Subject: (Kelley) the Green Guide for Mothers and Others (fwd)
Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 025808 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 01:31:30 -0700
From: Libby Kelley
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: Article: latest issue (May 29, 1999) of the Green Guide for
Mothers and Others
The Cellular Tower Wars
Over 74 million people in the U.S. own cellular phones, a number that
rose 25% last year and climbs by the minute. Although customers
purchase this new technology for its convenience, the resulting
communications towers and antennas - which now number 65,887 in the U.S.
- are wreaking havoc for communities, migratory birds, and the
democratic process. At least 70 community groups have organized across
the U.S. to combat local construction of cellular phone towers and
antennas. These citizens have reason to be spooked! Unsightly towers
knock down property values; no one seems to know exactly how exposure to
low-level radiofrequency radiation from towers affects human health; and
our federal government, which cites infringements of democratic human
rights abroad as a reason to drop bombs there, has decided that
corporate rights prevail on U.S. soil when it comes to cell towers.
Under Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 - legislation
hard won by millions of industry lobbying dollars - residents or their
local or state governments aren't permitted to say no to towers, and
attempts to prohibit tower construction may be met with lawsuits. Nor
are they allowed to set safer standards for tower radiofrequency
emissions than the FCC permits. Two citizen groups, together with the
Communication Workers of America, have requested that a U.S. Court of
Appeals repeal this section of the Telecom Act, and are currently
awaiting a ruling.
Equally undemocratic is a provision of the Wireless Communications and
Public Safety Act of 1999, now under congressional consideration, which
grants wireless providers immunity from product liability. Senator John
McCain (R-AZ), who introduced this bill (and who is vying for the
presidency in 2000), received $160,000 from telecommunications companies
during his 1997-98 campaign - more than from any other industry.
"The Telecommunications Act may result in some significant public health
problems, and now Congress is trying to allow the industry not to be
held accountable for it," says Libby Kelley, a former health policy
analyst with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, who testified
against both provisions. But it's no wonder that wireless manufacturers
are scrambling for immunity from lawsuits. Although mainstream U.S.
newspapers prefer to print ads for cellular phones over reports on their
possible ill health effects, foreign papers abound with controversies
over studies linking cell phone use to memory loss, high blood pressure,
headaches, impaired mental function, and brain tumors.
Perhaps most tragic, though, is that human demand for wireless and other
broadcast technologies is actually fatal to some species. Songbirds,
who migrate at night and navigate by the stars and Earth’s magnetic
field, flock to lights near their flight level, such as those atop
communications towers, when overcast skies limit visibility. Collisions
with the tower, its surrounding guy wires, or other birds crowding
toward the same lit space often prove fatal.
Ornithologist Bill Evans, who has studied nighttime bird migration for 15
years, estimates that U.S. towers kill 3 to 5 million birds annually. The
casualties are some of North America’s most colorful and talented
songsters, such as warblers, vireos, thrushes (who sing arpeggiated
diminished 7 and other chords), orioles, indigo buntings, scarlet
tanagers, and veeries (who whistle multiple notes simultaneously). And
demand for wireless phones and digital television will make survival of
future migrations more arduous, with the number of U.S. towers in the
flight path danger range - at least 200 feet above average terrain -
expected to double or triple over the next ten to fifteen years. Even
worse, there's been absolutely no research on how to prevent bird kills.
"The broadcast and communications industries have been taking a
considerable toll on migratory songbirds for the past half century, and
now it’s time to look to the industry to minimize the impact of towers on
these birds," Evans says.
Industry and legislators must be held accountable for the tragic
consequences of this "convenient" gadget. Please, write to your
senators. Urge them to: 1) Vote against Section 4 of S.800, the
Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act, 2) Vote for campaign
finance reform to protect citizens from bills that return corporate
favors, 3) Fund research into preventing bird kills, and 4) Regulate
towers to reduce bird kills by requiring companies to share antennas,
limit heights to 200 feet above average terrain, and eliminate guy
wires. Your Senator, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202/224-3121,
www.senate.gov. Send copies to Chairman William Kennard, Federal
Communications Commission, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, DC 20554,
888/CALL-FCC, wkennard@fcc.gov. And boycott wireless phones and digital
TV. Or, if you own a cellular phone, write to your provider company and
demand that they plant towers away from residences and take action to
mitigate bird kills.
Resources: The EMR Network can help you organize against towers,
802/426-3889, www.emrnetwork.com. For bird kill info: www.towerkill.com
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html