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600 protest to get phone mast felled
More than 600 people have signed a petition calling for the removal of a mobile phone mast in Fulwell.
The post, operated by O2, stands at the corner of Newcastle Road and Thompson Road, and parents say it is too close to Fulwell Grange Kindergarten and High View Nursery.
Lisa Black, from Rydal Mount, Fulwell, has been fighting to have the mast removed since 2007.
She said parents were worried about the long-term health effects the mast could have on their children.
The Department of Health and the Mobile Operators Association has said in the past that mobile phone masts in Britain conform to international safety standards.
But campaigners and some researchers claim emissions from the masts can cause cancer, damage the immune system or lead tohealth problems.
"There are many young families living close to this mastwho feel, as I do, that this mast is far too close to these nurseries and our homes," said Lisa, who has two children.
"The Government guidelines state that no mobile phone mast should besited close to a nursery, yet this mast is within 80 metres of two, a clear breach of these so-called guidelines.
"Other masts in the area have been upgraded and larger ones constructed. We don't want to see this happening here, and we want it moved."
Lisa presented the petition to Southwick councillor Norma Wright and it has now been submitted to council officers.
A spokesman for O2 said all its sites conform to very strict public exposure guidelines and often operate hundreds, if not thousands, of times below guideline levels.
He added that a World Health Organisation fact sheet published in 2006 said from all the evidence accumulated so far, no adverse short or long-term health effects have been shown to occur from the RF signals produced by base stations.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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