Mobile phones and the masts behind them

Concern over the health risks of mobile phone masts was almost constantly in the news in the later 2000s and still every so often a new study will come out, or a protest will be made, or a newspaper article written, that reignites the flame.

Whether the “cancer clusters” are real or anecdotal, whether local people suffer from the ill effects of electromagnetic fields, whether mobile phone masts should be built near schools, whether residents should be able to protest proposals on health grounds, all the points of view get rehashed. The mobile phone industry will insist that there is no danger but meanwhile studies are still ongoing and campaigns against the masts and their locations continue.

Community fears and big companies facing off against one another are nothing new. There are plenty of journalists who just want a juicy story and not to worry too much about the details. So the whole thing can end up feeling like a circus, a pantomime, pure entertainment.

A distraction, in many ways, from a similar danger much closer to home – the phone those masts serve and that we carry around with us all day.

Mobile phones emit that same electromagnetic radiation in order to communicate with the cell phone towers. When sending or receiving data, making or taking calls, searching for signal. The same process is happening on an individual basis, right in our hands or in our pockets.

There is increasing evidence of the damage the electromagnetic radiation can do to our bodies, particularly to men and their fertility. Being kept so long so close to sensitive tissue makes mobile phones themselves a very different matter than the towers they rely on.

Unlike with mobile phone masts there are easier solutions. A WaveWall case blocks up to 85% of the radiation from mobile phones, without affecting its use. With a great variety of colours to choose from and a sleek design, they are a lot better looking than mobile phone masts too.

Would you object to a mobile phone mast being built next to your home or child’s school?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below!