RF Safe - Concern mounting over cell tower

Concern mounting over cell tower

Blip on the horizon: Melissa Shimmin points out the new cellphone tower on Alford Forest Road that has nearby residents worried.
Photo 270607-Johnnie McKenzie-0013

By Linda Clarke
A group of Clark Street residents is worried a new cellphone tower in their neighbourhood could cause health problems and lower property values.
The tower is a permitted activity on industrial land on Alford Forest Road, but residents say the least Telecom could have done is told them it was coming.
Group spokeswoman Melissa Shimmin said the 25-metre tower had three panel antennae and Telecom had said it would be powered up this week.
The tower is to improve cellphone reception for north-west Ashburton.
Another three-panel antenna could be fixed to the tubular mast at a later date.
Radio frequency (RF) fields, or radio waves, that come from cellphone towers make up an electromagnetic wave, or radiation, which is the radio signal. It is quite different from the ionising radiation from x-rays and radioactive materials.
Mrs Shimmin said residents met about a month ago after they became aware the tower was under construction on land leased from Rooney Earthmoving. The tower is some 10 metres from the business of Peter May canvas specialists and less than 50 metres from the Shimmin household.
Mr May said he also knew nothing about the tower until it was under construction. He was concerned at the lack of consultation and had also been researching the suggested health problems bought on by cellphone towers.
Mrs Shimmin said headaches and chronic fatigue were sometimes reported by people living close to towers. Residents were united in their opposition to it.

“You hear all sorts of stories about health issues and property values. We are not happy at the way it has been done.”
The tower is allowed for under Ashburton District Council planning rules and the local authority issued Telecom a certificate of compliance approving construction. Mrs Shimmin said Telecom had defended the tower’s safety but residents were still worried. They wanted up-to-date information about research on the subject.
Telecom spokeswoman Sarah Berry said all Telecom mobile phone sites complied fully with the New Zealand standard for radio signal power levels. The Alford Forest Road site was low-powered and would operate well within the level set by the standard.
“There have been a number of scientific studies and surveys over the years regarding mobile phone sites. To date, there has been no credible or substantiated scientific evidence that RF exposures from sites operating within ICNIRP exposure limits cause any adverse human health effects.”
She said a number of studies had been carried out in New Zealand and globally to investigate the potential impact of towers on property values.
“All consistently showed there are no significant effects on the value of properties.”
She said Telecom was committed to working with the community and would respond to any queries raised.
“We build a lot of sites every year and we do enter into community consultation if we think there is a need to do so. In this particular instance, we believed that the finished site would not create a significant impact on the area.”
Telecom is also planning another cellphone tower in Tinwald.
People wanting to contact Telecom about this can call toll-free - 0800 117 470.
June 27 2007

cellphone tower neighborhood health problems