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| |  | | (This debate is closed and is a read-only archive.) | | Governments must protect citizens from environmental threats
[14-Nov-2005]
| One responsibility of any government is to set up rules to protect its citizens from environmental threats. One of these threats is electromagnetic radiation from mobile base stations. By reviewing the studies, we see these risks to be present.
| International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection quidelines don't protect from non-thermal effects. The committee which set up these quidelines tells us that they're based only upon temperature and short-term effects, not long-term effects.
| By setting up an antenna next to a school or a home, you're saying no problem - it won't harm you, and we're ignoring the risks. People have paid a lot for this type of approach, for example with asbestos. In 1898, UK factory inspectors warned of the harmful effects of asbestos dust. It took 100 years for the European Union to ban all forms of asbestos. Many people suffered as a result.
| According to a 2005 report by the French Senate, there were 35,000 deaths as result to asbestos exposure between 1965 and 1995. Because of the long-effects, the deaths are expected to rise to 60,000-100,000 in the next 20-25 years.
| Since technology runs fast, and its effects upon humans come later, it's appropriate for governments to take steps to provide safety for their citizens, by not placing mobile phone antennae next to homes, schools or hospitals. I'd like to congratulate Eileen O'Connor and others, for the time they spend searching, informing and protecting the health of innocent people.
| Stelios Zinelis, doctor of medicine, Greece
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