Showing posts with label cell phones. Show all posts

Monday, April 7, 2014

The Truthseeker: Cell Phones Cause Cancer

Please leave respectful comments below:

Monday, September 16, 2013

American Academy of Pediatrics Demands FCC Protect Children from Cell Phone & Wireless Radiation

Letter from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the

FCC Regarding Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation Standards

The American Academy of Pediatrics submitted the following letter to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).

The letter urges the FCC to adopt radiation standards that:

1.) protect children's health and well-being from radiation emitted by cell phones and other
wireless devices; 2.) reflect how people actually use their cell phones; and
3.) provide sufficient information to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

The letter is also available on the FCC's web site at http://bit.ly/17tQclg.

August 29, 2013

The Honorable Mignon L. Clyburn

Acting Commissioner

Federal Communications Commission

445 12th Street SW

Washington, DC 20054

The Honorable Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg

Commissioner

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

10903 New Hampshire Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20993

Dear Acting Chairwoman Clyburn and Commissioner Hamburg:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a non-profit professional organization of
60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical
specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents,
and young adults appreciates this opportunity to comment on the Proposed Rule
“Reassessment of Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Limits and Policies”
published in the Federal Register on June 4, 2013.

In the past few years, a number of American and international health and scientific bodies
have contributed to the debate over cell phone radiation and its possible link to cancer. The
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the United Nations’
World Health Organization, said in June 2011 that a family of frequencies that includes
mobile-phone emissions is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” The National Cancer
Institute has stated that although studies have not demonstrated that RF energy from
cell phones definitively causes cancer, more research is needed because cell phone technology
and cell phone use are changing rapidly. These studies and others clearly demonstrate the
need for further research into this area and highlight the importance of reassessing current
policy to determine if it is adequately protective of human health.

As radiation standards are reassessed, the AAP urges the FCC to adopt radiation standards
that:

Protect children’s health and well-being. Children are not little adults and are
disproportionately impacted by all environmental exposures, including cell phone radiation.
Current FCC standards do not account for the unique vulnerability and use patterns specific
to pregnant women and children. It is essential that any new standard for cell phones or other
wireless devices be based on protecting the youngest and most vulnerable populations to
ensure they are safeguarded throughout their lifetimes.

Reflect current use patterns. The FCC has not assessed the standard for cell phone

radiation since 1996. Approximately 44 million people had mobile phones when the standard

was set; today, there are more than 300 million mobile phones in use in the United States.

While the prevalence of wireless phones and other devices has skyrocketed, the behaviors

around cell phone uses have changed as well. The number of mobile phone calls per day, the

length of each call, and the amount of time people use mobile phones has increased, while cell

phone and wireless technology has undergone substantial changes. Many children, adolescents

and young adults, now use cell phones as their only phone line and they begin using wireless
phones at much younger ages. Pregnant women may carry their phones for many hours per
day in a pocket that keeps the phone close to their uterus. Children born today will experience
a longer period of exposure to radio-frequency fields from cellular phone use than will adults,
because they start using cellular phones at earlier ages and will have longer lifetime exposures.
FCC regulations should reflect how people are using their phones today.

Provide meaningful consumer disclosure. The FCC has noted that it does not provide

consumers with sufficient information about the RF exposure profile of individual phones to

allow consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. The current metric of RF exposure

available to consumers, the Specific Absorption Rate, is not an accurate predictor of actual

exposure. AAP is supportive of FCC developing standards that provide consumers with the

information they need to make informed choices in selecting mobile phone purchases, and to

help parents to better understand any potential risks for their children. To that end, we

support the use of metrics that are specific to the exposure children will experience.

The AAP supports the reassessment of radiation standards for cell phones and other wireless
products and the adoption of standards that are protective of children and reflect current
use patterns. If you have questions, please contact Clara Filice in the AAP’s Washington
Office at 202/347-8600.

Sincerely,

Thomas K. McInerny, MD FAAP

President

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Theft of Smartphones Dubbed a "National Epidemic"

Parents, please read and carefully consider if this information affects how you feel about a proposed transition to e-books in our school system (currently "on hold" as it was a decision made by the former Superintendent in 2012).

