Article From ish Newspaper

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Some of you will be aware of the difficulties we've been having finding

a

home which isn't iradiated by mobile phone masts, and the new police

radio

system TETRA. Well I got a mention in an article in The West Highland

Free

Press, a respected newspaper which covers most of the west coast of

Scotland.

Regards,

Chris

Article text:-

Health controversy grows as spread of telecoms masts continues apace.

West Highland Free Press Newspaper

http://www.whfp.com/ <http://www.whfp.com/>

Friday, 24th February, 2005.

MICHAEL RUSSELL on the debate over the proliferation of the TETRA

microwave

communication system, due to go live in Skye and Lochalsh next week

Butterfield suffers from a rare condition called

electro-sensitivity.

Put simply, the Fife-based photographer is allergic to mobile phone

technology, specifically the microwave signals which let the rest of us

talk, text and cook.

As allergies go, this is about as bad as it gets. Skin rashes,

headaches,

disorientation and nosebleeds are what 30-year-old has to con

tend

with whenever he passes a base station mast, or when someone nearby by

uses

the latest whizzbang 3G phone. It all makes for a very un comfortable

and

difficult life. A trip to the shops or a walk in the country can

suddenly

turn into a very painful experience.

Naturally his mother, Liz, wants to help. Last month she visited the

offices

of the Free Press to place an advert seeking accommodation on Skye.

" There

are wide open spaces in the Highlands where there are no masts, " she

explained. " is looking for somewhere he can live without being

afraid

to go for a drive or a walk. "

Fife to Skye is a long drive, es pecially for someone who herself

suffers

from ME. Evidently a son's health is more important than a mother's

discomfort. She spent a few days house-hunting, placed the advert, then

went

back to Leven to wait for the good news.

What she got, however, was bad news. Now she and will be staying

put,

at least for the time being. The Highlands and Islands, it transpires,

are

no longer the safe haven sought by mother and son. They know what to

blame

for that.

As of this month, Northern Constabulary started switching on its new

" Airwave " system of microwave communication, promising police officers

unprecedented access to data, encrypted security and inter-force

capability.

Activating a vast network of Airwave antennae across Northern

Constabulary's

eight area commands means a lot more masts, and a lot more radiation,

for

people like Butterfield to dodge. The roll-out started in

Lochaber at

the beginning of this month, and is due to end when Skye and Lochalsh

" goes

live " next week.

According to Northern Constabulary, the whole Integrated Communiciation

Development Programme - of which Airwave is the central element - has

cost

£4.5 million. Nationally, almost £3 billion of taxpayers' money

has been

spent to date on putting the basic Airwave system in place, so the

Government is expecting big things from it. The rush to complete the

national roll-out as soon as possible was driven by Gordon Brown's

decision

four years ago to sell all the police frequencies to an expectant

mobile

phone industry desperate to recoup the huge amounts spent on 3G

technology.

But many global players, both commercial and military, also want

Airwave up

and running because of its own intrinsic value.

Already various upgrades and add-ons, many with future military

applications, are coming on the market. American telecoms giant

Motorola -

which dominates the UK Airwave market - launched the next generation of

masts just three months ago. Arms giants Thales, EADS and Northrop

Grumman

also offer Airwave products and services. Inevitably, the cost is bound

to

increase over the course of the 15-year contract. This is a

world-first,

after all.

Over the last five years around 3,500 Airwave antennae, most of them

site-sharing with other operators and thus free from the usual planning

constraints, have been put up nationwide. Northern Constabulary Chief

Constable Ian Latimer initially said the force needed 287 Airwave sites

to

cover the Highlands and Islands. That figure now stands at 150, raising

concerns about how full coverage can be achieved with fewer masts. All

the

UK's 51 police forces are committed to Airwave, and this makes

thousands of

electro-sensitives like nervous. They are not alone.

Since the system was piloted in Lancashire in 2000, there has been a

steady

stream of complaints from both users (police officers) and communities

near

to transmitters. Violent reactions like those experienced by Chris

Butterfield have occurred in people not known as electrosensitive. What

is

it about Airwave that might affect ordinary people in this way? And are

its

effects being ignored - or worse, covered up - by the industry?

The health controversy centres on two aspects of the system - the

alleged

pulsing of the microwave signals from Airwave police handsets

and base stations, and the fact that base station transmitters are on

full

power 24/7. Ordinary mobile phone masts, by contrast, respond to

demand,

adjusting their power output accordingly.

Airwave is the light and fluffy brand name chosen for this technology

by

mobile company 02, which was formerly part of BT. The system is more

accurately known as TErrestrial Trunked RAdio - TETRA.

During the Lancashire pilot study, 177 police officers complained of

the

same symptoms described by Butterfield. Behavioural and emotional

changes were also noted. Such was the concern within the police service

at

the time that the Police Federation commissioned

Government microwave expert Barrie Trower to investigate the

technology. His

findings were shocking.

