[Ben]

Crazy people have been sighted in Shooters Hill, Stoke-on-Trent. Approach with caution... (http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=158767&command=displayContent&sourceNode=158593&contentPK=15883103&folderPk=87654&pNodeId=158324)

From the article:

Families living within feet of a phone mast say it is to blame for 27 deaths and illnesses in their streets in the past 13 years.

Chris Cornes has used about 50 rolls of tin foil to line her loft and bed headboard after monitoring equipment showed one side of her home has much more microwave radiation than the other.

Jean Hopkins, who lives in Cherrywood Grove, was suffering from headaches until spending £1,000 on precautions.

Mrs Hopkins said: "We've lined the loft with 40 or 50 rolls of aluminum foil.

Pensioner Alfred Oakes, who lives close to the mast on Sandon Road, believes his skin cancer could be connected to waves from the mast. He said: "I think the mast should be taken down."
I personally think these people are hysterical. One in three people will get cancer. Sometimes the alarming frequency of the disease is easier to live with if we attribute it to a mobile phone masts.

FYI, I'm led to believe that using tin foil could actually be doing more harm than good, keeping radiation bouncing around confined areas.

[E616Vboy123]

LOL. They want mobile phones and mobile phone signals, but dont want the masts near there house. Somethings got to give somewhere.

[3GScottishUser]

These people are loonies..... and NIMBY's... round the twist I say!!

There has been a phenomenal amount of research into mobile mast radiation and there has yet to be any significant negative human health implications identified. The power levels mobile masts transmit are minimal in comparison to broadcast services and other communiactions transmissions.

Its worth noting that some popular sites for mobile masts now include church spires, hospital buildings and even some school buildings!! No problem with the churches, hospitals etc taking the mobile networks cash (about £10K a year per network) for hosting them!!

I suppose if it were left to the likes of those who make such misguided claims we would all be sending letters to each other delivered by horse drawn mail vans!!

[Hands0n]

It is equally likely that naturally occurring radiation in that area would account for the high levels that they claim to have obtained. What other instances could there be in the area? Overhead or underground electricity pylons? These have a tenuous link with Lukemia.

But as has been said, there are no demonstratable or provable links with health risks relating to Mobile telecommunications - and it has been long enough for such links to have been made given that Cellular Telephony has been around now since around 1982.

If we cannot prove it in 24 years then it is not going to be provable, especially given the sheer weight of numbers who are trying to establish such a causal link to health defficiencies.

Tin foil companies must love people like these!

[3g-g]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Microwave radiation only has the power to heat, that's it. And even at that, look at the power you need to use to make things heat up, a good 800 Watts from your microwave! 30 Watts from a mast that's possibly 40m away from you? Give me a break! Microwave radiation does not have sufficient enough power to break cell bonds to cause mutation, i.e. cancer.

End of. Period.

I wish these idiots would consider what they're saying before opening their mouths, as well as the local press understanding what they're writing about before going to print. Morons.

[Hands0n]

A decent read on this topic is here on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health).
It has good information and citations.



Health controversy

As with many new technologies, concerns have arisen about the effects on health from using a mobile telephone. There is a small amount of scientific evidence for an increase in certain types of rare tumors (cancer) in long-time, heavy users. More recently a pan-European study provided significant evidence of genetic damage under certain conditions. Some researchers also report the mobile phone industry has interfered with further research on health risks. So far, however, the World Health Organization Task Force on EMF effects on health has no definitive conclusion on the veracity of these allegations. (See also electromagnetic radiation hazard.) It is generally thought, however, that RF is incapable of producing any more than heating effects, as it is considered non-ionizing radiation; in other words, it lacks the energy to disrupt molecular bonds such as occurs in genetic mutations.[7]


Like I said before, if the claimed health risks cannot be proven in one quarter of one century then it is unlikely that they ever will be. But the tub thumping goes on! Luddites!!