Children are smaller, weaker and more vulnerable than the adults who are being robbed of their cell phones every day! And many children have predictable schedules where they must walk home from school or the bus stop daily. Why set them up to be the next targets for a crime that is currently out of control?

U.S. officials to meet over cellphone thefts

1 in 3 thefts last year involved a cell phone costing consumers $30 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Top law enforcement officials from San Francisco and New York plan to meet with some of the largest U.S. smartphone makers next week to help thwart the rise in cellphone thefts and robberies.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that their meeting scheduled to take place in New York City on June 13 will be dubbed a "Smartphone Summit."

Gascon and Schneiderman said they plan to meet with representatives from Apple Inc., Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. and urge them to create new technology to permanently and quickly disable stolen smartphones, making them worthless to thieves.

In San Francisco, where more than half all robberies involve a cellphone, Gascon has called on the companies to create new technology such as a "kill switch" to render phones useless. His office cites a 27-year old tourist who suffered severe knife wounds to his face and throat two weeks ago after being robbed by two men over his iPhone.

In New York, Schneiderman said there was a 40% spike in cellphone thefts last year. Authorities there have coined the thefts of the popular iPhone and other Apple-related products as "Apple-picking."

"With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft in 2012, this has become a national epidemic," Gascón said in a statement. "Unlike other types of crimes, smartphone theft can be eradicated with a simple technological solution."

Nearly 175 million cellphones — mostly smartphones — have been sold in the U.S. in the past year and account for $69 billion in sales, according to IDC, a Massachusetts-based research firm.

And now almost one 1 of 3 robberies nationwide involves the theft of a mobile phone, reports the Federal Communications Commission, which is coordinating formation this fall of a highly anticipated national database system to track cellphones reported stolen.

Schneiderman said a recent study found that lost and stolen cellphones cost consumers over $30 billion, last year.

"The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime, and increasingly, incidents are turning violent," Schneiderman said in a statement. "It's time for manufacturers to be as innovative in solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have reshaped how we live."

Late last month, Gascon — in a letter to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a coalition of police chiefs from across the country — urged them to press for kill switches.

"Despite the growing threat to public safety, cell-phone manufacturers and carriers continue to look the other way," Gascón wrote. "It's time that corporations take social responsibility and do their part to end the victimization of hundreds of thousands of Americans."

In response, the police chiefs association followed suit and sent a letter on Monday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. While commending the FCC and the CTIA wireless provider trade association on the national stolen phone database, they suggested that kill switch technology is "the only effective way" to go.

"By rendering phones completely useless, an FCC mandate for kill-switch technology will drastically reduce this major crime problem," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, president of the chiefs' association wrote.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Tower Climbers, Especially Subcontractors for ATT, Die at Rate 10 Times Higher than Construction Workers

Will a school in DeKalb be the next location where a

cell tower climber falls to his death or a wrench is dropped from

100 feet in the air, killing an innocent person on the ground

below? Safety concerns are numerous when it comes to

placing cell towers so near the places where we live, work

and play. Has the school board considered the liability

that goes along with a faulty decision made TWO boards ago?

Is it even legal for a board to decide something that

isn't intended for action until they are safely out of

the pubic eye?

Cell tower climbers are dying in large numbers in order to build better cell service for the public --- a risky, high-pressure job that is necessary to expand America's cellular infrastructure.

Cell tower climbers are dying at ten times the rate of construction workers. PBS Frontline says , “People don’t understand what the danger is to tower climbing,” former climber Robert Hale says in the Frontline film. “One person drops a wrench, it’ll kill somebody.”

Untrained cell tower climbers work at the most dangerous job in the nation, climbing 400-foot high ATT towers that usually involves numerous layers of subcontractors. In a field with under 10,000 tower climbers, about 100 climbers have died with over half working on cell sites. In about five weeks, six cell tower climbers fell to their death --- three were on AT&T towers.

According to ProPublica, between 2003 and 2011, 50 climbers died working on cell sites, more than half of the nearly 100 who were killed on communications towers.

