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CHILE:
Rising Cell Phone
Use Fuels Fears of Health
Hazards from Antennas
Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, (IPS) - Hundreds
of Chileans are keeping watch
day and night over lots next to
their homes, to block plans to
install mobile phone antennas,
because they are worried about
the possible effects they could
have on human health.
”We have to keep watch over the
spot every night, since these
companies usually come and
install the antennas in the
middle of the night,” Sandra
Mancilla, the head of a group of
50 residents of the low-income
neighbourhood of La Florida, on
the southeast side of the
capital, told IPS.
The members of the group take
turns standing guard over a lot
that has been leased in La
Florida by the Spanish
telecommunications giant
Telefónica.
Teresa López, president of the
National Coalition for Defence
of the Environment (CONADEMA), a
group set up in 2000 by Chileans
who say their health has been
affected by the radiation
emitted by cell-phone towers,
told IPS that ”The citizens have
been forced to take these
measures because the government
privileges the economic
interests of telephone companies
over the well-being of the
population.”
The number of cell-phone users
has risen steadily in Chile, to
more than nine million (out of a
total population of 16 million).
Due to the fast-growing demand,
the companies have installed
cell phone antennas all over the
country, even in schools and
child care centres, medical
centres, churches and nursing
homes, the concerned citizens
complain.
According to the government's
Under-Secretariat of
Telecommunications (SUBTEL),
there are around 6,000
cell-phone towers in the
country, most of which are in
the capital.
Cell phone antennas are
typically mounted on towers,
water tanks, rooftops or the
sides of buildings, at an
average height of 30 metres in
urban areas and 60 metres in
rural areas.
”We are not opposed to
technology, we just want the
government to listen to us, so
that we can reach an agreement
that benefits everyone,” said
López, who has also criticised
local residents who lease their
land for around 1,000 dollars a
month to telephone companies for
installing antennas.
CONADEMA, the National
Ecological Network and Legal
Training for Action (FORJA),
representing 25,000 people in
Chile and several other
countries of Latin America,
brought legal action against the
Chilean state in the
Inter-American Court for Human
Rights in 2002. The case is
still being considered.
According to those who complain
about the effects of the
antennas, their unregulated
installation violates the
constitution on several points,
including the rights to health
and to live in an environment
free of pollution.
The concerned citizens also
protest that the presence of
cellular towers drives down the
value of nearby homes, a
phenomenon that has been
confirmed by Chile's Real Estate
Institute.
López said that in the coastal
city of Concón, in central
Chile, there are 24 antennas
within a radius of one kilometre,
and clusters of people suffering
from cancer have been found in
that small area. She added that
similar cases have been found in
other urban areas in Chile.
”It is up to the citizens to
prove that exposure to
electromagnetic radiation has
adverse health effects, because
the authorities have no
intention of applying the
precautionary approach or
respecting the right to
information,” which are
guaranteed by legislation in
other countries, FORJA attorney
Alejandra Arriaza remarked to
IPS.
Principle 15 of the Rio
Declaration on Environment and
Development, which was signed by
the world's nations, including
Chile, at the 1992 Earth Summit,
states that ”In order to protect
the environment, the
precautionary approach shall be
widely applied by States
according to their capabilities.
”Where there are threats of
serious or irreversible damage,
lack of full scientific
certainty shall not be used as a
reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to
prevent environmental
degradation,” it adds.
”The government has lacked
sufficient political will to
push through the bill aimed at
regulating the installation of
this kind of equipment in the
country,” socialist
parliamentary Deputy Carlos
Montes, the author of the bill,
told IPS.
The lawmaker believes there is
little chance that the new law
will be passed any time soon,
because ”it is not among the
government's priorities.”
”The government prefers to apply
SUBTEL resolution 505,” which
states that the antennas cannot
exceed a power density of 435
microwatts per square centimetre,
said Montes.
But a source at SUBTEL told IPS
that the government complies
with the precautionary approach
by monitoring levels of
radiofrequency emissions from
cellular antennas, and
underlined that the power
density limit that SUBTEL has
set is much stricter than the
limit of 1,000 microwatts per
square centimetre recommended by
the World Health Organisation
(WHO).
In addition, the source pointed
out, a Ministry of Housing and
Urban Planning decree issued in
2001 regulates the minimum
distance that must separate
antennas from neighbouring lots.
The activists complain that city
governments have failed to
establish regulations limiting
the areas where cellular base
stations can be sited.
However, concerned local
residents may take hope from a
statute being drawn up by the
municipal government of El
Bosque, in south Santiago, which
would regulate the installation
of antennas.
The bill sponsored by Montes,
which has been debated by
Congress for four years, would,
among other things, give
municipal governments greater
authority to prevent the
installation of cell phone
antennas, and set the minimum
distance between cellular towers
and schools and homes at 100
metres.
Mobile phone companies have
protested the bill, arguing that
there are no conclusive
scientific studies showing that
the level of radiation emitted
by the antennas poses a threat
to human health, and noting that
they already comply with the
safety limits set by SUBTEL.
They also point out that they
provide many jobs, and say that
changing the rules of the game
would discourage investment in
the sector. The phone companies
especially criticise the
retroactive character of the
bill.
Both mobile phones and cellular
base stations emit non-ionising
electromagnetic radiation, as do
high-voltage power lines, home
appliances like microwave ovens
and TV sets, and radio and TV
broadcast antennas.
Dr. Andrei Tchernitchin, a
medical researcher at the
University of Chile, commented
to IPS that although it has not
been scientifically proven that
the radiation emitted by cell
phone antennas poses health
hazards, he believes that
long-term exposure is likely to
create problems.
He noted that a number of
studies have found that exposure
to non-ionising electromagnetic
fields is a risk factor due to
both thermal effects (increase
in body temperature) and
non-thermal effects, which were
not taken into account in the
past and whose impact would only
be detectable in the long-term.
Some of the health problems
associated with exposure to high
levels of this kind of radiation
are leukemia, brain tumours,
breast cancer, miscarriages,
Alzheimer's disease and heart
attacks, said the researcher.
In his view, cell phone antennas
should be placed on hills.
”There are preliminary studies
that have suggested, in an
inconclusive manner, that a
higher incidence of brain
tumours has been found among
(long-time) users of cell
phones,” said Tchernitchin, who
was specifically referring to
the acoustic neuroma, which is
benign but can be
life-threatening if not treated.
”This reminds me of what
happened with tobacco: the
cigarette companies pressured
the government, saying there was
not enough information, and that
it was necessary to continue
investigating (the health
risks), and in the end delayed
the passage of new legislation,”
he said.
”The government should
discourage the use of cell
phones, which would reduce the
need to install new antennas;
encourage the use of
'hands-free' devices (headsets)
as an alternative; and inform
the public about the possible
risks” posed by mobile phones,
said Tchernitchin.
As does the WHO, the expert
recommended using cell phones
only in cases of emergency,
keeping phone calls short, and
keeping cell phones away from
children, who are most
vulnerable to any possible
negative effects. |
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