Karte der Krebsfälle (Stand April 2003, alle Fälle im Umkreis von 400 Metern um den Sender):

Quelle: The Telegraph, 25.04.2003

Mobile mast 'spreading cancer'
By Nick Britten
(Filed: 25/04/2003)

Residents of a hamlet near a mobile telephone mast have recorded high levels of illness, including seven cases of cancer, raising fresh concerns over the safety of the transmitters.

Among the 50 people living in Wishaw, Warwicks, 34 people have reported medical complaints in the past two years. Five women have been diagnosed with breast cancer and two men have been told they have tumours. All live within a mile of the mast.

Regular complaints include sleeplessness, skin irritation and problems with the immune system.

Now an application has been submitted to build another transmitter next to Wishaw. The Government says mobile telephone masts are no threat to public health.
The mast, erected nine years ago and used by T-Mobile, is in a field among the hamlet's 25 houses, valued at £350,000 to £700,000.

Eileen O'Connor, 39, has had surgery twice in 18 months for breast cancer and hopes to recover fully. "Like all the others, I have no history of it in my family and I wondered where it had come from. Six months into my treatment, I heard of an application from another company to use the mast and suddenly the penny dropped. I wrote to all the neighbours and suddenly everyone started coming forward."

Mrs O'Connor, whose house is 300 yards from the mast in Bulls Lane, gave up running a successful photographic business with her husband, Paul, to concentrate on research and campaigning. "My 11-year-old daughter saw me having tests and was in tears, worrying that she was going to get cancer and die. It was horrible.

"This is destroying us and financially crippling us but I have spent a year researching and have uncovered over 1,000 pieces of research going back to the First World War. I have spoken to untold numbers of scientists and experts and I am in no doubt the mast is to blame." The family has spent £6,000 campaigning and is spending a further £2,500 on copper nets, to be used like mosquito nets over their beds, deflecting the microwaves.

The Wishaw Action Group has merged with other local groups to form Sutton Coldfield Against Masts (Scam) and lodged papers with solicitors to sue T-Mobile and Crown Castle, the owners of the land on which the mast stands. Both deny any connection and say they act within Government guidelines.

The application for a new mast involves a Tetra system, to be used by the emergency services. The system was due to be introduced in the West Country but has been delayed by public fears on safety.

Gerard Hyland, Associate Fellow of Physics at Warwick University, said: "No research has been undertaken into the Tetra system and its safety and people are being used as guinea pigs. Their fears [about masts] are not unfounded."

T-Mobile's spokesman said: "T-Mobile, with Crown Castle, the site provider, have met with residents in Wishaw on numerous occasions to discuss the installation in Bulls Lane. In July last year, an independent survey undertaken by Alasdair Philips, of Powerwatch [an anti-mast lobby group], showed the levels of signal were well below international safety guidelines recognised by the World Health Organisation.

"With representatives of the residents we also looked at alternative sites in the area but they proved to be unsuitable. T-Mobile is satisfied that the site meets with national and international guidelines, is safe and does not present a health risk to any member of the public."