The United States has more active cell phones than people. According to CNN Money, a problem developed when ATT began to develop a reputation for dropped calls, unacceptable once they became the sole carrier for the iPhone.

Subcontractors became the answer for not only ATT, Verizon and numerous tower industries, but also service industries, retail, logistics and health care. Building new towers and installing new antennas by AT&T and other tower subcontractors continues to bring 3G networking to striving U.S. markets. But for better cell service and faster video and online games, tower climbers are losing their lives.

The problem seems to lie with subcontractors often contract out jobs to other subcontractors. Jobs are passed from one company to the next, with less ability to control the workers. Many subcontractors are not approved, but OSHA reports that there is "a pattern whereby ATT had significantly more deaths on towers that they were owning or renting than the other carriers."

Many of the crews he came across weren’t taking the most rudimentary safety precautions. “They didn’t have their hardhats, they didn’t have safety glasses, they didn’t have safety gear,” said Mark Hein, who has worked for several turf vendors as a construction manager. Many of the climbers lacked training certificates.

“Rather than paying this amount to this guy, who’s really qualified and … has a great reputation, they hire this person over here because he’s available right now and he’ll do it for what we want him to do it for,” he said. For the task of installing a remote radio head, the price sheet said, the carrier would pay the turf vendor $187 and the turf vendor would pay the subcontractor $93.

To prepare for the iPhone 3G's introduction, ATT poured millions of dollars in the summer of 2008 for its wireless expenditures. This meant an unprecedented scale of untrained tower climbers. OSHA considers cell tower climbers the most dangerous job in America.

“It was nuts,” said Dan MacRae, a project manager who has worked on cell site projects for several turf vendors. “We were working in the field for 40 hours straight. They had crews in rain, sleet, snow.”

Meanwhile, the building boom is continuously accompanied by one fall after another. On May 25, 2012, Plano, Texas-based Goodman Networks sent out a bulletin notifying workers of a mandatory safety stand down.

CNN host Carol Costello was a victim of an iPhone mugging

By Rodney Ho

CNN mid-morning anchor Carol Costello was mugged of her iPhone on the streets of Atlanta.

She wrote about it on her Facebook page:

Good Morning. In retrospect, what happened to me yesterday is insignificant in light of what happened in the Boston. Still, I feel the need to vent. And isn't that what friends are for?

I was robbed. And I am angry.

I was walking down a beautiful, leafy Atlanta street, talking on my IPhone. Guess what happened next?

Three teenagers ran up behind me. One of them grabbed my IPhone. Stupidly I struggled to hold on-to it. But, he was a big guy. And he pulled out a chunk my hair. I let go.

As he ran down the street, laughing, I hurled a few expletives his way. I felt no fear at the time, I was just angry. Now I'm angry, shaken and sad. What a lousy life those kids have ahead of them.

As smartphones proliferate, they have become easy items to steal and resell. The New York Times recently ran a page about the subject and how manufacturers don't seem to be doing much about it.

Her advice: don't talk on your smartphone while walking down a public street because you're a ripe target for a mugging.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Cell Phone Tower Bill Fails to Crossover in GA

THANK YOU to Get the Cell Out Followers!

You Helped Defeat This Cell Tower Bill!

The controversial cell tower bill sponsored by Don Parsons (R - Cobb County) which looked like it was headed to the House floor was stalled thanks to the emails received by legislators from their constituents late week! We thank the followers of Get the Cell Out - ATL who helped in this effort to prevent this attempt to dodge local control of cell tower siting and proper permitting procedures!

Posted: Mar 08, 2013 6:49 PM EST
By Paul Yates, FOX 5 reporter

A bill centered on cell phone towers failed to advance by Crossover Day at the Georgia state Capitol.

Demand for more cell tower capacity continues to grow and placement of the towers continues to cause battles.

The proposed legislation would have given counties and cities a 150-day deadline to act on new cell tower applications.

Click photo of our cell tower map to watch the FOX video of this story!
To see a map like this for the cell towers near your home or school, go to:
www.antennasearch.com.

