mast as "visually intrusive" and said it would "significantly impair" the lives of homeowners in Oak Tree Avenue.

However, it would appear that Orange is determined to push ahead with plans to extend its phone coverage across Marlow.

The spokesman added: "We won't be challenging the Planning Inspectorate's decision based on the fact that the inspector's comments were fair and we don't feel we would have grounds.

"However, we do still have a coverage requirement in the area and we will be sending out an engineer to the area sometime in the next few weeks. The old fire station was a site that we've lost so there is a degree of coverage which needs restoring."

She added: "The football club mast was to supply central Marl-ow so we are trying to build coverage in central Marlow at the same time as restoring coverage to that area.

Barry Fentiman, who helped set up the Local Marlow Community Campaign Group to block the mast application, warned Orange that the fight was not over.

He said: "We are very pleased that they are not going to be appealing against the decision and if they go for a different application on the football club we will be ready for them."

5:47pm Tuesday 7th June 2005

This is Hereford

THE rash of mobile phone masts spreading across the countryside is causing "alarm", says Leominster MP Bill Wiggin.

Noting that 130,000 more masts were planned around the country - an average of about 209 extra masts in each parliamentary constituency - he called for tougher controls.

"There is a presumption in favour of development inherent in the current planning system, which overrides local, environmental and safety concerns," said Mr Wiggin.

"Planning rules cannot cope with the imposition of 130,000 more masts - with the possibility of up to 200 more near homes and schools across Leominster ."

He outlined a five-point plan in which all mobile phone mast developments would require full planning permission. There would be a single process for deciding all masts, including those on Network Rail or church property, as well as small antennas being covertly installed in street furniture or signs.

Councils would be allowed to take health concerns into account.

Mast operators would be required to demonstrate that any development does not result in unacceptable damage to visual amenity or harm environmentally sensitive features, said Mr Wiggin.

"Councils would be asked to draw up their own supplementary planning guidance to ensure consistency and clarity," he added.

BBC website

Protesters have prevented contractors putting up a mobile phone mast on land owned by a south Wales rugby club.

Local people began demonstrating when workers turned up at Talywain Rugby Club in Pontypool on Monday morning.

Residents, who object to Vodafone's plans on health grounds, blocked the road near Emlyn Park for a time and the contractors left about six hours later.

The firm said it was looking carefully at the situation, but it had permission and still planned to erect the mast.

One of the protesters was Malcolm Crewe, who lives about half a mile away and said he was concerned about the health of his 14-year-old grandson, who has a serious medical condition.

Mr Crewe said his daughter and several of her neighbours started the protest when the contractors arrived at about 0900BST. The protest continued until the workmen left mid-afternoon.

Mr Crewe said local people were raising money for legal action in the hope of preventing the mast ever going up.

Another protester, Colette Finch, said: "Children use the club. Under-11s and under-eights play rugby on the field and they want to put a mast there."

People in a number of areas have complained about masts amid concern over possible health risks. Last month the UK government announced new research into their location, as well as mobile phone technology.

Scientific opinion is split, and the National Radiological Protection Board has urged more research into masts.

Torfaen planners have approved Vodafone's proposals for the 15m mast

A Vodafone spokesperson said: "We have permission to install a mast at Talywain, and it's there to provide a service for mobile phone users.

"Obviously it's regrettable that some people have taken this action today and we will be looking carefully at the situation, but as it stands at the moment, we are intending to place our antenna there in order to be able to provide this service."

Lee Scott, MP for Ilford North, made his maiden speech yesterday containing the following, courtesy of http://www.theyworkforyou.com :

I do not want to stop progress, and we cannot stop making provision for people's changing needs, but a lot more power should be given to local views when planning permission is sought. I feel very strongly about the way in which local democracy is trampled on by current planning laws. Where is the justice in local wishes being overturned by inspectors, except in extremely rare cases of overriding national interest? Local authorities must be given powers to control their own destiny. They must be given powers to ban mobile phone masts in heavily residential areas. Local councillors are constantly blamed for decisions that are beyond their control, and councils can have costs awarded against them when locally welcomed decisions are overturned on appeal.

