Illness
cluster raises fears over radio mast |
Residents living within a
twokilometre radius of masts on Drumcarrow Hill, near St Andrews, said
yesterday it seemed to be "more than a coincidence" that the "cluster"
of ill-health only appeared after what they understand to be a
TETRA-type transmitter was erected around
four years ago. |
Yesterday they demanded an
independent inquiry by the Scottish Executive into the safety of TETRA
police communication masts, proposed for locations across Fife. |
A number of experts have been
invited to a meeting tonight in St Andrews town hall to debate concerns
over potential health risks of TETRA masts. The residents said more and
more questions continued to arise. |
Retired nurse Catherine Gamba, of
Peat Inn said she had been aware of several people falling ill in the
Peat Inn, Radernie and Denhead areas over the last couple of years. She
recently investigated further and realised the "frightening" scale of
the situation. |
Drumcarrow, four kilometres
south-west of St Andtews, is a
sparsely populated area of farms, cottages and
hamlets. Mrs Gamba said within he last three years, this area had seen
four cases of normally very rare motor neurone disease, four cases of
thyroid cancer and several other cancers, a case of Parkinson's disease
and a woman who developed ME. (Note: Mrs
Gamba has advised me personally that the thyroid disorders are
hyperthyroidism and nodules on thyroid glands - in this detail this
newspaper article is inaccurate, though there
are an exceptional
number of cancers in the area. G. B.) |
Mrs Gamba claimed the problems
only arose after a new TETRA-style mast was erected by Dolphin
Telecommunications Ltd. |
She said, "It was horrendous to
discover that these cases had apparently only arisen after this new mast
went up, apparently without even requiring planning permission. The mast
is not associated with the proposed TETRA police masts now, but it is
similar technology. |
"At the moment we cannot prove
that this mast is responsible – we also have concerns about mobile phone
masts at Radernie next to where three women have developed thyroid
problems. But if there is a link the last thing we need is more TETRA
masts. This has implications not just for us, but for people across the
country. and the world." |
Mrs Yvonne Gibb has lived at
Radernie for 12 years and for the last three years has suffered from an
underactive thyroid. She was in "no doubt" of a connection between her
ill-health and the masts. |
"I discovered I had a thyroid
problem when I started falling asleep all the time, and now have to take
thyroxine every day for life. |
"It's only when I began speaking
to, more, and more people that I realised folk were getting ill." |
Chartered engineer Christine
Clark, who grew up near Drumcarrow, suffers from ME. Her mother Kathleen
died aged 69 in December, 2000, of motor neurone disease. She lived for
more than 30 years in the shadow of Drumcarrow but only fell ill after
the Dolphin mast went up. |
Miss Clark said, "My mother told
me she was convinced there was a connection between her condition and
the new Dolphin/TETRA mast. |
“Studies have shown that the
effects of radon gas from former mine shafts can be exacerbated by
electromagnetic radiation. There are redundant coal mines at Radernie
and iron mines at Denhead." |
Miss Clark added, "There is on
average one case of motor neurone disease out of every 200,000
population in their lifetime. Yet with a population of around 250,000 in
Fife , we have had three or four cases of motor neurone disease - three
times the national average within a two-mile radius in only two years." |
Mrs Gamba said she had written to
Fife Council and contacted North East Fife MSP lain Smith. |
Yesterday a NHS Fife spokeswoman
said they were not aware of any health cluster but would investigate if
asked to do so. |
No-one at Basingstoke-based
Dolphin could be contacted due to the English batik holiday. |
Mobile phone company Airwave
Mm02, which is applying to erect TETRA masts as part of a system that
will improve radio communications for all emergency services, is adamant
the masts are safe. Fife Police also insisted the proposed masts pose no
danger. |
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