A St James village’s battle to rid itself of a recently erected cell phone tower in its midst notched up Friday as it enlisted the support of an American campaign group that argues cell phones, wireless broadband and other high-frequency radio signals pose a health risk.
The non-profit Environmental Health Trust (EHT), based in the northern American state of Wyoming has emerged to back the people of Olive Lodge, Holders Hill, who are planning to ask the High Court to issue an injunction to block any further work and eventually have the structure removed. The tower was erected around mid-January by telecommunications firm Digicel. The community was told the tower was temporary.
A member of the three-women team of representatives spearheading the protest against the tower, former UWI Dean of Humanities and Education Dr Jennifer Obidah-Alleyne, told Barbados TODAY on Friday the community plans to present a petition to the Telecommunications Unit of the Ministry of Energy, which regulates the radiofrequency (RF) spectrum in Barbados.
She said the petition aims to carry the signatures of every adult in the district to press for the tower’s removal. Digicel representatives visited Olive Lodge on Friday to speak with residents but encountered strong resistance from the villagers, Barbados TODAY has learned. “It didn’t go down well with the representatives,” the village spokeswoman said.
At the heart of their villagers’ claims is that the tower’s location violates international guidelines for the distance from homes and amid fears that “cancer-causing” radiation from the tower would jeopardise their health.
Those fears were buttressed by the executive director of the non-profit EHT, Theodora Scarato. In an interview with Barbados TODAY, she argued that people’s daily exposure to radiation from wireless signals, known as radiofrequency (RF) radiation, rises when the antennae are located close to homes and schools.
“RF radiation,” she said, “is considered a new form of environmental pollution. Effects from RF documented in scientific research include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, headaches, sleep issues, genetic damage, changes to the reproductive system, memory deficits, and impacts to the nervous system.
“Research has found that the cumulative dose from cell tower RF can result in significant exposure over time. Young children do not use cell phones, yet they are involuntarily exposed. Cell tower radiation exposures are nonstop day and night. We can turn our cell phones off, but we cannot turn a cell tower off.”
EHT also backed the villagers’ fears that “children are more vulnerable to RF radiation as they absorb it deeper into their brains and bodies”. Scarato added: “Even if the radiation absorption were the same as in adults, the effects in children can be far more serious. A child’s developing brain and organ systems are more sensitive to environmental stressors.”
Regarding a cell tower’s distance from homes, she said: “Many biological effects have been documented at very low intensities comparable to what people might experience within 500 feet of a cell tower. The majority of research studies have found effects. However, industry and industry-funded scientific groups dismiss these studies.”
The link between cell phone radiation and risk to human health remains a hotly debated topic worldwide. EHT has challenged research that finds no links between cellular phones and cancer, advocated for more research into the effects of wireless radiation on children, and has pushed for new safety guidelines for wireless technology.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there is a greater likelihood of any adverse health effects from handsets than towers, although it has acknowledged that research has largely focused on the likely effects of cell phone exposure. It said exposure to the radiofrequency (RF) fields emitted by cell phones is generally more than 1000 times higher than from base stations.
But the UN health agency has also noted “mixed epidemiological evidence on humans” that link exposure to RF radiation from wireless phones to head cancers.
According to information from the UN health agency’s website: “An increased risk of brain tumours from the use of mobile phones is not established, the increasing use of mobile phones and the lack of data for mobile phone use over time periods longer than 15 years warrant further research of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk.”
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has listed RF radiation as “possibly” cancer-causing to humans, among its list of class 2B agents. That list includes a wide range of products and activities, from aloe vera to carpentry and joinery and engine exhaust fumes.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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