Studs and machos relocate

The Times (August 21) carried a story that "there is no convincing scientific evidence that weak RF signals from base stations... cause adverse health effects".

Convincing to whom? Definitely not convincing to the World Health Organisation, which often seeks to keep under wraps health effects reported by doctors and patients living within hitting distance of mobile phone base stations keeping within ICNIRP guidelines.

The guidelines are based on arguments that the only established biological effect of RF exposure is thermal - tissue heating.

The WHO-ICNIRP tandem maintain this guideline in the face of compelling non-thermal epidemiological evidence that would have had any chemical declared definitely carcinogenic by IARC, the specialised WHO cancer research agency.

In 2000, Neil Cherry documented non-thermal biological effects of electromagnetic radiation, which included alteration of cellular calcium ion homeostasis, melatonin reduction, DNA strand breakage and enhanced chromosome aberrations.

The implications of such biological effects are devastating - impairment of neurological and cardiac functions as well as of the immune system.

The Stewart Commission report (2000) urged "precautionary approaches with regard to siting of base stations". Inter alia, Sir William Stewart (quoting Repacholi 1997) expressed concern that "exposure to pulsed RF radiation may accelerate the development of tumours".

In 2001, the WHO fact sheet 263 evaded lynx-eyed censors stating that the "IARC has concluded with respect to the strength-of-the-evidence that electromagnetic fields are... possibly carcinogenic based on epidemiological studies of childhood leukaemia". Oops! Cat out of the bag!

Where the ICNIRP guideline exposure level is at its lowest, 100 W/cm2, in the middle of the frequency spectrum, there exist studies that give dose-response relationships for adult and childhood leukaemia with a threshold near 0.025 W/cm2.

This is 4,000 times lower than the ICNIRP guideline. Pooled analyses of epidemiological studies (Ahlbom; Greenland) indicate that for exposures to average magnetic fields in excess of 0.3μT to 0.4μT twice as many children might develop leukaemia compared to children with lower exposure.

Recent research has determined that a current "safe" threshold level for no observed effect for childhood leukaemia and breast cancer is nearer 0.1mT. This is 1,000 times below the current guideline.

G.J. Hyland reported that even ultra-weak electromagnetic radiation affected a variety of brain functions - claiming consistency between non-thermal influences and problems reported - headaches, sleep disruption, impairment of short-term memory, frequency of seizures in epileptics. Besides, when RF exposure raises levels of stress above some critical value, it could trigger the onset of diseases that might have remained latent.

Serious concerns have been voiced by more than 2,000 German doctors in the Freiburger Appeal: "We see a temporal and spatial correlation between the onset of disease (depression, cancer, leukaemia, tumours, heart rhythm disorders, and strokes) and exposure to radiation following installation of a mobile phone base station... unimpeded continuous penetration of radiation into living and working areas particularly bedrooms, causes uninterrupted stress and prevents the patient's thorough recovery. What we experience in our medical practice is anything but hypothetical... Pregnant women, children, adolescents, elderly and sick people are most at risk".

The Irish Doctors' Environmental Association express similar concerns.

They strongly recommend establishing epidemiological databases of individuals suffering exposure to electromagnetic radiation, urging thorough investigation of claims and appropriate state-funded shielding.

Maltese doctors remain unaware... or silent. On this minuscule island, electro-sensitive persons angrily watch mobile phone masts spreading their electro-smog into every patch of space, leaving them no refuge at all. While mobile phone operators reap more profits, the most vulnerable sufferers spend thousands upon thousands of euros to "Faraday-Cage" shield their homes.

The pain and discomfort they suffer is real enough. Having an effect on the chemistry of the brain, electromagnetic radiation depletes their serotonin levels, leading some to depression... or worse.

Although WHO argues there exists no convincing scientific evidence of health risks, the balance has now dramatically shifted.

In 2002, scientists, led by Richard Doll of the Oxford Cancer Studies Unit, concluded that a causal link exists between exposure to electromagnetic radiation and leukaemia.

Indeed, at least 100 well-documented studies link exposure to mild electromagnetic fields to leukaemia, tumours, heart problems and repeated miscarriages. Breaking news: Epidemiologists at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, claim daily exposure to electromagnetic fields, even 1,000 times lower than the current ICNIRP guideline, results in poorer sperm quality.

A word of warning! Studs and machos living close to mobile masts relocate... start packing and move! Your virility is at stake.