Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Increased cancer risk for those living within 1/3 mi of a cell tower

A new study by Brazilian scientists has confirmed the finding of two previous studies in Germany and Israel showing 3 to 4 times greater incidence of cancer for those living within one-third mile of a cell tower, with radio-frequency radiation exposures from the tower at levels lower than those allowed by the U.S. standards. The study, by Dode et al. will appear it the Sept. issue of Science of the Total Environment and summarizes the results of the German and Israeli studies:

Mortality by neoplasia and cellular telephone base stations in the Belo Horizonte municipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil  Science of The Total EnvironmentVolume 409, Issue 191 September 2011Pages 3649-3665

1 comment:

  1. This doesn't even make sense though. For example about the strongest outdoor signal level you'll see off a cellular telephone tower is -50dBm. And that's EXTREMELY strong, and normally only seen much closer than 1/3 of a mile from a site. On the other hand, I'm getting substantially stronger TV signals (-30 to -50dBm) from towers much further away. The frequency bands are extremely close.

    This study doesn't seem to account for signal strength at all, only distance from a site (which is meaningless - 1/3 of a mile from a site covering a 10 mile radius will be much stronger than 1/3 of a mile from a site covering 1/3 mile radius). Sites tend to be spaced much closer in large cities, and ever more so in commercial/industrial business areas and crowded downtowns (in order to handle the traffic). Far more people in these areas will be within 1/3 of a mile of a cell site. They're also in the middle of pollution, loud noises, and likely a generally higher level of stress.

    The results of the study therefore don't surprise me. Nor do they appear to mean anything at all about cell sites safety.

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