HEALTH will not change its stance on the safety of phone masts. Jersey’s new health minister, Ben Shenton, announced last week that the island’s Environment Department had agreed to suspend deciding on applications while he reviewed the current advice on phone mast emissions.
But Guernsey’s deputy Health and Social Services minister, David Grut, said his department would not follow suit.
‘From a Health and Social Services point of view, we have got professional advice from UK experts which has come through the Health and Safety Executive,’ he said.
‘We have checked current information, which shows very minimal risk from radiation emissions from masts.
‘We have already given information to the Office of Utility Regulation on the set guidelines on emissions from masts. Therefore we see no reason to change that at this point,’ said Deputy Grut.
He added that his department would keep an eye on the situation.
‘We will continue to monitor any changes in the guidelines and any recommendations from those professionals in the UK and throughout Europe who continue to investigate any possible dangers from masts and we will act accordingly,’ he said.
‘From all the information we have been presented, I believe we are taking the right action.’
Environment has approved an application from Guernsey Airtel for six antennae and one dish at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
Deputy Grut said the department would not allow masts to be put up at the hospital if it had concerns about the dangers of radiation.
No More Masts chairman Colin Fallaize said Health should reconsider its stance following Jersey’s decision.
He said the department’s ‘ambivalent attitude to phone mast technology is no longer appropriate’.
‘Recent scientific studies have demonstrated that there is significant anecdotal evidence that long-term exposure to mobile phone technology, either in the form of masts or handsets, may have a deleterious effect on health.’
Mr Fallaize said it was becoming widely accepted in some parts of the world that masts were ‘inappropriate’ in the immediate vicinity of schools and hospitals.
‘NoMM notes with grave dissatisfaction that Health and Social Services appears unprepared to accept that this growing worldwide concern has any relevance in Guernsey.
‘We are of the opinion that the department’s intransigence is not serving the best interests of the health and safety of Guernsey people.’
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