"There have been people that have said, you know, this bill would allow the cell companies to just go ahead and put up cell towers without even getting permitted by the cities and the counties. It doesn't do that at all," said Rep. Don Parsons (R-Marietta), the bill's sponsor.

But after winning easy committee approval, the bill stalled. It did not get to the House floor By Crossover Day -- the deadline for most bills to pass the house or senate -- and have a chance for final approval.

Todd Edwards represents county commissioners at the Capitol.

"We want to thank the General Assembly for recognizing the continued meaningful importance of counties and Georgia communities and the cell tower siting process," Edwards.

Local governments warned that the measure would diminish their ability to regulate cell tower locations.

"Should there be any impediments unnecessarily – impediments at the county level -- I think we can work with our members and the wireless communities to address them," Edwards said.

But Parsons says local government delays have the effect of curtailing expanded service to consumers.

"It's very important and I wish that we could have gotten it done this year, but it's something that we'll be working on very hard next year," Parsons said.

Under legislative rules, the bill could still be attached to another measure as an amendment but the odds are against that being done successfully.

To the Students of DeKalb County

Source: creativeldsquotes.blogspot.com via Sierra on Pinterest

To the students of DeKalb County,

You have seen and heard a lot lately about your schools, haven't you? You've watched as Superintendents, Principals, PTA Parents, Teachers, Reporters, Counselors, Community Leaders, Religious Leaders and adults from all over have been making comments about the education you have been receiving. Some say it isn't good enough. Some say you deserve better. Some want to move you around, put you on a bus, separate you from your friends and then test you on a bunch of stuff that probably sounds pretty meaningless right now.

Then, a federal judge was called in to hear the school board argument for why they should continue to decide how to best spend our money so it can best help you. And, you may have missed this part, so we're breaking it down for you right now.

He said in his own legal sort of way that you are more important than any of the adults you have heard talking or seen on TV lately. He said that your education is more important to the state than the jobs of the people who are fighting to keep control over our money.

We don't know if you understand what that means, but here's what it means to us... there is chaos and disorder in life whenever there are changes on the horizon. There will be unrest and disagreements and battle lines drawn even among friends. But the sides that are fighting are the ones who believe things were better the way they used to be and those who say they are better the way they are now.

But looking only at the past or only at what we have now is ignoring one important part of life: the future. That's the part that is unpredictable. That's the part that's also the most exciting. That's the part that is, ultimately, up to you. You may not have a say right now about what has been going on with the school system. But, you will have total control of your life once you graduate. And all this fighting will seem pretty lame. The folks who are talking the big talk ... They don't really know what you will do, where you will go or how you will use the information you have learned by sitting through school and by watching and listening to them. And that scares them.

The educational landscape is not about the past or the present. It is about turning out quality adults who will be the leaders, workers, parents and taxpayers of tomorrow. The future belongs to you, not them. Don't let the things they say affect who you will one day become. You are in the driver's seat. Where do you want to go? You are the one who needs an education to survive. So, figure out how to get it and don't let anything stand in your way, even if the roadblocks are put there by people with good intentions.

You know what it will take for you to really learn, excel and succeed. If you don't, then it is up to you to figure it out. Carve your own path. You don't need any of the stuff you are hearing in the news to hold you back. You also don't need anything different to propel you forward. What you need is to set your mind to the fact that learning is the most important thing you can do now to ensure you will have a happy life.

If you want happiness, then find a way to learn.

We have faith in you, but no one can make you learn. That part is up to you.

Thank you for reading our website, learning about the dangers associated with cell towers. We hope you also learned about the destructive power of greed and that there are people who are willing to stand up for other people, and children, because they know it is right. We hope you have seen how people on opposite sides of the same issue might both be wrong. And, in the fight to stop the cell towers, we hope you learned that people who are willing to work together on the side of what is right can accomplish amazing things.

Your education may be something you hear a lot of people talking about these days, but what it really comes down to in the end is you. The future belongs to you. Make the most of it and don't let anything stand in your way. We can't wait to see all the amazing things you will do.

