Mobile phones and base-station emit MICROWAVES.

UK base-station Installations probably meet current health regulations, and all should soon meet the new guidelines, – but it is not yet proved that these guidelines are adequate. Biological effects occur at the levels permitted, illness from other types of low-level radiation exposure typically take 10-15 years to develop.

FRYING TONIGHT

How close would you stand to a microwave oven running with it’s door open and would you want to stay there long ?
Medium sized microwave ovens are  rated around 700W while the focussed power of a typical base-station main beam is lightly to be at least 3,000W EIRP. from each antenna. (This EIRP measurement simply shows what an un-focussed antenna radiating in all directions would have to put out for the same beam strength).
For one antenna the licence permits a maximum total power in 1800 MHz band of 24,000W EIRP. The lower typical power presently radiated is mainly because of technical limitations. [Stewart report 4.31-4.32]

The beam of greatest microwave intensity (the main beam) is wide horizontally, about 120°, and narrow vertically, typically 6°, and is tilted slightly down from horizontal. It meets the ground between 50m and 200m from the transmitter depending on mast height. Stewart Report [4.30]
The 120° beam width is why masts usually have antenna in multiples of 3 to give all round 360° coverage.
People right by an antenna may not be the worst affected, can you see one from your window?

MORE TRANSMISIONS PLANNED

It seems that transmitted power from mobile base stations will increase as the bandwidth in use is increased over the next few years, and also increase as Government policy of ‘antenna sharing’ by the operators comes into practice. There is no doubt that the bandwidth will be increased and remain so, the telecom operators would not have paid our government billions for the new bandwidth licences if they did not intend to use them. Even if satellite phones ever replaced terrestrial mobile phones (and so far it looks as though they won’t) the bandwidth will be allocated to other uses.

Maximum microwave exposure levels recommended in Britain are now 100 times LESS stringent than Switzerland (since ICNIRP guidelines were recently adopted and were 1000 times less stringent under the previous NRPB limits).
British (NRPB) legislation limits temperature rise in your body to 1^oC. This ‘thermal effect’ limit was set after health problems were found with 2^nd World War radar systems, the servicemen who stood in front to keep warm developed cataracts/ tumours / temporary sterility, this legislation took 50 years to introduce. The NRPB limit will protect you fairly well if you are a dead piece of meat. It is the ‘non-thermal effect’ dangers that scientists are now worried about.

Authorities (in Australia, Switzerland and elsewhere) concerned about the possible dangers of these ‘non-thermal’ biological effects have set maximum exposure levels below that where ‘non-thermal’ effects start to occur. Their maximum is orders of magnitude below UK ICNIRP guideline figures.

The Stewart Report says, “people can vary in their susceptibility to environmental hazards. It is not possible at present to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects, and that the gaps in knowledge are sufficient to justify a precautionary approach”. Also “The anxieties that some people feel, when the uncertainties in scientific knowledge is ignored can in themselves affect their well-being”.

PATTERN CAUSES SEIZURES

A well known example of this variation in susceptibility is flashing lights or TV pictures which are harmless to most but can cause epileptic fits in those sensitive. Digital phone microwave radiation similarly pulsates or 'flashes' in a way that could directly stimulate the brain. There are particular worries over Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra), a secure radio system for the emergency services, that uses modulation at close to 16 pulses a second (Hz).

An increase in brain wave activity can be observed both while using a mobile phone and for a period afterwards, so proving that direct brain stimulation can occur. There is negligible power from the flashing pictures needed to cause epileptic seizures, why then should microwaves have to be powerfull enough to cook us, before being considered dangerous.

In 1997 TV transmission of a "Pokemon" cartoon resulted in 560 Japanese children being admitted to hospital with seizures, 70 per cent having no previous history of photosensitive epilepsy. A particular short sequence of blue and red lights caused the problem but why is still not understood. The sequence was very like many very similar patterns that had been used often before in the series without any problem.
What induces photosensitive epilepsy, a recognised phenomena, is still uncertain. What microwave time division modulation pattern might cause seizures is anyone’s guess!

Though brain stimulation by base-station microwaves mightn’t be causing your children to have fits, if it is causing temper tantrums, hyperactivity, memory loss or whatever would you ever be able to attribute it to the base station? Probably never, the pulsating patterns are constantly shifting and dependent on so many random calls that the same pulse sequence may never be produced twice.

Nowadays allergy problems are becoming ever more widespread, prolonged exposure to so much environmental pollution is a major factor. Chemicals, radioactivity and radio waves all pollute the environment, who can say that allergic reactions to pulsating microwaves won’t develop.

TUNED IN

Telecom operators say “don’t worry there is already a lot of radio waves about from radio and TV transmissions”. However most new mobile (GSM) phones operate at 0.9 and 1.8 GHz i.e. just below microwave oven frequency of around 2.5 GHz (giga Hertz) (1GHz=1,000MHz = 1,000,000,000Hz) whereas VHF radio and UHF TV use frequencies well below this. The particular frequency chosen for ovens is one that is good at both penetrating cell tissue and being absorbed by water molecules in the cells. The effects on tissue by signals in the GSM 1.8GHz band will be very similar.

SAFE  or  DANGER NOT PROVED

The telecom companies and the government both profit enormously from mobile phone revenues and have vested interests in the existing system being declared safe. It is not surprising that any health hazard has yet to be proven when most research to date has been industry funded. Until more is known every possible precaution against radiation dangers should be taken, including the sighting of transmitters not just away from school grounds but well away from all inhabited areas.

This proliferation of Network Masts may turn out to be the next BSE for ignoring the warnings and acting without any common sense or prudent avoidance.