School masts legal warning
Jun 29 2005
By Neil Elkes, Evening Mail
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/010 ... ull&siteid
BIRMINGHAM schools which lease their rooftops for mobile phone masts could face future legal action from sick pupils, it was claimed today.
The city's leading mast activist has slammed the city council for "washing its hands" of the problem by giving school governors the final say on whether masts should be put on their buildings.
Eileen O'Connor, spokeswoman for Seriously Concerned Residents Against Masts, said council chiefs were also throwing temptation at governors who would be allowed to keep at least £5,000-ayear per mast.
Mrs O'Connor said: "This is a cop-out. The councillors are putting themselves in the clear by passing responsibility to the schools.
"When masts are proved unsafe, as I have no doubt they will be, it is the school governors who could face the consequences," she added.
An independent survey of residents found that two-thirds were opposed to masts on or near schools but threequarters said they were an acceptable development to allow the use of phones.
Eileen said: "What we need are limits on all masts." Chairman of a council inquiry into masts, Coun Michael Wilkes, said some schools may prefer to have masts on their own site rather than scattered on private sites around the school.
He argued that by lifting a ban on masts on council-owned buildings, the city was taking control of the issue.
Coun Wilkes said that if the ban continued an equivalent or possibly greater number of masts would be displaced to private land under less stringent conditions.
He said: "We will ensure that governors are provided with an impartial package of information so they can make an informed choice."
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Anti-phone mast group fears pupils already sick
29 June 2005
http://www.tottenhamjournal.co.uk/conte ... story.aspx?
MUSWELL Hill Against the Masts campaigners are to carry out a survey of children in the area to see if they are suffering from radiation sickness.
Campaign leaders, whose children go to schools and nurseries near the 3G mast in Grand Avenue, are concerned some of them are already showing signs of radiation sickness.
Sarah Purdey, a chartered accountant and mother-of-three who set up Muswell Hill Against the Masts, said: "Some of the children are showing signs of microwave sickness such as sleepless nights and heart palpitations."
Mrs Purdey claims her own son is showing symptoms.
Anti-mast campaigners are particularly concerned following an outbreak of ill health at a school in Warwickshire - which they blame on mobile phone masts sited nearby.
An informal health survey carried out there appears to show that 98 per cent of pupils are suffering from health problems, according to Muswell Hill Against the Masts.
The group is now planning to ask Muswell Hill parents to fill in a questionnaire about their children's health.
Mast Sanity, a national campaign group against mobile phone masts, is conducting a health survey across the country in an attempt to see how many people are affected by mast microwaves.
A spokeswoman for Vodafone said: "You have to remember that a radio base station is one of many sources of electro magnetic frequency (EMF) and that would include televisions, radio, communications by fire and police, communications by taxis and then there is a whole host of other devices like shop security systems.
"So to pick out on source of EMS in the environment would be quite complicated.
The consensus of scientific opinion is that within guideline levels there is no evidence of any adverse health effects and that is based on 17 years of research."
Yasmin Skeltz, a trustee at Mast Sanity who deals with health and safety issues, said: "Mast Sanity are trying to encourage people, if they feel ill health, to fill in a form so we get some idea of what is going on around the country.
"It's completely confidential but it will give us some indication of what is happening."
william.lee@archant.co.uk