Mobile Phone Masts

Well over 30 million people in the UK have a mobile phone. Those without mobiles are now a minority, and are often elderly people or young children. Everybody who has a mobile wants it to work wherever they are. There's even been talk of installing cables in tunnels so they will work on the Underground. What a dreadful idea; it's one of the few places you can be safe from someone bellowing into a mobile. Why does the typical call consist of "I'm on the bus on the way home" or some similar useless information?

But there is a serious issue about mobiles. Nobody wants a mobile phone mast put up anywhere near where they live. Many people are convinced that there are health risks from the masts. Curiously there is less public concern about possible health risks from the phones themselves even though this has also been suggested.

The Stewart Report, commissioned by the Government, found no solid evidence of health risks from the masts. However, it went on to recommend further research, and also that as a precaution masts should not be erected on school buildings, or where the highest intensity beams from masts fell across school buildings. That research needs to be done urgently.

Recent figures suggest there are already 26000 phone masts across the country, and another 14000 could be put up in the next 18 months. Every application for a mast attracts protest. Some Councils are banning masts on Council property. I'm not sure this is really a logical position. If you believe the masts are dangerous what is achieved by a ban on Council property if all that happens is that they go up on other buildings in the same area?

The logical position if you believe the masts are dangerous is not just to ban new masts but also to remove existing ones in all residential areas. We would have to accept that our beloved mobiles would stop working, or at least would work much less reliably and especially in towns and cities. Would we accept that? Personally I would, but would most people?

October 2002

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