Phone mast cancer cluster alert


05 December 2006 10:30

A cancer expert has warned that a mobile phone mast that has contributed to 27 deaths and illnesses in 13 years was evidence to show masts should not be built near homes or schools.

Norwich North MP Ian Gibson has been a supporter of the Evening News Put Masts On Hold campaign, which calls for an end to masts being installed near homes and schools until there is conclusive proof that they pose no health risk.

Mr Gibson said it was essential that more research was carried out into the safety implications of such equipment after reports in national newspapers told of two estates where families said masts caused ill health. In Shooters Hill, Stoke-on-Trent, there have been seven deaths and 20 illnesses since phone giant Orange put up a mast in 1993.

Four people died of brain haemorrhages within three years of each other, while three others died from cancer. Another newspaper reported on a block of flats in Bristol where the cancer rate is 10 times that of the rest of the UK.

Orange said its masts were safe and cited a factsheet from the World Health Organisation which said there was no adverse or long-term health effects from that kind of low-level frequency.

The cases have parallels with a road in the city where eight people in one road near a mast had cancer.

Families living in Furze Road, Thorpe St Andrew, believed their cancers had been caused by a huge mobile phone base station which towers over their homes.

Betty Chaplin, 80, who moved into Furze Road near the St Williams Way mast in 1998 and within months developed cancer in her small intestine which required an operation, said there should be more research done into the correlation.

“I think there must be a link,” she said. “As soon as I moved into this house I developed bowel cancer but I was operated on and was alright.”

Last year the Government's chief advisor on mobile phone safety Sir William Stewart called for a precautionary ban on putting masts near schools and homes.

Dr Gibson said: “These latest cases seem to confirm that Sir William Stewart's precautionary approach is the right one.”

Ü Are you fighting a mobile phone mast application where you live? Or do you think a mobile phone mast has made you ill? Call Peter Walsh on 01603 772439 or e-mail peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

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