" Since the system was piloted in Lancashire in 2000, there has been a

steady

stream of complaints from users and from

communities near to transmitters "

Microwaves from the UK's 40,000 mobile phone masts are bad news. Pulsed

microwaves from TETRA are even worse. Mr Trower said both interfere

with the

electrical processes within the body and, depending on their frequency,

can

produce very specific effects and will even degrade immune systems in

the

long term. The 17.6 Hz frequency used by TETRA is especially

significant:

that is slap bang in the middle of the 15-20 Hz range which

characterises

the brain's electrical activity when engaged in complex mental tasks.

Referred to in neuroscience as Beta Waves, this frequency range is also

evident during the dream-state of sleep, which sufferers say is

disrupted

because of TETRA. Strobe lights are banned from flashing at this rate

for

this very reason, in case they induce an epileptic fit.

When he was head of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, Sir

, now chairman of the Health

Protection Agency and formerly chairman of the National Radiological

Protection Board, warned in 2000 that this frequency should be avoided.

The

Group noted that there " is now scientific evidence which suggests that

there

may be biological effects " occurring at exposure levels below official

limits for microwaves from mobile phone (known in the industry as GSM)

technology. Children under eight, said Sir , should never use a

mobile phone at all as they have thinner skulls than adults and their

nervous systems are still developing.

As a result of the IEGMP's findings, microwave emissions from mobile

phone

masts and TETRA transmitters now have to stick to stringent

international

limits, which came into force in the UK in 2004. In an effort to allay

public fears, the NRPB told the telecoms regulator OFCOM in 2004 to put

all

emissions data from GSM and TETRA base stations on their website. So

far,

only four masts in Scotland have been listed on Of corn's Sitefinder

facility. None of the four is north of Falkirk, and no TETRA masts are

included.

OFCOM spokesman Simon Bates told me that the Home Office had prevented

the

publication of any TETRA readings on security grounds. Verifying

industry

claims that TETRA complies with official microwave limits is therefore

impossible.

But crucially for Mr Trower, and a growing body of expert opinion,

those

offical limits - enforced by the International Commission on

Non-Ionising

Radiation Protection - are badly flawed because they only cover the

body

heating effects of the radiation.

Since the Report of 2000, IEGMP consultees Dr Gerald Hyland and

Dr

Coghill have published several papers which suggest, in common

with Mr

Trower, that key frequencies emitted by TETRA and mobile phone masts

produce

specific effects for entirely different reasons.

In a paper prepared for the European Parliament, Dr Hyland wrote:

" Unlike

the heating effect exposure to microwaves which can, if excessive,

cause

actual material damage, non-thermal influences act in a more subtle

way, via

their potentiality to interfere with biological functionality - in

particular, it would appear, with bioprocesses which are intended to

afford

(natural) protection against adverse health effects of various kinds. "

The industry, including its paid reseachers and political advocates, is

unmoved. Recognising non-thermal effects, despite Sir 's

admission, is still some way off. In fact, the official line is that

TETRA

signals from base stations do not pulse.

This assertion, say the ish Green Party, is a " hair-splitting "

argument

which averages out the signal over a set time period. Messrs Trower,

Hyland

and Coghill say the same. However, 02 do admit that the police handsets

and

car-mounted antennae do pulse. Makers of rival system TETRAPOL, which

is

used by the emergency services across Europe, say that UK TETRA base

stations do pulse, though you might expect the competition to say that.

SEEKING some kind of clarity, I spoke to a man who should be able to

give a

definitive answer to the pulsing question.

Dr is a leading radiation expert who works for the Health

Protection Agency, the body which absorbed Sir 's NRPB

in

April of last year. The HP A acknowledge that TETRA is different from

other

microwave technologies. But how different? Does it pulse?

According to Dr , any electrical signal has to drop to zero to

qualify

as pulsed. " That is the offical definition that has been recognised for

30

years, " he explained. " However, the TETRA signal does rise and fall at

specific frequencies. "

Could this rising and falling produce a biological effect? " That cannot

be

ruled out, " he replied.

Dr also acknowledged that all the current research being

conducted by

the Home Office was focused on the handsets and car-mounted antennae

used by

police officers. Not a single health study has been conducted on

communities

near any of the 3,500 TETRA sites in the UK. " We do need more research

in

this area, " Dr observed.

Such a move would certainly be welcomed by concerned residents across

the

UK. Groups from as far afield as Bognor Regis and Perthshire have

reported

the same symptoms as those felt by Butterfield. And very few of

them

qualify as electro-sensitives.

Arthur Jarrett, an anti-TETRA activist from Wormit in Fife - where

councillors refused 02 planning permission for a TETRA mast last year -

said

more and more ordinary people were reporting microwave symptoms because

the

technology had changed so rapidly in such a short space of time. The

proliferation of masts and phones (the latter increasing in number

tenfold

in the UK between 1995 and 2005) and the advent of 3G meant, he said,

that

power outputs had increased considerably to give full coverage and to

" do

all the wonderful things " the industry promises. " TETRA is an added

nuisance, " Mr Jarret commented.