Implementing planning reforms would be a real step towards local democracy. (Ends)

From Andy

What were we saying? Just waking up to the problem, or just found interest in the news?

One in five kids has been bullied by txt or email: NCH sets up a stop bullying by txt website.

http://www.stoptextbully.com


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4614515.stm

Wanstead and Woodford Guardian

By Charlie Stong

NEW Ilford North MP Lee Scott has called on the Government to give local councils more freedom in deciding the fate of mobile phone masts.

Mr Scott last week backed a House of Commons motion calling for health grounds to be taken into account when antennae are planned near homes, schools and hospitals.

At present there is still very little leeway for councils to refuse masts. Currently, they can only refuse applications if they are within conservation areas or motorists' sight lines and causing a safety risk.

A Dutch study in 2003 showed that people exposed to radio-frequency waves, similar to those given out by some Third Generation (3G) masts, suffered reactions which could lead to health problems.

And the Government has now commissioned a study to examine whether the number of masts can be reduced by firms sharing them.

However, a study produced last year by the Advisory Group on Non-ironising Radiation (AGNIR) concluded that exposure levels to mobile phone masts were unlikely to pose a health risk.

Mr Scott said it was important that the fate of individual cases was left with councillors at a local level. He said: "Currently mobile phone mast applications cannot be rejected on health grounds and I think that is wrong. I believe the burden of proof should be on the mobile phone companies to prove they are safe, not on the residents and local authorities to prove they are unsafe."

Mobile phone masts have proved a bone of contention in recent years in Wanstead and Woodford.

In January last year the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian reported how hundreds of residents had united in their fight against phone masts, a move that was sparked after a planned antenna in High Road, Woodford Green.

Then, in February this year, a campaign started against a 3G transmitter just 150 yards from Oakdale Infants and Junior School in Woodville Road, South Woodford.

Another campaign was launched last week over plans for a mast near Snaresbrook Primary School .

But the most alarming case is that of Carnarvon Road , Woodford Green.

In 2001 the Guardian reported that out of seven houses next to a mobile phone station in Carnarvon Road , five were home to cancer victims. Mr Scott added: "As it stands, local authorities have little control over the granting or refusing of masts and this has to change."

cstong@london.newsquest.co.uk

3:00pm Saturday 4th June 2005

From Karen Barratt

It's not all good news on the radio/TV front. I wrote to the Radio Times a few months back (see letter below - not published) about The Archers. Other listeners will know that the situation has not improved. The characters spend as much time talking and texting as they do ploughing these days. One of the scriptwriters must be sleeping with a telecom person.


Dear Sir,

Is the Archers being sponsored by the telecom industry? When I tuned in on Monday 31 January, Bert Fry appeared to be doing a commercial for mobile phones. It’s true that many of the plot lines have been developed with the aid of this technology, mostly illicit affairs, but although nobody in Ambridge seems to have a reception problem, we have never had a campaign against a phone mast in the village, not even by Lynda Snell. So, where are they sited ? Lakey Hill would be perfect technically but is probably a site of outstanding natural beauty. There might be a hidden one inside the church but the bell ringers would have noticed. Streetlamps might be possible but I lived in the country once and there weren’t any.

The scriptwriters have also failed to advise certain characters that they shouldn’t being using mobiles at all (Brian-epilepsy, Ruth-remission from cancer, and anyone who happens to be pregnant, regardless of which Grundy is the father.) If the Archers were a Russian soap, promoting Russian government advice none of the aforementioned characters would be let anywhere near a mobile phone.

Thank goodness it’s only fiction and doesn’t happen in real life.

Here is my small contribution

Sandi



Congratulations to the writer and producer of episode three of this terrific series for making thousands of people happy, as well as providing good entertainment.

How did you achieve this? You introduced the reality of a serious problem for ordinary folk up and down the UK.

By depicting the true responses of ordinary people towards phone masts, and how concerned people are when these masts are placed near homes (or on them!), or near schools, hospitals and other sensitive sites, and in clusters, you have truly served the communities of the UK. Our gratitude and thanks go out to all involved.

