| Author |
Message |
Chris
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 24 June, 2003 - 05:48 pm: | |
Can anyone shed some light on what the Horniman anti-TETRA transmissions campaign is about? A bunch of banners has appeared on the gates of the primary school on Horniman Drive - presumably it's to do with the mast opposite? |
Mark on the hill
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 July, 2003 - 10:13 pm: | |
Basically this is a continuation of the "Mobile phone mast at Fairlawn School" thread (if you scroll further down the discussion list). Whilst awaiting council decision on the siting of the TETRA mast near Fairlawn, O2 Airwaves assured everyone they would not put it on the Horniman mast and promptly did so. No consultation with the school, residents etc. The problem is that it transmits at a frequency close to our brainwaves and it's believed that kids could suffer neurological problems. It's not disproved and a government report suggest that until more is known then they shouldn't be sited near schools and other sensitive sites. My son goes to Horniman School and we live almost under the mast. O2 Airwaves are supposed to consult in these instances and have not. Indeed a campaign group is being formed. Problem is that O2 Airwaves have paid £2.5bn to place these things all around London by October.
Paste the following link into your browser for a little insight and you'll see why we are concerned.
www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,487344,00.html |
muppet
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Thursday, 03 July, 2003 - 02:43 pm: | |
Before you get too carried away about this I would do some research on the folk proclaiming to 'know' about the 'harmful' effects of TETRA. Thus in the Guardian Roger Coghill is made out to be some sort of an expert in the field. In fact he appears to have a minimal scientific training, and although he proclaims that he publishes 'in peer reviewed scientific journals' a simple search shows his last meaningful paper was in 1997 (and there is no evidence of anything else - try a pubmed search). That appeared in a lowly ranked journal, and even the authors conceded that the study was flawed. He now appears to make a living out of selling magnetic devices with supposid cure all effects (at the very fringe of biomedicine), marketing DVDs, and making pronouncements about electromagnetic radiation (one of which in the 90s was that anyoone who used a mobile phone for more than 20 minutes at a time needed their head examining as the associated danger was so enormous);he has also stood as a Green Party candidate. I would be very careful about giving too much credence to the utterances of Mr Coghill and his ilk. TETRA is well worth researching but dont get carried away by the 'facts' put out by certain parties. |
mark up he hill
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Friday, 04 July, 2003 - 06:48 pm: | |
Muppet, why concentrate on the qualifications of one person who is but one dissenting voice in an ever increasing ocean of concern? The FACTS are that the system pulses at too close a frequency to the human brainwaives and the Government's own advisors urge caution. None of us who live there are against mobile phone technology. We just ask that the perceived risk be explored and that our kids not be ginea pigs. |
JTMD
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Sunday, 06 July, 2003 - 07:40 pm: | |
I am somewhat concerned by Muppet's comments. Many people living on top of the hill have taken the trouble to read a substantial body of information, including the Government sponsored Stewart report in to effcts of non-ionising radition. Has Muppet? The other feature of this exercis that Muppet ignores is the way that O2 airwaves have acted in this situation.
Scientifically the safety of TETRA transmissions are unconfirmed, the government sponsored report calls for a "precautionary approach" and also states that as part of this such transmitters should not be sited near sensitive sites "such as schools". |
sebastian
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Monday, 07 July, 2003 - 10:16 pm: | |
The way you shoot down Muppet in flames when he makes a proper, reasoned cautioning about the credentials of Mr. Coghill only serves to suggest that you somehow WANT the masts to be proved dangerous to health. You would actually be disappointed if they turned out to be safe, one suspects.
