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Our Health Our Choice,
Our Rights - Our Voice
New Zealand Action alert
The Ministry for the Environment is proposing to remove the community’s right to
object to the construction of new cell sites and new technologies such as Wi-Fi
base stations on telephone poles and street lights around New Zealand, even if
they are located right next to residential areas or schools.
If you object to this proposal, please make a submission by 10 August 2007. See
below for further information.
Background
The Ministry for the Environment has released a discussion document supporting a
proposal by the Telecommunications Industry Reference Group to allow
telecommunications companies to attach cell phone and wireless internet
antennas, known as Wi-Fi networks, to existing power poles and street lights all
over New Zealand as of right without having to consult with the community first
or get community consent.
Under their proposal, companies will no longer need to apply for resource
consent as they are required to do at present to build new cell towers or
networks, providing they are attached to a power pole or street light and are
located on road reserve.
While the definition of road reserve is legally unclear, it effectively includes
the land on which the road lies and the verge area that extends to adjacent
property boundaries. There are huge swathes of road reserve all around New
Zealand; many located right next to houses and schools and pre-schools.
The only condition they propose to set is a requirement that the
radio-frequencies emitted by these new technologies are within the existing
(extremely high) national standard on electromagnetic radiation. But they do not
explain who would monitor them to ensure they were within the standard. Nor do
they appear to take any consideration of the potential health effects of
allowing for the potential increase in radio frequency radiation all over New
Zealand.
The Ministry for the Environment’s discussion document refers, on the one hand,
to World Health Organisation advice that “none of the recent reviews have
concluded that exposure to the radio-frequency fields from mobile phones or
their base stations cause any adverse health consequence”, but on the other hand
acknowledges that the World Health Organisation has also advised that “there are
gaps in our knowledge that have been identified for further research to better
assess health risks”.
In fact, there is evidence suggesting that new technologies such as Wi-Fi may
produce adverse health effects, and many credible scientists have raised
concerns about their impact on human health and the lack of long term studies
into their safety.
Professor Ollie Johansson of the Karolinska Institute of Sweden has concerns
about the possible health effects of such radiation: "If you look in the
literature, you have a large number of various effects like chromosome damage;
you have impact on the concentration capacity and decrease in short term memory,
increases in the number of cancer incidences."
Another scientist, Dr Gerd Oberfeld, from Salzburg says that: "If you go into
the data you can see a very clear picture - it is like a puzzle and everything
fits together from DNA break ups to the animal studies and up to the
epidemiological evidence; that shows for example increased symptoms as well as
increased cancer rates.”
A recent investigation into radio frequency radiation levels in the United
Kingdom, conducted by BBC current affairs programme Panorama, found that in some
schools radio frequency radiation levels from Wi-Fi are up to three times the
level found in the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts.
Concern is slowly growing in North America and Europe about the declining bee
population which has been discussed in the media over the past year. The reason
for the decline in bee numbers is the
varroa mite and radiation from cellphones
and Wi-Fi devices which confuse the bees ability to find their way back to the
hive.
This risk to the bee population is far greater than the cancers in the human
population as our existence is dependent on bees for the production of our food.
Scientists say that without bees, humanity could only survive for four years as
there is no other way to pollinate the crops that sustain us.
Info:
National Geographic,
Hillary Clinton,
The Independent,
The Ecologist,
The H.E.S.E Project,
Spiegel,
Google.
But the Ministry for the Environment’s discussion document ignores any such
concerns, and effectively proposes to allow the installation of these new
technologies all over New Zealand, without requiring any investigation of their
potential long term effects on our health.
In the absence of any long term studies on their safety, or of their potential
health effects, the Green party believes the government must take a
precautionary approach, and not give a blanket exemption for them to be
constructed without local community consent.
If you have concerns, please send in a submission to the Ministry for the
Environment:
Any person can make a submission on the proposed standard. Please include the
following
information:
1. your name and postal address, phone number, fax number and email address (if
applicable)
2. the title of the proposed standards you are making the submission about
3. whether you support or oppose the standards
4. your submission, with reasons for your views
5. any changes you would like made to the standards
6. the decision you wish the Minister for the Environment to make.
You must forward your submission to Ministry for the Environment, PO Box 10362,
Wellington, or by email to standards@mfe.govt.nz in time to be received no later
than 5.00pm on 10 August 2007.
For a copy of the discussion document on the proposed standard please go to
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/laws/standards/telecommunication-standards.html
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