Newsletter (12 November 2003)

Suburbs do battle over phone antennae

By Sue Lowe

November 10, 2003

Residents in at least eight Sydney suburbs are fighting the mobile telephone company Hutchison over the location of new antennae for its 3G network.

Groups at Oatley, Minchinbury, Castle Hill, Bilgola, Como, Gymea Bay, Engadine and Woolooware are embroiled in disputes with the company.

Some were inspired by the apparent success of Oatley residents, who after a year-long battle forced Hutchison to remove a pole it had illegally erected to house an antenna.

However, it may have been a short-lived victory, as Hutchison has now outlined plans for another site in the park, just 50 metres away from the first.

Anne Wagstaff, an Oatley protester, questioned the public demand for Hutchison's 3G technology - the first to support video calls - which so far has only 50,000 subscribers Australia-wide.

"Do we really need video phone technology, and at what price?" she asked.

Residents of the Pittwater suburb of Bilgola are concerned about the visual impact of an 11-metre structure on their headland reserve.

As part of the rollout of its 3G mobile network, Hutchison has installed more than 500 new antennae throughout Sydney. While older GSM mobile technology required one antenna every five kilometres, 3G needs them to be 1.5 to three kilometres apart.

A spokeswoman for Hutchison said that wherever possible it had put them with those of other telephone companies or utility providers, to avoid new structures.

Several disputes, including one at Minchinbury, hinge on the unknown long-term health implications of the antennae.

One local, Michelle Bass, said the original proposed site was just 200 metres from the primary school and close to homes.

"Asbestos wasn't seen as a hazard until there had been years of long-term exposure," she said. "People just don't know what the long-term effects will be."

Several groups, including the one in Como, have claimed Hutchison has not consulted, or has been divisive in which sections of a community it has chosen to talk to.

Hutchison says that in several cases, including Minchinbury, a compromise site has been reached through community consultation.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/09/1068329423322.html

Omega: see also http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/08/1057430209500.html

and http://www.oatleypark.com/

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Gauss News of October 2003

1)

On September 6, at a general meeting of the Zenkoku Shizenhogo Rengo (All Japan Nature Conservation League), a resolution was adopted protesting Kyushu Electric’s tactics and calling for cessation of construction and redrafting of plans for the power line.

Note: these tactics are typical of Japan’s government and big businesses, and citizens have virtually no power to defend their own property, health or environment.

2) In Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, residents were astounded to learn that a public health consultation office had moved to a location directly under high-tension lines. The controversy regarding EMF is well known here.  The move appears to have been a PR move to bolster Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s claims of safety, which were thrown into doubt by the publication earlier this year of research results on assessment of health risks to children from EMF in their living environment.  Also, the cash-strapped Tokyo government probably found a cheaper deal in purchasing land next to a pylon. One wonders what kinds of deals go on behind closed doors.

3) Also in Nerima Ward, residents gathered more than 7500 signatures in opposition to the placement of a cell phone mast atop an apartment building. The matter has not yet been resolved one way or the other. It has been policy in Japan to provide no explanation to the inhabitants of apartment buildings where antennas are planned to be installed, but recently, owners are feeling some pressure to provide a questionnaire and reassuring literature in order to head off disputes.

4) On August 30, the newspapers reported that the 17 commuter train companies in the Kanto area had decided to relax rules against cell phone use on their trains.  In the past, they encouraged everyone to keep their cell phones turned off in recognition of the hazard to persons with pacemakers trapped in a sardine-like setting during rush hour. Now they allow texting, and anyone who wants to escape the hazard must try to find a place immediately by the Silver Seats, which are designated for elderly, handicapped or pregnant passengers, where cell phone use is still prohibited though there is no clear demarcation.

On a rush-hour train, it is impossible to move except with the crowd.  People are pushed against their will into and out of Silver Seat areas.  One may spend an hour or more in immediate, tight physical contact with five or six others under conditions of near suffocation, and Heaven forbid there should be an accident, such as a suicide—very common—because then every cell phone in the place whips to the alert.  I for one quit a job I loved and accepted a lower standard of living to avoid this after I became aware it was harming my health.