Sincerely,
Get the Cell Out - ATL

Keep reading our website: www.GETtheCELLoutATL.org and you can like us on Facebook, too!
https://www.facebook.com/Get.the.Cell.Out.ATL

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

GTCO-ATL Non-Consent Form for WI-Fi in the Classroom

Concerned about the announcement of 24/7 wi-fi in your child's classroom? Use this non-consent form to complete and send to school. It may or may not stop the wi-fi from coming, but it will force your school's administration to make a note of your concerns now, before it is installed, and can protect you in the event that your child does experience any side effects down the road that you believe the school should be liable for in court.

We hope it will help open the conversation so that you will learn exactly how they plan to use the wi-fi, how they plan to protect your private information, where the routers will be installed in the school house and how much the technology staff actually knows about the potential for health effects on the children. If they know the risks, then what do they plan to do in the event your child is one of the ones who is determined to be electro-sensitive?

And, if you think that netbooks will solve the problems in DeKalb County, take a look at what is happening in Detroit. When will our schools start modeling themselves after the best ones in the country, instead of the worst?

GTCO-ATL Non-Consent Form for Wi-Fi in the Classroom by Get the Cell Out - Atlanta Chapter

Monday, February 4, 2013

Is the U.S. in Denial? Italian Supreme Court Says Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer

Italian Supreme Court Rules Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer

This significant ruling may change everything you thought you knew about the safety of wireless.

What are the implications of this ruling for the United States?

Contrary to the denials of many heath agencies in the U.S. and in some other countries, the Italian Supreme Court has recognized a “causal” link between heavy mobile phone use and brain tumor risk in a worker’s compensation case.

The Italian courts dismissed research co-financed by the mobile phone industry including the WHO Interphone study due to concerns about conflict of interest. Instead, the courts relied on independent research conducted by Lennart Hardell and his colleagues in Sweden which showed consistent evidence of increased brain tumor risk associated with long term mobile phone use.

The business executive had used a cell phone for business, holding it on the same side of his head for 5-7 hours per day, for many years, before learning he had a brain tumor. He had very few other risk factors and no family history of cancer. He filed a Worker's Compensation Claim. It was denied. He sued and won. And now, the Supreme Court has upheld the decision made by the lower court.

On May 31, 2011, just after the DeKalb School Board had announced their intentions to put cell phone towers at 12 school campuses, but before they actually took a vote, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified radiofrequency energy, including cell phone radiation, as “possibly carcinogenic” in humans. The 31 researchers convened by the WHO, considered to be among the very best in the world, relied heavily upon the Hardell research as well.

Are they hiding the truth from us?

It has been noted by many experts that research co-financed by the telecom industry over the past decade has been unlikely to report evidence of tumor risk. In addition, industry-funded research has been reported to use methodology that is substandard compared to independently-funded research. Moreover, in more recently published research, authors of studies co-financed by the industry have dismissed the evidence of increased brain tumor risk they found in children as well as adults.

This issue raises concerns that conflicts of interest may have affected the conduct of the research and biased the reporting of it. Governments need to find a way to fund cell phone radiation research that is independent of the telecom industry in order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Why Can't We Find a Way?

Since there are now more than 330 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S., an annual fee of only 50 cents on each cell phone would generate sufficient resources to fund high quality, independent research. Then, the government and the industry could work together to promote safer technology development and fund community education programs about safer cell phone use.

Although 12 nations and the European Union have issued precautionary health warnings regarding mobile phone use, the U.S. has been in denial. The Telecom industry has blocked numerous attempts to pass cell phone warning legislation at the Federal, state, and city level. The industry even refused to support a bill in the California legislature by Senator Mark Leno that would simply remind consumers to read the safety information that is currently printed in their cell phone user manuals.

Only one city has been able to overcome intense lobbying by the Telecom industry. San Francisco adopted cell phone “right to know” legislation two years ago, but the Telecom industry (i.e., CTIA-The Wireless Association) blocked implementation of this law by filing a lawsuit claiming that the court-approved fact sheet violates the industry’s First Amendment rights. The CTIA also moved its annual conference from San Francisco to punish the city.