I am the Advice Line Co-ordinator for Mast Sanity and speak to people across the UK. I also receive emails as TETRA Coord, and SW England Coord.

Mast Sanity is a voluntary organization with charity status that offers free advice and support to anyone with mast queries or problems.

Phone masts are a serious issue for so many communities who are worried about health issues, and these people are also concerned about Government interference in the planning process.

Last night I put out the news of your program and I am already receiving responses of delight. I know I was dizzy with happiness just to see reality on the Beeb with no government officials or mobile phone companies talking over it to say masts are safe!

Some people were really disappointed to have missed the program, so can you please show it again soon, just for them? Or can mast Sanity have a copy to show our thousands of campaigners? Maybe you could provide a link through your website!

Keep up the good work, give us more of this, we love it. How about a story line in Eastenders?


Yours sincerely,
Sandi Lawrence


Here is the link if you want to write a comment
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/crime/55degrees/yourreviews.shtml

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Just a quick mention about last nights episode in case nobody saw it.

Following on from last weeks episode which gave great prominence to the anti mast campaign, last nights episode also raised the issue. In the first 5 minutes the 2 main character were looking to buy a house. They were looking into the area and said "make sure there are no mobile phone masts nearby". They then were looking into nearby schools and again, "check there are no mobile phone masts nearby". All good publicity for the cause. The script writers or producers must be fellow campaigners!

55 Degrees North, 7.20 BBC1 Last Night (Sunday 12th)

"Thermal"

It is important to avoid some of the terminology that confuses! The only "thermal radiation" is infra-red, or radiated heat. It's why you feel the warmth across a room from a radiant fire. You can get warm from the circulating warmed air as well, but you know when you get close you feel the direct heat.

Radio-frequency, including microwave frequency, electromagnetic radiation is not this. When people talk about the "thermal effects" they refer to microwave energy being absorbed by matter and causing molecular vibration by energy transfer. This is regarded as causing a kind of molecular friction that generates heat (thermal) energy. Heating parts of the body up is bad news and known to cause damage. Of course for that to happen there has to be sufficient microwave energy! That's where ICNIRP comes in. Inside a microwave oven there is a great deal of energy, well above ICNIRP!, and it bounces around millions of times until its energy is lost in exciting molecules (especially of water) and thereby generating heat. The microwaves themselves are not hot, they just make the food hot.

Melatonin reduction is a biological effect that takes place at EMR levels well below the heating threshold. Therefore it cannot be a "thermal (or heating) effect".

So why is it? It could be just that microwaves or radiowaves "illuminate" the pineal gland that produces melatonin, by passing through the skull. We know that melatonin production is governed by daylight, for example.

An intriguing possibility

However, it is not all that simple. One intriguing factor that connects almost everything we say about these non-thermal biological effects, is the role of nitric oxide (NO) in various parts of the body. It is involved, for example, in melatonin production, not least perhaps in that it regulates REM sleep. It also affects the way serotonin works. It affects blood platelets, reacts with haemoglobin, is part of the way calcium CA2+ ions work, affects the blood brain barrier, is implicated in mast cells (perhaps histamine reactions: another aspect of EHS is itchy skin, rashes etc.), affects memory, inflammation, and ultimately "programmed cell death" (apoptosis) that kills damaged or aged cells etc. It plays a role in motor neurone disease, even asthma. It is also a free radical itself, and potentially carcinogenic, so if it "runs away" at the same time that melatonin is suppressed, for example, you lose out both ways. The point of saying this is that NO is held in a very fine balance, and if that balance is disturbed lots of things can go wrong.

And we know that EMR affects levels of NO generation (the body makes it) in rats:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15886623

and mice:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10927193&dopt=Abstract

NO affects blood flow (it is a vasodilator) and blood pressure. It increases stress oxidation by extending the life of free radicals. It could therefore help explain the ageing issue in the latest Egyptian (Cairo) study from use of mobile phones. It could explain why blood flow to the optic nerve is decreased by using a mobile phone, and why there is increased NO in exhaled breath from using phones. Glaucoma involves NO, viagra works by increasing NO production, and Viagra has just been associated with blindness.

