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Reported Health Effects from Children And Staff at Schools with Cell Towers
Do school officials understand the reported health effects? Children’s bodies absorb more electromagnetic fields than adults. Some children experience headaches, nausea, fatigue, skin rashes, dizziness, and brain fog from being near a cell tower. Some children get sick from being too close to cell phone antennas and towers on school grounds. At the beginning of the school year in 2003, an 11-year old girl suffered headaches and nausea on Wednesday afternoons when she attended Tarleton High School in Lancashire, England. After school on Wednesdays, she vomited at home. The symptoms went away until the following Wednesday. After many weeks, school administrators recognized that she had 3 Wednesday afternoon classes in the math building. There were cell phone antennas 8 feet directly above her classroom in the math building. Once her schedule changed, she no longer suffered from these symptoms. Other students got sick as well. It took 4 years, but the headmaster finally managed to get the antennas removed.
A Bayville, NY couple has filed a lawsuit against the village of Bayville over dozens of cell phone antennas on a water tower located very close to Bayville Elementary School. The lawsuit alleges that the donated land cannot be used for commercial purposes. More importantly, attorney Andrew Capanelli claims that there is a higher than normal rate of cancer at Bayville Elementary School which may result from the cell phone antennas. He said that as much as 30% of staff at the school had been diagnoses with various illnesses including leukemia and other forms of cancer. A kindergarten student at the school also had leukemia. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/wpix-cancer-bayville-school,0,7715148.story |
Some School Boards Vote to Ban Cell Towers
In 2008 the West Lin-Wilsonville School Board in Oregon voted to prohibit commercial microwave cell sites on and adjacent to school property. The School Board allows the one existing cell tower contract to expire. Board members were concerned that the cell sites were not proven safe. http://preview.tinyurl.com/66w957In 2008, a parent of a child that attends Staten Island Intermediate School 34 in Staten Island, NY noticed a radiofrequency radiation sign on the third floor of the school. The parent became concerned about the health effects that may students may experience and was instrumental in the Department of Education deciding to remove the microwave dish and antennas from the school’s roof. The antennas were part of a city-wide communications system for first responders and had not been operational. http://tinyurl.com/2ctgb9r |
Communities and Groups Vote for Tower Setbacks from Schools and Daycare Facilities
Greenwich, CT generated a bill to require a 750 square setback of cell towers from schools and daycare facilities.
The town of Bar Harbor, Maine includes in its communication tower ordinance a provision for a 1,500 feet setback for cell towers near schools and day care facilities.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Unified School District passed a resolution calling for criteria to establish cell tower setbacks from schools.
The Connecticut PTA passed a resolution in 2003 that supports legislation calling for a 1500 feet setback from a school or day care and a cell phone tower. |
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Taking Action Can Make A Difference
Students, parents and teachers voiced their concerns about having a cell tower on top of Sullivan Heights Secondary School in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Working together, the defeated those in favor of the proposed cell phone tower in 2003. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FRtDPQvPA4&feature=related
In January 2010, over 100 parents and concerned citizens organized and spoke at a public hearing about a proposed cell phone tower near the playing field at Walnut Heights Elementary School in Walnut Creek, California. Citizens were concerned about the aesthetics of the proposed antenna tree, reduced property values, and potential health effects. The Walnut Creek School Board voted to reject the application. http://tinyurl.com/yc535bs
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5 minute video about cell tower erected near a school in England.
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