Features writer Raymond Syms answered the call and attended a talk on the hidden dangers of cell towers and cell phones…

Call anyone, anywhere, anytime – and calls are free after three minutes, so the tagline goes.

But really - What would life be without the ubiquitous cell phone?

Probably far healthier for many worldwide, if you accept what Peter Permell and Professor Stephan Gift have to say about probably the most commonly used device in the 21st century.

Permell and Gift were the main speakers at an April 13 seminar on the effects of non-thermal radiation emissions from cell phones (CP) and their base towers (CT).

The seminar, the first in a series, was held on a rainy Sunday evening at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Malabar.

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Programme and Malabar parish’s Social Justice Committee collaborated to host the event.

The invited speakers were Permell, Gift and UWI Professor Ramsey Saunders, brother of moderator Richard, and Henry, GLOBE project coordinator and representative of the parish’s Social Justice Committee. Ramsey was unable to attend, but Permell and Gift gave the small audience some definite food for talk.

Professor Stephan Gift answers a question from the audience. Peter Permell (left) and moderator Richard Saunders listen. Raymond Syms photo

Dramatic photographs froma recent study by the Spanish Neuro diagnostic Research Institute show radio waves from mobile phones penetrating deep into the brains of an adult, 10-year-old and five-year old.

Cell tower, Santa Rosa Heights, Arima. Note the proximity of houses to the site.

Permell is the public face of ARFECTT, the Association for Radio Frequency Emission Control in T&T. ARFECTT has been busy, challenging local service providers on the location of their towers.

ARFECTT has had success in forcing them to relocate a few.

Permell said the providers prefer to focus on the thermal effects of the guidelines.

But, the real issue, he stressed, is the non-thermal effects that are continuous, of a longer duration, and how they affect the human body.

A committee comprising of the relevant stakeholders, and convened by the Bureau of Standards, is considering the standards to be used here; Permell is on the committee that hopes to have something to report by year end.

Permell spoke of Trinidad & Tobago’s guidelines also needing to include distance from the tower, orientation, height and local topography.

He explained that research has shown women are more susceptible to non-thermal effects than men; that not everyone is susceptible in the same way because of such factors as genetic predisposition and physical make up.

He told the audience of the effects on the immune and nervous systems, and that parents should not allow their pre-adolescent children to use cell phones because they have less developed, and therefore weaker systems.

He warned of attempts by certain elements in this multi-billion dollar industry to manipulate on-going research findings and overall, create a level of misinformation.

“They’re playing for time and making cosmetic changes”, like subtlety promoting the use of radiation blockers as shields. There is also an aggressive campaign to promote the cell phone among young people, to make it a device of social status and acceptance.

Permell explained that ARFECTT isn’t against the technology - they just want people to use it more discriminately, that there is full disclosure of research and information to the public, and that regulations are not affected by economic or political considerations.

Professor Gift took to the podium next, saying that he was present not in his capacity as a UWI professor of Electrical Engineering, but as a researcher providing information.

Prof Gift said when he first began making these presentations, they were worded with a question mark over CT radiation: did it really have an affect? He said he has since changed the wording to confirm there are inherent dangers associated with the use of cell phones and living in proximity to cell towers.

“We are electrical beings. Just as the human body can interfere or disrupt electrical devices like radio signals, the electrical signal from a cell tower affects the electrical signal in the body.”

Among the non-thermal effects of CT/CP radiation: altered brain waves; tests done on mice show irreversible infertility after five generations; increase in child leukemia; it affects the immune system; lower memory function in children; reduction in REM sleep, which is important for learning and memory functions; it affects the blood-brain barrier allowing toxins to pass from the blood stream into brain tissue; DNA strand breakage.

He said research in developed countries – Israel, Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria to name a few – shows the effects are serious.

He said already there were signs that some in the industry were beginning to operate as those in the tobacco industry did years ago. Back then, there were attempts to cover up the deadly effects of cigarette smoking: researchers on payroll, influence UN agencies and subversion.

His learned recommendations: that the Telecommunications Authority of T&T reject the current world standard and set up its own standards; prohibit tower construction at least within 400 feet radius from schools; limit use of cell phones by children; limit the use of cell phone usage – make short conversations; use land lines more often; use the speaker phone feature, or use a handsfree (not Bluetooth); and don’t’ sleep with your cell phone on.