For some it is more than a minor irritant. When a TETRA mast went live

just

a few hundred yards from Littlehamptom Primary School in Sussex in

2004,11

children were sent home with headaches and nosebleeds.

Originally from Ness in , Graham on now stays in Partick,

Glasgow, and last week chaired a public meeting in the local baptist

church.

" It was the cheapest venue we could afford, " he said.

There's nothing funny about his microwave symptoms, or those of around

50

fellow sufferers who stay in just two streets in Thornwood. " It started

about a year ago with headaches, tiredness and muscular pains, " Mr

on

added. " The doctors couldn't find anything wrong, but the problems

persisted. Then others came forward with the same symptoms. "

According to Mr on, all the Thornwood sufferers began reporting

microwave symptoms at the same time as two masts, 3G and TETRA, were

put up

in the area. " There are now 15 masts in the Partick area, " he added.

" The

worst affected are those who live in the cross-lines between the 3G and

TETRA masts.

" People here are getting angry because they feel they are being

ignored.

Everyone wants to know why the authorities won't recognise what's going

on -

why are they covering this up? "

Baron, who lives in Chichester, told me that five local police

officers had complained of similar symptoms when using TETRA handsets

there.

" They have been told not to go anywhere near the press because they

will

lose their jobs, " he added.

Rural police users of TETRA, it seems, may have more to fear from the

technology than their urban counterparts. Home Office research

conducted by

the University of Birmingham in 2004 warned that PCs working night

shift in

rural areas should be given " special attention " as their usage of TETRA

equipment is likely to be heavier in comparison to city police forces,

where

staffing levels are higher.

These concerns were given added weight by a study conducted by Sweden's

University Hospital last year which found that the risk of developing a

brain tumour was six times higher among mobile phone users in rural

areas

than in cities. The reason stated by the authors was the greater

distance

between base stations in rural areas, and thus the higher power output

of

masts to achieve full coverage.

The University of Birmingham report, entitled " Airwave Patterns of Use

Study " , also warns that microwave exposure levels for the general

public

could exceed official ICNIRP limits if a person's head were within a

" few

centimetres " of a police car's antenna. However, the report then goes on

to

state that no data on microwave emissions was forthcoming from the only

manufacturers of the car-mounted antennae chosen to take part in the

study,

Welsh firm Cleartone.

Other police health studies, such as the long-term project being

conducted

by Imperial College London, bemoan the difficulty in obtaining accurate

call-duration records from 02 so that exposure can be measured. The

latest

ICL study also found that linking an individual TETRA user's subscriber

number with a PC's collar ID was an " immediate concern " and far from

staightforward.

LOCHCARRON councillor Ewen Mackinnon, who has served on the Northern

Joint

Police Board for several years, acknowledged there did seem to be a

degree

of uncertainty with regard to the health effects of TETRA on both users

and

the public. However, the board's main concern had been the financial

implications of the new system, he said. Indeed, he told me last week

that

members were still awaiting clarification from the ish Executive

about

fully funding Airwave through Grant Aided Expenditure.

As the council tax accounts for 20 per cent Northern Constabulary's

total

budget, Mr Mackinnon wanted assurances that the cost of Airwave -the

jewel

in the crown of the force's Integrated Communications Development

Programme - would not be passed on to taxpayers. This, he said, was

especially significant in the Highlands and Islands as the basic TETRA

package cannot give full coverage over our mountainous terrain.

Northern Constabulary say that 98 per cent of the funding for ICDP has

come

from the executive in the GAE settlement.

Mr Mackinnon added: " Northern Constabulary had no option about taking

Airwave. The ish Executive forced them and said 'this is what's

going

to happen'. "

This view is reinforced by a look at the minutes of the Northern Police

Board.

On 25th January 2002, the minutes noted: " A contract for central

procurement

had been offered to this force, among others, through a Consortium,

inviting

Forces to commit to its terms by 26th February 2002.

" The chief constable was currently seeking legal advice, sight of the

contract documents and advice from the ish Executive on the

financial

implications of the proposed contract before making a recommendation to

Members on the proposed procurement arrangement. "

But at the next Board meeting on 11th April the deal was done and

dusted,

without members getting a look at the documents or getting to meet

Justice

Minister Jim Wallace - a move agreed at the meeting of 25th January.

Board members had been given one month to consider taking Airwave

before the

26th February deadline, but were given no contract information and no

costings on which to base their conclusions.

The minutes of 11th April make it clear that only the Chief Constable

had

access to any kind of detailed information in the interim, which

included a

meeting with the ish Executive.

Was he given no choice, as Mr Mackinnon maintained, but to accept TETRA

at

this meeting?

This leads on to another question: who is pushing TETRA so hard, and

why?

TO BE CONCLUDED