Newsletter (01 February 2004)
A quick update
* The Israeli Environment Ministry is running a public campaign against the power company.
The Environment Ministry representatives say they have measured high radiation in different places. The formal recommendation is 10 mG (it has nothing to do with the actual radiation, it's just from the mouth out, to create a "serious" impression). The power company representative, Jacob Rosen, says the power company stands in the guidelines of the WHO - 1000 mG, and that the WHO says there are no damages in level of 1000 mG. So, the power company representative summerized, the Env. Ministry is picking on the power company.
The Env. Ministry asked the power company to give all of their measurements to the Ministry to check.
* In an unusual move (not that the above move of the Env. Ministry was usual), two local authorities in Israel removed antennas with no license. One removed 10 antennas and the second removed 6. A new antenna was built immediately to "compensate".
People complained that they had bad reception as a result of the antennas removal. A representative of the Env. Ministry said on T.V that there is no certainty about health risks, and that now there is a study in which Israel is taking part with other 11 countries, and meanwhile, there is a need to take precautionary steps.
(The usual song).
* Haifa report (recommends to change the program of antennas distribution in Israel so that it will actually consider the people as a side in the issue) was given to the Env. Ministry to consider.
Iris Atzmon
and
Fluoridation
Dear Klaus,
Something for the list:
Fluoridation is a serious problem in 60% of America, Tasmania in Australia, Ireland, Spain and probably England soon in Europe. Also in Israel and other countries. I don't know how many of your readers are aware of the fluoridation problem, because it didn't come up in the newsletters, anyway, here is an article that gives the general picture of the toxic problem.
http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html
A toxic soup including arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, lead, radionuclides, silicon, fluoride and more, is added to the drinking/ showering/ watering (of the food we eat)/ laundry. The soup makes it easier for the phosphate fertilizer industry to get rid of its waste in a very convenient way (economical) but for the citizens it causes many diseases. The formal excuse for putting it in the drinking water is that fluoride prevents tooth decay. The scientific data shows it doesn't prevent tooth decay, but it causes so many diseases including cancer and more. Many people are not even aware of the fluoridation.
A very good book for the layperson that shows scientific evidence and explains how the soup penetrates through the skin and that we breath it in the shower (=even if we drink mineral water the problem is not solved) is: Fluoride-Drinking Ourselves to Death? by Barry Groves (England) It can be bought through amazon.com. Other books are Fluoridation Poison on Tap by Glen Walker (Australia) and Fluoride the Aging Factor (U.S.) (describes how fluoride breaks collagen and causes aging).
There is a campaign in England against the fluoridation, hopefully they will succeed. In other countries it doesn't make headlines.
Our Health Ministry made a world record when it recommended mothers to prevent mineral water from their children and give them tap water instead, because of the "benefits" of fluoride, without informing them of course that it's toxic industry waste. Unnecessary to mention - the person who is so actively promoting the fluoridation, lives in a non-fluoridated area.
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Antenna fight continues for concerned residents
Berkeley Voice
Posted on Fri, Jan. 30, 2004
DON'T LET THE NICE NEIGHBORHOOD fool you -- those denizens of Shattuck Avenue and Cedar Street can be a pretty scrappy bunch. Going into round 12 (and month 14) of their bout against heavy-hitter Sprint Corp., not only are they still standing, but they seem to have knocked the telecom giant for a loop.
The conflict stems from the company's plans to install communications antennae on the roof of a three-story office building at 1600 Shattuck. It's a fight that's been played out in thousands of communities across the nation, with grass-roots groups trying to figure out a way to keep the transmitters out of their proverbial backyards.
Each bout is a bit different, but generally they start the same: Residents are concerned about adverse health effects that could be caused by the high-powered transmitters in such close proximity to where they sleep, where they work and where their children go to school.
What antenna adversaries across the nation immediately find out is that it's a moot point, overruled by Federal Communications Commission radiation standards set by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Local governments have no say in the federal matter-- it would be like Berkeley striving to, say, decriminalize marijuana (1999), or perhaps taking a stand against the death penalty (2000), the Patriot Act (2002) or the war in Iraq (2003).
But for neighborhood activists, it's not like tilting at a windmill. With Big Brother declaring a physical fight off-limits, crafty citizens begin searching for other means to an antenna-free end.
Some have utilized low-tech methods, getting petitions signed or picketing the proposed site (which happened in 1997 at a Noe Valley church that wanted to bolster its coffers by packing the steeple with transmitters for $29,000 a year). Others make the case that a cell-phone tower would be an eyesore and detrimental to property values (which the other side has fought by concealing their antennae in phony trees, and, in at least one Chicago suburb, disguised as a 116-foot-tall cross, again on church grounds). And, as with any emotional issue, the blows can get pretty low -- city workers are often accused of being liars and shills.
The gang over on Shattuck fought tooth-and-nail on all those fronts, and it did get a bit nasty at times. But no one can accuse them of not doing their homework. They petitioned, they staged an e-mail campaign, they mobbed council meetings. They did heavy research, quoting section after section of local ordinances that could possibly be violated by the instalment. They also went high-tech, monitoring RF radiation levels and conducting their own study of wireless reception in the area.
In the end, it was this study that convinced the council to delay a decision, telling Sprint to come back in two weeks with a stronger case. Councilman Gordon Wozniak said, "The ball is in Sprint's court to prove the phones don't work."
Sprint will indeed be back, no doubt with further studies. Despite its easy comparison to a brutish Goliath, the company is merely trying to serve its customers as best it can. With pretty stiff competition to serve a growing number of wireless phones, it's natural that Sprint would want to up its output so users can happily enjoy all those fancy new features without interruption. There's nothing sinister about it -- it just happens to be at odds with the priorities of the people it aims to serve.
The health concern is another matter. Some studies point toward adverse neurological effects from prolonged exposure to high levels of RF radiation, while others discount it as akin to saying sitting too close to the television will ruin your eyes. The Voice is silent on the subject -- we're no medical journal. Our office has a large wireless transmitter on the roof and our occupation requires endless hours of close-range eyeball bombardment by a cathode-ray tube.
So we'd prefer to be either optimistic or blissfully ignorant about the health studies.
But everyone doesn't have to be. Those who remain concerned about the possible effects of these transmitters would be well advised to take it up with their representatives in the House and Senate. Or convince their City Council to do the same. They citizens around 1600 Shattuck set a good example to follow. They voiced their objections loud and long, and we commend them for their tenacity and fancy footwork. Whatever outcome is reached on Feb. 10, they should at least feel proud of their time in the ring.
Informant: Radi
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Mood ring measured in megahertz
Wired News
Your computer -- that auxiliary brain that lives outside your skull -- soon may be issuing public updates on what's happening inside your body. Using tiny sensors, transmitters and some software, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have turned personal computers into advanced polygraph machines that they say are capable of monitoring people's emotions and abilities .... privacy advocates think that Mentor/PAL is eerily similar to HAL, the computer that took over the spaceship in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, and believe that monitoring physical information such as heartbeat and perspiration is a violation of an individual's right to keep personal medical information private.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62069,00.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
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How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0130-11.htm
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The Pentagon's Weather Nightmare
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,582584,00.html
From Information Clearing House
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Approving GM Crops is Abusing Science
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SAAPT.php
www.buergerwelle.de , 31. January 2004