Residents request risk assessment
By James Steinberg
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 1, 2007
RANCHO SANTA FE – A group of residents have asked the Washington, D.C.-based Science and Public Policy Institute to make an electromagnetic risk assessment for a master plan for cell phone facilities in Rancho Santa Fe.
George Carlo, the institute chairman, says his study “shows an insidious (health) problem that citizens in the community are likely unaware of.”
He will present his findings 7 p.m. Monday at a community forum at Rancho Santa Fe School, 5927 La Granada. The talk will be followed by a question-and-answer period.
County Supervisor Bill Horn, who represents Rancho Santa Fe, said no one from his office will attend. “We don't have any evidence that there's a safety issue with cell phone towers,” he said.
Peter Smith, manager of the powerful Rancho Santa Fe Association homeowners group that governs the area, said a master plan for the community's planned wireless system calls for 48 small “nodes,” each with a 4-watt power output.
The antennas would be perched 20 feet above ground and interconnected by fiber-optic cable, Smith said. All but five would be installed on existing San Diego Gas & Electric Co. utility poles, he said.
Carlo will present his own measurements of the strength of electromagnetic radiation levels in the community from all sources, including electric transmission lines, and the expected levels when the wireless master plan is put into effect, said Holly Manion, a longtime resident who helped organize the study.
“The problem is, you can't see electromagnetic radiation, but it's all around you,” said Manion, a former association board member who served as co-chair of its wireless master plan committee.
“This has been such a controversial issue . . . everyone wants cellular coverage. Even I do,” she said.
The wireless master plan, adopted by the association's board of directors in October, has been submitted to county officials for approval, Smith said.
The system would cover about 95 percent of the covenant's hilly terrain, he said. Current coverage is spotty, depending upon location.
Under federal law, “we have to allow for coverage in our community and can't weigh in on health concerns,” Smith said.
The Federal Communication Commission's radio-frequency exposure guidelines for wireless systems were set with the participation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and have been upheld in federal court, FCC spokesman David Fiske said.
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