James Debono
Fifteen brand new mobile phone antennas were installed in various Maltese and Gozitan localities in January, bringing the total of antennas to 426: a 4% increase in the total number of antennas in just one month.
But the proliferation of antennas is being increasingly met by objections from local councils and residents, who are concerned by reports of a possible link between electro-magnetic radiation and certain forms of cancer.
Home to nine base stations, Lija emerges as the locality with the highest density of antennas, followed by Floriana which has six. But Birkirkara is the locality with the highest number of individual mobile phone antennas: 19 in all.
Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris has recently presented a judicial protest against the Malta Communications Authority and Melita plc after an antenna was installed in Luigi Preziosi Street, Lija’s narrowest road.
Three of Lija’s antennas were installed in single road: Ugo Mifsud Street.
The installation of a mobile phone antenna does not even need a full planning permit. Instead, permits are issued on the strength of a development notification order – a fast-track planning procedure normally applied for minor alterations.
Critics say that telecom companies manage to get such permits by finding just one person willing to install the antenna in return of the hefty annual payment.
Although various medical studies suggest evidence of “cancer clusters” around base stations or antennas, the World Health Organisation so far dismisses such claims.
Still, radiation levels in Malta must conform to those set by International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. According to this international regulator, radiation from mobile phone antennas only becomes harmful when it begins heating tissues. That happens, ICNIRP claims, when levels surpass 450 Mhz: anything below that level that is fine.
The MCA website contains readings of electro magnetic radiation taken from 411 antennas located in nearly every town and village. The results to date show that radiation levels in all base stations fall within the ICNIRP’s limits.
But there are a number of published reports suggesting other, non-thermal effects, resulting from low-level radiation transmitted from mobile phone base stations, which can cause damage to the DNA of living cells.
All over the world, an increasing number of patients are failing victim to electromagnetic radiation sickness, whose symptoms include sleep disturbances, dizziness, headaches and general ill-health. But some studies have suggested that the disease could also be psychosomatic - i.e., physical symptoms induced by a psychological disorder.
But renowned German scientist Professor Franz Adlkofer recently called the mobile radiation and the political justifications for it an “uncontrolled and unplanned field experiment” on humans.
Adlkofer has coordinated a four-year, €3m+ research project, funded by the European Union, to evaluate the risk of potential environmental hazards from low energy electromagnetic exposure. The study concludes that low frequency radiation below levels set by the INCIRP guidelines damage cells.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Download front page in pdf file format
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
Artists, art critics and friends unanimously gather to remember the impact and value of Ebba von Fersen Balzan’s work and her strong connection with the Maltese islands