The Victims Will Have Their Day in Court

The evidence of harm from cell phone radiation has been increasing so it is only a matter of time before lawsuits filed in U.S. courts by cell phone radiation victims will be successful. The Insurance industry will not provide product liability insurance due to concerns that juries will find that the Telecom industry has behaved much like the Tobacco and Asbestos industries. So the Telecom industry could be faced with paying huge damages to individuals and governments.

What the Telecom Industry Could Do ...

The Telecom industry could become good corporate citizens, reduce potential product liability and protect consumers’ health by allowing the FCC to adopt stronger regulations, by promoting precautionary safety warnings and by encouraging government to support independent research to promote safer wireless technologies.

Otherwise taxpayers may be forced to bail out yet another industry too big to fail.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Watch Out, DeKalb. ATT is Getting Bigger

A huge cell tower and a dark, ominous storm cloud loom over an
ATT retail store in the Publix shopping plaza on Hugh Howell Road in
Tucker, GA. Why is it that the cell towers made it onto the July 2011
ballot, but no one in the legislature wants to talk about them?
Where do we go from here?

(click to read full story)

Wishful Thinking

We wish we could say that our schools and neighborhoods were safe from the intrusion of huge and ugly radiation spewing cell phone towers (like the one pictured here).

We wish we could trust that our school board and school administration were focused on education, not securing themselves a nice slush fund while ruining our communities in the process.

But, we can't.

That's why we continue to follow the clues that might help us stay out in front of them and their plans, and this latest announcement from ATT might be important. (text included in article below this commentary.)

We've highlighted some of the pertinent content below in case you do not have time to read the article in its entirety. But, even more importantly, you will want to check for any Alltel FCC permits that might be located near your home or school to determine if there are any old ones that ATT could have acquired along with the existing already-built towers. Many times, these companies get the permits from the FCC and then sit on them for years before deciding to build. Then, they can quickly get the special land use permits, or other land disturbance permit that is required by local law, and build without the public finding out.

Normally, there would have to be a sign posted for 30 days at the location to alert the public about a hearing in front of the commissioners and Director of Planning in DeKalb County. But, our county office is a bit distracted right now since the CEO Burrell Ellis had is home invaded a few days ago upon issue of a search warrant by a grand jury investigating problems with the Watershed Management Group. And, remember, we were told that the school system can do whatever they want if the construction is for educational purposes.

Superintendent Akinson's announcement about e-books could be a great excuse to claim an educational purpose, but it will not hold up in court. Cell towers are not necessary to read content on a screen. And there is no educational value to providing books in one format over another. It's like saying do you want paper or plastic bags at the grocery. Does it really matter?

If she did try to show an educational value to this misguided decision, she would be hard pressed to find a school system that has improved as a result of going digital in any format, and certainally none the size of DeKalb. In fact, in other states there are Attorney General investigations taking place right now to determine if there is criminal fraud taking place and there is definitely no educational benefit to the children when the money intended for their benefit is being stolen from them.

The original 12 schools are mapped above. Most of these T-mobile contracts with the school system appear to be expired, but the money has not been accounted for in any documentation we have been able to locate. The only sites that still have contracts with valid expiration dates are Narvie J. Harris and Lakeside, but Lakeside's contracts is not signed by T-mobile so we are unsure if it is valid. And the Narvie contract mentions "Panthersville" which is the nearby stadium that does look like it already has a cell tower, so we are not clear on whether there is actually one intended for the school grounds or not.

We Need Your Help, Too!

At Get the Cell Out - ATL, we are doing our best to keep our schools and communities informed about anything related to the cell towers, which voters said by a large majority that they did not want to see at our schools. We believe there was more to the push for the towers than just the money or even the coverage at Lakeside. We have been on a mission to find the answers and stay ahead of the game because we do not want to see a threat to our safety, property and health be another reason to drive good families away from our area.

Check for new tower permits near your address here:
http://antennasearch.com/

But, ultimately, we cannot do it all without your help. So, if you live near a site that might have an old AllTell FCC permit, or you are not sure, or your school was on the original list of 12 targeted by the school board, then please take time as soon as possible to search the database at http://antennasearch.com/. Plug in your address and you will see a list of towers within a four mile radius. If you see one near your school, click on it and it will tell you who owns that license. This is the first step ATT will need before they can build. So, the information you see will be the same thing they use to ask for a county building permit.

