Dear Editor: In response to Mr. Tracey's call for "common sense" in the West Vancouver cell tower debate (Mailbox, Aug. 30) - we agree. If common sense prevails, Rogers will withdraw its proposal. This trio of 12-storey, multi-carrier towers with unspecified emissions fail to "avoid schools and homes" as specified in West Vancouver's new cell tower policy.
Mr. Tracey writes that he worked in the telecom industry for 60 years and is now retired. The rate of change in this industry is lightning fast and accelerating. An iPad requires more than 250 times the network capacity of a cellphone (Rogers data) - and high bandwidth is just getting started. Mr. Tracey accepts Canada's Safety Code 6 guidelines for low-level radiation. However, Canada's National Research Council has called on Health Canada to revise these guidelines, which are based on outdated studies that focused on how fast low-level radiation cooks the tissues of an "average person" weighing 200 pounds. They do not consider the cell damage inflicted by lowlevel radiation on the body - especially on children, and when exposure is constant and unavoidable (as in a nearby cell tower).
The American Academy of Pediatrics (60,000 of them) recently urged revision in U.S. guidelines (same as ours) to provide protection for children. Comprehensive studies such as the Bio Initiative Report of 2012 - consisting of 1,800 studies from reputable scientists across 10 countries - report "adverse health effects" from this technology. We have invited one of the respected scientists involved to a public talk in West Vancouver in September. Email us at CTAG@shaw. ca to find out more - and make your own, informed decision on this debate. Just as Mr. Tracey suggests.
Mr. Tracey, a North Vancouver resident, offers us a choice between high, "safer" towers, or lower, more dangerous towers. These towers are high enough to accommodate four carriers each and thus quadruple the emissions. How is this a safe option? Rogers claims these towers are to serve the "demands" of nearby residents; but the loudest demand to date is an end to this proposal.
North Vancouver residents please take note - you're to host towers four and five.
Elaine Grotefeld
On behalf of the West Vancouver Cell Towers Action Group
