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Towers pose health risk

At the city council meeting Monday, Oct. 27 the cell tower issue occupied a small but significant portion of the agenda

At the city council meeting Monday, Oct. 27 the cell tower issue occupied a small but significant portion of the agenda.

Ronn Boeur presented a two-page document outlining his concerns to council. The letter contains several major points of information on potential health issues related to transmission tower proximity.

It began by stating that there was much independent research to back citizen concerns about the recent proliferation and placement of cell towers. Cited was a long list of documented health issues, including the phenomenon of “cancer clusters.”

This German study indicated that cancer incidence is three times higher when people (pregnant women, children, and seniors are particularly vulnerable) live, play, or work within 400 metres of a cell tower transmission mast.

The letter also reiterated that Canada’s safety codes are sadly outdated: Safety Code 6 deals only with thermal (not the non-thermal) effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Standards set by European countries put the exposure limits (measured in microwatts per metre-squared) at 100 to 10,000 times lower than what is currently permissible in Canada at 1 million.  For cell connection, it is cited, we need only 0.001.

The planned “smartgrid” puts us away and beyond the top of the chart.

Finally, the letter referenced the legislation adopted by Langley, B.C., which states that when the (required) public polls indicate that less than (a documented) 80 per cent of people living within 500 metres approve of the tower, the township won’t support the proposed tower when it goes to Industry Canada, the federal regulator with the final word...”

So, before any final words are uttered, we need to demand that all levels of government and industry captains be transparent about the potential health dangers posed by all components of the wireless grid.

Shelley Corbin