Help Us Help You!

We can help you speak out at any public hearings in order to stop the permit from being issues, if such meetings are held. But, first we have to know about the threat before we can determine the best course of action. So, if you find that there are AllTel tower permits out there and they appear to be in residential zoned parts of the county, or right on public school grounds, please let us know as soon as possible. You can send an email to: sayno2celltowers@yahoo.com. We have several attorneys we may be able to get you in touch with who are aware of this situation and can fight to stop the towers from going up near your home or school.

And, don't worry, this is one lawsuit that won't cost the school system since it is between you and the tower company. And, your have the right to collect attorney fees under the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996 so long as you bring forward your protest within the 30 day shot clock window that is mandatory before a building or land use permit can be issued.

Now... on to the news....

From TechnoBloom Technology Blog:

AT&T acquires Alltel network to increase coverage and speed

AT&T is one huge company and it has no problem buying small telecommunications companies to increase even further. According to a press release issued today, AT&T acquired Atlantic Tele-Network Inc’s retail business. The retail business actually operates under the Alltel Brand name. If you are not familiar with Alltel, the company has coverage areas in Georgia, Illinois, Idaho, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. The network is considered to be a CDMA network and is the same technology used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint. AT&T has plans to convert the CDMA towers over to GSM in order to increase the overall coverage they provide in those areas already.

Both AT&T and AllTel customers will benefit with better and faster data connections after the acquisition. Once the deal is complete, those consumers on the Alltel network will need to upgrade their phones to work on the AT&T network, but the company did not provide any specific details regarding that right now. The deal is set to be closed during the second half of 2013, according to the report and then other details will be revealed. AT&T will not be the first mobile company to own Alltel, in fact Verizon bought the company back in 2009.

When the deal with Verizon Wireless went through, the FCC made the company divest more than 100 markets. At that time, AT&T went ahead and bought up 79 of those markets, leaving just 26 markets, which AT&T is looking to buy now. If you remember early last year AT&T tried to buy the T-Mobile network which was blocked by the FCC and turned out to be a big issue for AT&T. AT&T was looking for more towers and more spectrums and since the T-Mobile merger was blocked, the company was left looking elsewhere for both.

Now that AT&T has dropped away from T-Mobile, T-Mobile has been looking to buy MetroPCS. Other companies like Sprint have been looking for easy ways to expand as well and is in the middle of a merger with Clearwire. On the other side of the world, Softbank in Japan is looking to buy the Sprint network, so you can see that mergers and acquisitions are nothing uncommon in the wireless industry these days.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

BioInitiative 2012 Report: New, Urgent Warnings About Wireless and EMF Public Health Risks

BioInitiative 2012 Report*: new urgent warnings on wireless and EMF public health risks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(click headline for full summary)

A new updated BioInitiative 2012 Report says that evidence for risks to health has substantially increased since 2007 from electromagnetic fields (EMF) and wireless technologies (radio-frequency radiation).

The report reviews more than 1,800 new scientific studies and includes 29 independent science and medical experts from around the world.

AT PARTICULAR RISK:

Cell phone users
Parents-to-be
Young children and
Pregnant women

Summary of Key Scientific Evidence:

Evidence for Damage to Sperm and Reproduction
Evidence that Children are More Vulnerable
Evidence for Fetal and Neonatal Effects
Evidence for Effects on Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorders)
Evidence for Electrohypersensitivity
Evidence for Effects from Cell Tower-Level RFR Exposures
Evidence for Effects on the Blood-brain Barrier
Evidence for Effects on Brain Tumors
Evidence for Effects on Genes (Genotoxicity)
Evidence for Effects on the Nervous System (Neurotoxicity)
Evidence for Effects on Cancer (Childhood Leukemia, Adult Cancers)
Melatonin, Breast Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease
Stress, Stress Proteins and DNA as a Fractal Antenna
Effects of Weak-Field Interactions on Non-Linear Biological Oscillators and Synchronized Neural Activity
Cell and cordless phones linked to cancer

Lennart Hardell, MD at Orebro University, Sweden says,

"There is a consistent pattern of increased risk for glioma (a malignant brain tumor) and acoustic neuroma with use of mobile and cordless phones."

