Letter: Disguises can't mask cell tower health risks

Saturday, October 4, 2008

By now, most of us have heard about the news reports of the dangers of cell phone use and link to brain tumors. Cell phone towers are no different in causing health risks.

What really disturbs me is the installation of disguised cell phone equipment on the water tower right next to the Sebastian River Middle School, technically the same as having it on the school’s roof.

It is very unhealthy to live near cell phone towers and even worse to send children to a school underneath a cell phone tower or a water tower strapped with color-matched cell antennas.

The county government is responsible for allowing cell antennas next to Sebastian River Middle School. Are they knowledgeable about the possible health risk that may result from such a decision?

I imagine the county gets several decades of monthly lease payments on the cell phone equipment, which apparently is more important than health risks of those students, teachers and surrounding residents.

Now the students at Sebastian River Middle School and the nearby residents get to drink microwaved water. There are two more water towers with cell antennas in the county: State Road 60 and 58th Avenue, and U.S. 1 and 49th Avenue.

In March 2006, parents became concerned about possible harmful radiation at Flushing’s St. Mel’s School in Queens, N.Y., from the 23 cell antennas on the roof of the school. They started a drive to have them removed. Early this year and after two years of protests, Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile disconnected the cell antennas and terminated the 30-year lease. The lease was a way for the Catholic diocese to raise money.

City Councilman Tony Avella, D-Bayside, said, “Public schools are prohibited from erecting antennas by federal law.” �

Gary Ingwersen

Vero Beach

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I just wanted to share this. It's a serious threat that people fail to see or are made not to see, so I encourage people like Gary to keep doing what their doing and hopefully open the eyes of the people about dangers like this that the cell phone companies would not want people to know about!