Group presses for action over cell towers

BY DIANA WORTHY

The Waiheke Community Board is being urged to help get consultation over cell phone towers in the light of protests elsewhere as health concerns grow.

The renewed plea comes from resident Andrew Crawford following a resource consent application lodged last year for a cell phone tower on the Surfdale Bowling Club.

The application sparked concerns among more than 400 residents.

Neighbours have since asked telecommunications companies planning to erect towers on the island to consult with residents and to give written guarantees that people’s health will not be harmed by electro-magnetic emissions.

But Vodafone, Telecom and New Zealand Communications’ representatives said “no” to the guarantees at a Community Forum meeting in April.

They told the meeting their installations fully complied with the national standard and said if change was required it was up to government to make the decision.

Telecom’s Paul Leslie added safety issues were a matter for public health authorities.

“We’re saying the responsibility lies with public health authorities. It’s our responsibility to comply and to design our sites with a minimum level of radio frequency emissions,” he said.

Surfdale protestors, though, claim the national emissions’ standard has been set too high and that health experts around the world have been issuing warnings over long-term health effects.

The claim is echoed by protest groups around the country calling for more consultation and the need to notify resource consent applications so communities can have a say.

They have the backing of Green MP Sue Kedgley, who spoke to a public meeting in Pakuranga last week.

She said the growth of cell towers throughout New Zealand had been partly sparked by the introduction of a new law and the passing of the National Environmental Standard by the last government.

Kedgley claimed the standard had been drawn up by the telcos and was one of the most permissive in the world.

She said it had been based on the false assumption that electro-magnetic radiation (EMR) could only cause acute effects and not long-term ones.

“Our government’s approach is to assume that EMR is safe until such time as conclusive evidence of harm is proven. It is exactly the opposite of a precautionary approach,” she said.

And she cited a 17-nation World Health Organisation study on cell phone tower safety, due for release five years ago, saying results had been held up because a link had been found between cell phones and the risk of tumours.

“If cell phones - which officials have insisted are safe - turn out to increase our risk of cancer, what about cell towers, cabinets, WIFI dishes and all the rest?”

Both the Surfdale group and another in South Island’s Nelson are pressing for the chance to make submissions to the Local Government and Environment Committee about their concerns.

Meanwhile, a protest group in Titahi Bay (near Wellington) is celebrating a co-operative approach that saw Telecom cancel plans to build a tower close to residents’ homes.

It will now be erected elsewhere.

Andrew Crawford told the Waiheke Community Board last week he was keen to see the same thing happen on the island.

Board chairman Tony Sears said he would liaise with representatives and Crawford over the progress of tower notification.

Cell phone health claims

British charity Electro-Sensitivity UK says a recent conference included presentations that claimed:

A 500% increase in brain tumours for young people using a mobile phone more than 10 years.

A 500% increase in cancers for people living within 400 metres of a mobile phone mast.

See website www.es.uk-info or contact Andrew Crawford at safetowers@gmail.com for more information.