TETRA :: Ecologist - October 2004
By Jay Griffiths
page 6
Meanwhile, Llanidloes is realising the diversity of its talents. The mayor and his town councillors energetically oppose the mast. An ex-physics teacher reads up on the science. In the buildings around the mast, people inform their landlords they will move out of rented business space if the mast is switched on. People who have never campaigned over anything in their lives get active. (Never,
says Councillor Morgan, never, ever underestimate Llanidloes.
) The guys in the local printers stay working till ten at night to help produce information leaflets. The town council organises a leaflet drop to every house. Someone begins a subvertising campaign NO2 TETRA. Llanidloes is famous for its annual Fancy Dress Night competition, when thousands of people flock to the town in costume and this year the local MP, Lembit Opik, gleefully chooses the winner of the competition: Doctor TETRA
in a lab coat brandishing a toy silver TETRA mast.
A public meeting is called. 02 are invited. And the NRPB. And the helpful MP. Local people come in their hundreds. Virtually everyone is there. Except, that is, 02. They send an insulting letter saying the nature of public opposition and local activism have raised serious concerns with regard to the safety of 02 employees at such a meeting.
(They are worried about their safety?) Further, they say: the site perfectly fits the needs of the Airwave service.
Quite, comments Lembit Opik, but it does not fit the needs of Llanidloes.
The man from the NRPB, Dr Michael Clark, arrives and speaks of sunshine, x-rays and ordinary radio signals. He says very little of TETRA. And he lies to the town, claiming that the Trower report was not commissioned by the Police Federation. (When I spoke to Steve Pierce, I asked him about the Trower report. Do you know who commissioned it?
Yes.
Can you tell me?
Yes.
Who was it?
Me.
)
The NRPB is an organisation which exists to regulate radiation. It is half government-funded. Like many regulatory bodies, it has unhealthily close ties to the industry which it claims to regulate, and there are clear conflicts of interest. The NRPB subcontract research on microwave radiation to Microwave Consultants Limited
whose director is Dr Camelia Gabriel. Meanwhile a senior consultant for Orange plc is none other than... Dr Camelia Gabriel. Concerns over this were noted in The Observer.(12)
Dr. Keith Baverstock, who was the World Health Organisation's senior radiation adviser in Europe, addressed a conference on low-level radiation in July 2004, accusing the NRPB of misusing
science (in studies of nuclear test veterans). He said science has been perverted for political ends
by government agencies which should be protecting public health. Baverstock alleged a serious flaw
in the NRPBs methodology in these studies.(13)
The Observer reports that vital evidence of harmful effects on children from transmitter masts
was kept from the Stewart Committee. The panel had asked the NRPB for copies of a particular study on children. The NRPB informed the committee that the research was unpublished and unobtainable. Not so. As the Observer remarked: the research, published in an international scientific journal in 1996,... has been easily obtained by ordinary members of the public.
(14)
There is a yawning discrepancy between the NRPB and others over safe levels of this kind of radiation. If, comments Alasdair Philips, (Cambridge researcher in electronic and bio-medical engineering and founder of campaign group Powerwatch,) you compare the NRPBs recommendations with others, in terms of miles per hour, it is as if in the UK an acceptable speed limit would be 2847mph while the EU recommends a limit of 9mph. (See panel)
Safety levels
What is considered a safe level of exposure to this kind of radiation? It depends where in the world you live. If you live in the UK, the guidelines are set by the National Radiological Protection Board, NRPB who have recently adopted the levels set by the ICNIRP. If you live elsewhere, including China, the guidelines will be far stricter.
Alasdair Philips of Powerwatch comments that modern scientific concern has been taken on board by a number of countries when setting guidance for the maximum signals from base stations that members of the public should be subjected to. He notes the guidelines, (as volts per metre) and gives the analogy of speed limits, with the Salzburg limit set as 30mph. (The Salzburg limits refer to the 'Salzburg Resolution' of 19 international scientists and public health doctors.)
For 1800MHz, public exposure guidelines are as follows: the first column as volts per metre, the second as mph.
| Volts / Metre | Mph | |
|---|---|---|
| The NRPB and ICNIRP | 58 | 2487mph |
| Russia and CHina | 6 | 600mph |
| EU Parliament | 0.2 | 9mph |
| Salzburg (GSM/3G inside houses 2002) | 0.02 | 1mph |
Why the difference? Crucially, the NRPB and ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection) set their standards only taking into account thermal effects. Dr. Hyland says: That's not the problem
the non-thermal effect of radiation from TETRA handsets and masts is far more serious.
(Thermal effects
means that there is enough energy to heat tissue. Non-thermal effects
means that although heating has not taken place, there are other effects on biological structure and the body's communication systems.)