It would make better sense to have some cars designated okay for texting and prohibit use in other cars. In April 1997, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications reported that a digital cell phone operating in the 800 MHz band with maximum power of 0.8 W (burst value) caused a pacemaker to malfunction at distances of up to 30 cm (field strength of 0.7 W/m2). By contrast, ICNIRP’s reference level for public exposure at 1 GHz is 5 W/m2, which cannot be considered a safe level for pacemakers, digital hearing aids and other medical devices. Recent research in Japan has found that reflection and overlap of EMW in metal-enclosed spaces such as trains can produce field strengths exceeding even ICNIRP’s standards. Persons with pacemakers have felt uneasy about cell phone use aboard trains, and efforts to educate the public, such as posters in train stations, probably helped them to some degree. Also there was apparently some progress being made with regard to enforcing cell phone restrictions, but the current decision of the train companies is a big step backward.

This decision hurts not only people with pacemakers. According to one survey, 21% of passengers were uncomfortable about others using cell phones to send e-mail on the trains, and 12% were uncomfortable about others having their cell phones switched on.

Shocked by the train companies’ decision, Tetsu Kawai wrote a letter protesting this decision and sent it to one newspaper, which failed to publish it, and a second newspaper, which also failed to publish it. (My experiences here have been identical.)

So he called up the train companies, asking them to explain the rationale for their decision. They responded simply that having various rules among different companies was causing confusion, so they decided to make them uniform and adopted the laxest.  They refused to answer why they chose the laxest (but I think I know why: I once vehemently protested the prominent and ubiquitous cell phone advertisements taking space on turnstiles and other train company property.  Public transportation should for everyone, not just a tyrannical minority and those who can tolerate them.) They seem intent on putting a lid on complaints.

Only one company, Keisei, listened politely to Mr. Kawai’s complaint and gave a relatively decent response, “We are unhappy about the way this decision was made, but we were in a difficult position.  We will at least enforce the switch-off rule by the Silver Seats, with clear indications on the hand straps and other places, and on new trains we will draw lines demarking the zones.”

The responses of the three companies on whose trains Mr. Kawai rides regularly were particularly poor, so he took a day off from work in September and visited the headquarters of two of the companies and a customer service office of the third to hand deliver letters addressed to the company presidents, attaching his unpublished letter to the newspapers.

I will translate his letter later this week.

5) On November 8, a lecture was given by Tsuyoshi Hondo of Tohoku University on Reflection and Overlapping of High Frequency Electromagnetic Waves, Taking the Example of Passive Exposure from Cellular Phones Aboard Trains. His research has shown that theoretically it is possible for EMF values aboard trains where many cell phones are in use simultaneously to exceed international safety standards by a wide margin, and he is trying to warn the public of the danger. When I have more information on how this went, I will send it.

Sincerely

Pat Ormsby

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Meeting in the Ministry of Health

However, this has never been said, but one can always turn the truth upside down, if it is convenient.

Sianette Kwee

and

How to turn the truth upside down: Re: Meeting in the Ministry of Health

Dear Sianette Kwee

REFLEX can be seen as a way to study how to study.

To speak about “theory” and reports… is a good method to turn the truth upside down and best delay tactic.

I suggest to keep the attention only on practical health alteration: BBB and chromosome damage.

Best regards

Miguel Muntané

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We need help

On November2003

Palo Alto CA. USA

Ed. Kats wrote.

Dear Klaus.

As I wrote to you before, my family was forcefully subjected to became Human Guinea Pigs in classified medical research conducted by the ............... During routine operations while being under the general anesthesia, doctors involving in classified researses, implanted plantation of microchips into the heads of the member of the Kats family. One of the main courses of studies is exploring program-involving studies of human eyes. Most of the chipsets implanted into our sculls are perfectly visible on X-ray but surgical removal will involve loss of vision, vegetation of death. Some details of this draconian experiment could be review in our site: www.wass.8m.com

I would like to ask visitors of your site:

How possibly can we protect ourselves to eliminate interception of transmitted in our heads waves?

Perhaps somebody know what type of waves is being transmitted and on what type of frequencies our body is function on?

Is it existing anything that could dysfunction chip implanted into the human body without surgical involvements and anyhow effecting environments of the human body?

Please help us to provide information in regards of our questions.

Sincerely.

Edward Kats.

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Anti-tobacco victory

(excerpt)

To All - Please indulge my enthusiasm about the success of the Project Citizen program directed by my husband and his teaching partner for the English and Social Studies curricula in their middle school 8th grade classes for the Marshfield and Plainfield, Vermont communities. For information on how to establish a Project Citizen program in your local schools see: http://www.civiced.org/crs_index.php

Janet Newton

Students win against tobacco ads

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/local/3000h.htm