John Avison: news focus on electromagnetic radiation, phone masts

Oct 27 2009 by John Avison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

in the UK are now using 70m mobile phones – more than one phone per man, woman and child – but the jury remains out on the long-term damage they may be causing.

Mobile phones have been blamed for nosebleeds, memory loss, neuro-degenerative diseases, infertility, sleep disturbance, breast cancer, headaches, cerebral tumours and vomiting.

Calls are serviced through a network of 52,000 masts or base stations – up from 35,000 five years ago.

Dr Martin Sibley is a research leader in communication technology with an interest in electromagnetic theory at Huddersfield University.

He accepts that it is simply too early to determine what all this non- ionising radiation is doing to us.

"But I’m coming down on the ‘electromagnetic fog is nasty’ side of the argument," he admitted.

"A lot depends on the frequency of the radiation, which covers such a wide range. It’s not clear at this stage what is damaging and what is harmless.

"What is certain is that this kind of radiation does have a variety of effects on the human body.

"I compare our present situation to the one scientists found themselves in when somebody first suggested there might be a link between tobacco and cancer."

And the latest research by the World Health Organisation claims it can be linked to four different kinds of cancer with a "significantly increased risk’’ of some brain tumours. The full details of the research which looked at 12,800 people over 10 years will be released in the coming weeks.

But for every piece of research suggesting the lethality of microwave emissions, there’s a survey saying there’s nothing to worry about.

In the USA, a comprehensive $12m federal investigation of cellphone safety is under way, but will take at least another five years to complete.

Investigations in the UK are being conducted and funded jointly by the Department of Health and the Mobile Operators’ Association (MOA).

Results from the current £3.1m Mobile Telephone and Health Research Study won’t be available for several years.

Many people think that such research is discredited from the outset because, whether or not the Mobile Operators’ Association has a hidden agenda, it’s impossible to consider that they might not have one.

People can’t help but think that MOA research was ‘directed’ and that the results thus produced are in some way tainted.

Data from a set of Swedish studies, collected over the last 10 years, may be considered more reliable.