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JTMD
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 08 July, 2003 - 08:10 am: | |
No Sebastian
That is untrue and unfair. I was in no way attacking Muppet's crticism of Mr Coghill per se. More, pointing out that there may be causes for concern. We just don't know. Personally, I would be the first to be delighted if TETRA was proven entirely safe. But the process by which O2 airwaves has allegedly gone about advancing the procedure without any consultation or adherence to the Code of Conduct they signed up to voluntarily does concern me. I don't think its unreasonable for local residents, the council, and officers at the Primary School opposite to be consulted about the plans before they are instituted. |
muppet
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 08 July, 2003 - 10:02 am: | |
Yes Sebastian, I received some interesting responses - in fact my main plea was for people to do their own research and avoid 'the independent experts'. People like Coghill and Philips (the folk in the Guardian piece) really rather irritate me - they appoint themselves as experts in a field and lambast any data that other scientists (heaven forbid mainstream scientists at that!) come up with that differs from their hypotheses. For a flavour of this visit Philip's website. And yet their own websites are filled with misleading information designed to inflate their own reputations. The Guardian piece might make you think that these two 'independents' have come to their views on their own accord - in fact Philips worked for Coghill (they co-authored the only piece of research published in a meaningful journal in 1996). This cross fertilization didn’t stop - after all Coghill claims subsequent publications in 'international peer reviewed journals', one of which, guess what, turns out to be the quarterly newsletter turned out by his pal Philips. Philips makes great claims about research he is doing in the Guardian article - tell you what try and find published evidence of that research. Philips is less forthcoming as to his qualifications than Coghill (the latter is very pleased with the biological based degree he obtained in the 1960s), although he does claim to have qualifications in 'electrical engineering'. One little snippet I found interesting from Philips cv - he is very pleased apparently that he may have detected evidence of low frequency waves in the vicinity of the Greenham common women when they were protesting (remember them!). Perhaps it didn't occur to him that military airbases (and the aircraft on them) do tend to produce the odd EM signature from their avionics etc. Laughable!
Since epidemiological studies have largely put to bed the cancer inducing claims of powerlines that these two banged on about through the 80s and 90s (see Ahlborn et al, BJC, 2000) they have now moved on to phones. However there is a lesson that might be useful to the folk who live on the hill - on Philips website there is a whole section on 'property blight, in houses near power lines (which largely arose because of the campaign they mounted). In fact I would go to say the folk that live(d) near power lines gained precious little in terms of safety to their children from the powerline 'controversy' but lost a heck of a lot in the values of their own houses. Now if the Horniman folk want to bang on about TETRA they can hardly ignore that there is already an existing mast (and who knows what 'deadly rays' in Coghill speak that this is already emitting). So hell why not draw attention to this too! If you are going to believe Coghill and his ilk you cant pick and choose what bits you believe!
So if the Horniman folk want to bang on about this go ahead - but I venture to suggest that in 10-20 years time their kids will be just as healthy as they are now, but their houses will be worth rather less. Not that I should mind - I would quite like to swap my 2 bed in HOP for one of those nice (irradiated) properties on the top of the hill. |
JTMD
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 08 July, 2003 - 06:38 pm: | |
Thank you Muppet. You may well be right. I don't know.
But what are your views on the way that O2 airwaves have dealt with this whole business?
Yours in good faith
JTMD |
muppet
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 08 July, 2003 - 07:45 pm: | |
I must confess I havent followed what 02 have been doing - I asume they have tried to ride over the Lewisham planning side of things. If they have surely you can get Lewisham to kick them off.
My intention was not to start a fight with anyone, merely warn of the fact that there are a LOT of scientific charlatans out there. I wish you well in your fight with 02, but always be aware of one of Nature's more intractible laws.....ANY GIVEN ACTION OFTEN BRINGS UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES |
Martin Bell
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 15 July, 2003 - 09:30 am: | |
Jim Dowd, MP, has raised the TETRA mast issue on the floor of the House of Commons, criticising severely O2 airwaves approach to local public, education and council consultation. It appears that they even went as far is ignoring their own commitment to the Code of Practice which they signed up to. |
Martin Bell
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Wednesday, 16 July, 2003 - 11:11 am: | |
The Metropolitan Police are being very quiet about the erection of TETRA transmitting equipment on their property.
Would one of their representatives care to post their explanation and perspective on this website? |
PLOD
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Sunday, 20 July, 2003 - 11:02 pm: | |
Phone the press room at NSY
020 7230 1212 |
Jim Dowd MP
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Tuesday, 29 July, 2003 - 03:37 pm: | |
I'm grateful to Martin Bell (I presume that its a another one rather than my former Parliamentary colleague!} for mentioning my debate in the Commons on this subject and if anyone is interested in receiving a copy of the Hansard report - together with the Minister's response - and a range of other replies that I have obtained from various Government Departments and O2 Airwave, please drop me a line at the Constituency Office at 43 Sunderland Road SE23 2PS or ring 8699-2001 and I'd be more than happy to forward it. |
Les
Joined N/A
| | Posted on Wednesday, 03 March, 2004 - 06:54 pm: | |
So - TETRA has been running for a while now. Is anyone suffering fits yet or picking up the police in their bath?
Seriously though, has this issue died in much the way o2 hoped it would? |
