February 25, 2002

CWTI Media Contact: Hannah Doress, 415 453-8160, hannahdoress@earthlink.net

From Eyesore to Cancer Source:
Do antennas deliver more than we bargained for?

Prominent Biophysicist to report on the impact of Electromagnetic Radiation on S.F. Neighborhoods

On Friday March 22, 2002, internationally known biophysicist Dr. Neil Cherry will be in San Francisco to present the state of the science on health effects of electromagnetic radiation. He will present information linking broadcast towers to cancer incidence in San Francisco neighborhoods, and cell phone antennas to neurological and genetic damage. He will also discuss implications for personal cellular phone use.

"I am prepared to discuss research studies that show our health is at risk," the New Zealand-based scientist says. "I hope community members, scientists, and policy makers will take heed and act to protect the public health." The San Francisco noon-time talk is free and open to the public and will take place in the California State Building, 455 Golden Gate (near Civic Center Bart/Muni) in the Basement Conference Center, Training Room Three. Attendees are welcome to bring their lunch.

Cherry is currently serving as a lead expert witness in major lawsuits now underway charging the U.S. cellular phone industry with not disclosing known health risks to cell phone users. He has also been reanalyzing population-based studies on cancer incidence rates in San Francisco relative to radiofrequency radiation exposures from the broadcast antennas on Sutro Tower, the 990-foot landmark that looms over San Francisco. Using an environmental epidemiological approach, his spatial analysis of the complex terrain in the City leads him to conclude that there is a causal dose relationship between the powerful broadcast antennas and cancers reported in certain neighborhoods. "We haven't given our informed consent to be radiated in our homes like this," asserts Nancy Evans, the Breast Cancer Fund's Health Science Consultant. "Many European countries are much more concerned about health effects and are surpassing the U.S. in researching antenna exposures."

According to the San Francisco Planning Department, over 2,400 wireless communications antennas have been installed around the City. "The effects of these antennas on the health and welfare of San Francisco's residents and workers are a major community concern," reports Doug Loranger of the San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna Free Union. "More than 10,000 local residents have already signed petitions opposing antenna sites near their homes and schools."

Coordinated by the Council on Wireless Technology Impacts (www.energyfields.org) and co-sponsored with the Breast Cancer Fund, San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union, Breast Cancer Action, Marin Breast Cancer Watch, Center for Environmental Health, and Women's Cancer Resource Center.

For more information on EMF/EMR, visit EHN's page
http://ehnca.org/www/ehnlinx/e.htm#EMF