One in TEN Cell Phone Antenna Sites Violates Gov’t Limit on Excessive EMF Radiation
By Melissa Melton | Originally posted at The Daily Sheeple
Did you know there are over 2.3 million cell towers and antennas blanketing the United States right now?
That’s a lot of electromagnetic frequency right there.
While some people, including myself, have pointed out that it’s ridiculous to find a giant cell tower erected literally on an elementary school basketball court right next to the playground or placing them directly on school rooftops, this is becoming more and more common to the point there are so many towers and antennas everywhere, they are beginning to blend in with the scenery as if having this many of these things is just natural now.
Pretty soon, no matter where you go in this country, you’ll be within mere feet of at least one cell tower or antenna (but likely many more).
Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, a team of six engineers evaluated more than 5,000 of these cites and found that one in ten is violating the rules on excessive radiation.
Federal rules require carriers to use barricades, signs and training to protect people from excessive radio-frequency radiation, the waves of electric and magnetic power that carry signals. The power isn’t considered harmful by the time it reaches the street, but it can be a risk for workers and residents standing directly in front of an antenna.
One in 10 sites violates the rules, according to six engineers who examined more than 5,000 sites during safety audits for carriers and local municipalities, underscoring a safety lapse in the network that makes cellphones hum, at a time when the health effects of antennas are being debated world-wide.
Putting aside the argument about what megacorporations that want to sell you stuff will tell you is and isn’t harmful, this is insane.
We are all being exposed to this more and more every day.
Oh, and apparently the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has only issued TWO — that’s two — citations to cell carriers since adopting these limits nearly twenty years ago way back in 1996.
Why? Because, “the FCC says it lacks resources to monitor each antenna.”
This, engineer Marvin Wessel told WSJ, is like having speed limit signs but no police to enforce them… meaning it’s POINTLESS to even have radiation limits if no one is monitoring that these companies are adhering to them. The whole set up requires an awful lot of trust in communications companies who have already demonstrated through Snowden leaks that they don’t really care about their customers’ rights at all.
So the FCC doesn’t have the proper resources to actually hold cell phone companies accountable if their towers and antennas are emitting harmful radiation levels well above federal limits, but said companies are allowed to just continue to blanket our nation with them at an alarming pace anyway???
Makes sense, right?
Used to be antennas were only on towers that are easily visually recognizable. Nowadays these antennas can be hidden, painted to blend into the background and people might not even realize they’re hanging out near one. This is what Wessel is talking about, again via WSJ:
On a sweltering June day in Phoenix, Mr. Wessel strolled through a residential area near Echo Canyon Park and spotted lawn chairs near a T-Mobile US Inc. cellular antenna painted brown to match a fence. His monitor showed emissions well above safety limits.
After being alerted by The Wall Street Journal, T-Mobile added warning signs and roped off a patch in front of the antenna with a chain. “The safety of the public, our customers and our employees is a responsibility that all of us here at T-Mobile take very seriously,” said a T-Mobile spokeswoman.
So why is this an issue?
At very high levels, radio-frequency radiation can cook human tissue, the FCC said, potentially causing cataracts and temporary sterility and other health issues.
To buffer people from these “thermal” effects, the FCC set two limits for how much RF people can absorb—one for the general public, and an “occupational” limit five times higher for people trained to work near antennas. The higher level is still 10 times below the thermal level.
Carriers have to restrict access near antennas that are above the limits. Workers and others who venture into hot zones—generally up to 20 feet in front of an antenna—must be trained and have RF monitors.
Realize this man said one in TEN of these locations is OUT OF COMPLIANCE regard to EMF radiation, emitting levels well beyond FCC limits for public safety and health.
Now back to the fact that we have over 2.3 million of these all over the country and counting…
Your body also has electromagnetic fields, but somehow we’re supposed to believe these artificial EMF emitters surrounding us aren’t affecting us every single day and somehow disturbing the growth of cells and the flow of information between our cells?
The BioInitiative Working Group put out a report in 2007 which concluded the existing public safety standards are inadequate anyway. Evidence has shown EMF:
- Affects gene and protein expression (Transcriptomic and Proteomic Research)
- Has genotoxic effects – RFR and ELF DNA damage
- Induces stress response (Stress Proteins)
- Affects immune function
- Affects Neurology and behavior
- Causes childhood cancers (Leukemia)
- Impacts melatonin production
- Promotes breast cancer (Melatonin links in laboratory and cell studies)
- Contributes to Alzheimer’s Disease
Other studies link EMFs to:
- Enzyme changes that affect DNA and cell growth which can result in cancer and birth defects
- Fetal abnormalities, likely caused by enzyme changes
- Gene expression changes, which creates stress on your body and even result in cancer
- Changed metabolism and increased cell growth
- Increased production of stress proteins within cells
- Chronic stress, which can lead to heart conditions among others
- Neuro-hormone changes, which can result in memory loss and impaired brain function
The bottom line?
We are basically living in an open air science experiment on so many fronts in this country and cell phone towers are definitely one of them. We have no idea how this is going to look even a decade or two from now, especially for the poor people who work for cell phone companies who are coming into direct, close contact with these things on a daily basis.
If you live in an urban, suburban or even semi-rural area, you will probably be pretty surprised at just how many towers and antenna are humming all around you right now. They are installing towers and antennas on school rooftops, in church steeples, on our municipal water towers, and in everything from fake trees to fake cement blocks on buildings that are meant to blend in with the rest of the building materials. They are no longer as obvious as they used to be, and thus, no longer as easy to avoid.
Do a search for your address at Antenna Search.com. You might be surprised how many of these things live near you.
