Cell tower health hazard looms over Redhill

RESIDENTS of the Redhill community have strongly objected to the erection of a 30 metre cell phone tower on Station Ridge Road. Last week, residents said they spotted two notices in the area set to inform the community of the proposed construction of an MTN ‘free standing cellular communication base station with an associated 30 metre monopole mast’. However, several residents have opposed the project.

Community concerns:

Digby Thomas as well as most of the other residents the Northglen News spoke to last week stated health risks and the devaluation of their properties as two of the primary reasons for their objections.

“We are not prepared to risk our health. The health experts of the company can say whatever they want. We don’t want these microwaves bouncing around in our community,” he said.

Thomas added that he and fellow residents have invested a lot of time and money to safeguard and beautify their homes. “We are devastated by the news. Myself and one other resident have already submitted our objections,” he said.

Erika Hoffman said the uncertainty regarding the impact of the tower was too big of a concern for her and her family. “We don’t know how it will effect us. It could interfere with other networks in the area or other electronic devices and then there are the health hazards. If this tower is approved I will immediately sell my house,” she said.

Jonathan Ogilvy, who has also been involved in extensive research regarding the impact of radiation and electro magnetic fields, said residents fears were justified.

“The issue is very serious. Research has proven that cell phone towers within a 5km radius of a residential community has lead to cancer and brain tumours. In Europe is it illegal to build these towers within a 5km radius of a residential area. Case studies in South Africa have proven that areas in Johannesburg surrounding these towers are cancer ‘hotspots’, which means a lot of people in close proximity of the towers have been treated for cancer,” he said.

What’s more, he added, was that the electro magnetic field emitted by these towers are extremely harmful to infants and children. “The skull of a child younger than nine has not fully developed yet, which means they are more susceptible to the waves. The effects are gradual but they have been proven to affect everything from animals, geopathic zones, people’s concentration and attention deficiency as well as auto immune systems,” he said.

There is no danger, says MTN:

However Paul Buttery, senior regional manager for MTN has argued against proposed health risks, saying:

“A large number of international studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether the radio frequency signals emitted by equipment on masts and mobile phones pose a potential health risk. To date, no adverse health effects have been shown to occur from radio frequency signals emitted from telecommunication base stations or mobile phones,” he said. 

He added that MTN had the interests of the communities at heart and was committed to establishing a safe and reliable network that complies with international safety guidelines (ICNIRP). “MTNhas an on-going program to monitor exposure levels at their base station sites, and to ensure that no member of the public gets exposed to radio frequency fields that exceed the internationally accepted health and safety guidelines,” he said.

Due to a ‘digital boom’ Buttery said there has been a significant growth in demand for high speed data services coming from affluent suburbs, such as Durban North, and as such have planned to erect many other similar towers in the Durban North and surrounding areas.

The public is urged to submit their objections to the municpality before 14 December via e-mail on sinazo.kala@durban.gov.za.

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