He further states:

"Epidemiological evidence shows that radiofrequency should be classified as a human carcinogen. The existing FCC/IEE and ICNIRP public safety limits and reference levels are not adequate to protect public health."

Reproductive Damage
A dozen new studies link cell phone radiation to sperm damage. Even a cell phone in the pocket or on a belt may harm sperm DNA, result in misshapen sperm, and impair fertility in men. Laptop computers with wireless internet connections can damage DNA in sperm.

Link to Autism
Based on strong evidence for vulnerable biology in autism, EMF/RFR can plausibly increase autism risk and symptoms. "While we aggressively investigate the links between autism disorders and wireless technologies, we should minimize wireless and EMF exposures for people with autism disorders, children of all ages, people planning a baby, and during pregnancy," says Martha Herbert, MD, PhD.

Vulnerability in Pregnant Women
Wireless devices such as phones and laptops used by pregnant women may alter brain development of the fetus. This has been linked in both animal and human studies to hyperactivity, learning and behavior problems.

Children Must Be Protected

There is good evidence to suggest that many toxic exposures to the fetus and very young child have especially detrimental consequences depending on when they occur during critical phases of growth and development (time windows of critical development), where such exposures may lay the seeds of health harm that develops even decades later. Existing FCC and ICNIRP public safety limits seem to be not sufficiently protective of public health, in particular for the young (embryo, fetus, neonate, very young child).

The Presidential Cancer Panel (2010) found that children ‘are at special risk due to their smaller body mass and rapid physical development, both of which magnify their vulnerability to known carcinogens, including radiation.‘

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a letter to Congressman Dennis Kucinich dated 12 December 2012 states:

“Children are disproportionately affected by environmental exposures, including cell phone radiation. The differences in bone density and the amount of fluid in a child’s brain compared to an adult’s brain could allow children to absorb greater quantities of RF energy deeper into their brains than adults. It is essential that any new standards for cell phones or other wireless devices be based on protecting the youngest and most vulnerable populations to ensure they are safeguarded through their lifetimes.”

More evidence than we need

"The last five years worth of new scientific studies tell us the situation is much worse than in 2007 and yet people around the world have so much more daily exposure than even five years ago. Exposures are linked to a variety of adverse health outcomes that may have significant public health consequences."

"There is now much more evidence of risks to health affecting billions of people world-wide. The status quo is not acceptable in light of the evidence for harm."

-- David O. Carpenter, MD, co-editor Bioinitiative 2012 Report

This study covers: EMF from power lines, electrical wiring, appliances and hand-held devices; and from wireless technologies (cell and cordless phones, cell towers, 'smart meters', WI-FI, wireless laptops, wireless routers, baby monitors, and other electronic devices).

Health topics include: damage to DNA and genes, effects on memory, learning, behavior, attention, sleep disruption, cancer and neurological diseases like Alzheimer's disease.

New safety standards are urgently needed for protection against EMF and wireless exposures that now appear everywhere in daily life.

The report conclusion advises that a new precautionary limit of 0.003 u/Wcm2 based on mobile base station-level studies is justified, and consideration for chronic exposures would further reduce that limit ten fold.

We hold their future in our hands

Acknowledgements for the report go to the "many independent scientists, researchers and experts who have labored, some for decades - many of whom are no longer with us - to bring this body of science into the public arena."

Cindy Sage, Co-Editor of the report extends gratitude to her husband and family and "to Avery, Drake, Ford, Jenner, Luke, Solei, and all the children whose trusting faces remind us that we hold their future in our hands."

* The BioInitiative 2012 Report has been prepared by 29 authors from ten countries, ten holding medical degrees (MDs), 21 PhDs, and three MsC, MA or MPHs. Among the authors are three former presidents of the Bioelectromagnetics Society, and five full members of BEMS. One distinguished author is the Chair of the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation. Another is a Senior Advisor to the European Environmental Agency. Read more here.