It could also explain why the symptoms of EHS (electrical hypersensitivity), MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) and CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) are so similar.

There are lots of "possibles" where NO is involved in chain reactions, and it would explain so much. But all those chain reactions themselves are complex so the answer won't be tomorrow. It is easy to try and finger a prime suspect, and natural to want to. NO might be just that culprit, or it might just be an intriguing suspect. But whatever, NO does appear to be disrupted by EMR, and that is very dodgy for lots of reasons.

What response?

Now remember that we find this technology really useful because of WHAT it does, not because of HOW it does it. The answer is actually not in the emission levels at all, but most probably in the microwave frequencies and the amplitude modulation. You could knock the emission levels down so low that we need to have masts every 100 metres or less (can you imagine?) and still find biological problems in the resulting chronic exposure to electrosmog. Hence I still argue that ICNIRP is a red herring. Emissions are already typically (not always) hundreds or thousands of times below ICNIRP. How low should ICNIRP go? To the point at which phones won't work, as in Salzburg?


Andy

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From Mrs. G. Lyden, 172 Common Rd. Kensworth, Dunstable, Beds. LU6 2PH. Tel 01582 873460

Amendments to email sent yesterday see *

Dear Sir,

So Professer Lawrie Challis is initiating yet another highly expensive test to 'find out' if electromagnetic radiofrequency emissions (EMR) from mobile 'phones and masts can harm our health, when it has already been proved that they do!

When residents in Schwarzenberg, Switzerland demanded scientific tests to find out if the transmitter which had been making them ill for many years with the same type of emissions, those tests proved beyond doubt that when the mast was switched on the hormone melatonin was inhibited in both the humans and the many cows that lived in the area.

Dr. Neil Cherry tells us in his document 'EMR *Reduces Melatonin in Humans and Animals' that human residents urine and the saliva of 3 herds of cows was tested many times when the transitter was on (when melatonin night time levels were too low) and when it was turned off randomly ( when melatonin levels were normal).

Melatonin (which fosters restful sleep) takes over from serotonin (which keeps us awake during the day). Without melatonin we either cannot sleep or have very disturbed sleep. This is the explanation for the main symptom of chronic insomnia found in the presence of EMR.

Lack of sleep has an adverse effect on the immune system.

Melatonin also triggers Tcells to kill off any cells which have mutated during the day. Without it these mutated cells (caused by the many things to which we are exposed including the natural Schumann Resonances) may proliferate and cause benign tumours or cancer. This is not the only evidence as the Russians found these effects in the 1950s amongst workers in the industry, but the West ignored their warnings. The problem is that these non-thermal EMR emissions are pulsed and at a frequency close which affects people badly.

We do not want to lose this valuable, useful technology, but it is imperative that people who are ill when near masts should be listened to and that tests are done in the areas where the effects are felt and NOT merely in the laboratory. It is impossible to replicate the situations where houses are at differing angles to masts; bedrooms are sometimes right in line with antennae; readings can vary considerably from one area in a house to another meaning that one child or adult in a house can be exposed to more of the emissions than parent or spouse.

It is very wrong that rapidly increasing numbers of people are left to suffer for years (4 years in my village where some residents 14 metres from an Orange mast have suffered insomnia; headaches, nausea and vertigo, earache and tinnitus and frequent nosebleeds the whole time - one man cannot sleep in any of his bedrooms, but sleeps on the floor at the back of his lounge! Two people have developed raised white bloodcell count (a symptom found amongst many staff in the American Embassy in Moscow in the 60s and 70s where the Ambassador died of 'a Leukaemia like' illness after the Russians bombarded his office with radar.)

Professer Challis, Dr. Jill Meara at NRPB; the Dept. of Health etc. have all seen Dr. Cherry's evidence and heard of the suffering of increasing numbers of people. 3G and Tetra are causing even more serious symptoms which override even the protective material put up at great expense by those who can afford the astronomical price. To surround a bed *(which cuts off emissions completely and enables sleep) and curtain one room costs £400!

All we ask is that emissions are made safe, because the present 'safe levels' are nothing of the sort.

Yours sincerely, Gill Lyden