There is a Risk

Top cancer expert in phone mast warning:

Mobile phone masts would be banned for five years if ministers took the same cautious approach as they did when they withdrew hundreds of foods containing a rogue dye, a leading cancer expert has told the Echo.

Dr Ian Gibson, who chairs the Commons Science and Technology Committee, claimed the planning rules relating to mobile phone masts would have to be tightened up after the next election because of the scale of outcry by MPs. In an exclusive interview, the influential Government backbencher praised the Echo's Shockwaves campaign, which has drawn attention to the health fears of mobile phone masts. And he said his government had ignored the precautionary principle outlined by the Stewart Report.

Dr Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, said: "There is evidence of a cancer risk from masts from places such as Finland, Australia and Sweden. It's probably as good as any evidence you can get in these kind of fields. After all, Sudan 1 was banished without any effects on people being shown. There was no hesitation in doing it. If they treated masts in the way they've treated Sudan 1, there wouldn't be one put up in the next four or five years until the scientific evidence had come through."

Dr Gibson, who made his reputation as a cancer specialist at the University of East Anglia, said that numerous overlapping scientific studies commissioned by the Government were playing into the hands of the mobile phone industry. He added: "It suits the industry to have all these different bodies doing this.

"What I've found for several years now is that the operators just ignore the public hatred of the masts. They will say they are not sited by a school when they know they are right next door to a school. They just play on the fact there's no planning guidance that's going to make it more difficult for them."

The Echo recently launched a campaign against proposals for a controversial new mast to be sited in Exeter's Heavitree Road. It led the city council to write to Vodafone asking it to find a new location for the mast, which is planned for a site close to the city's maternity hospital, schools and a nursery.

More than 600 people have signed a petition against the proposal.
Dr Gibson mocked claims by Government departments that they have been following the "precautionary principle", as outlined by Sir William Stewart in his 2000 report. He said: "Bill (Stewart) has said the precautionary principle has not been used when I have questioned him. Mobile phone masts are a big, big issue in this country. If people weren't so quiet it would be a bigger issue.

"The next stage is going to be planning regulations after the next General Election. I think there'll have to be some modification to make it more difficult for planning consent to be obtained. It is becoming a clamour."

Dr Gibson is one of 130 MPs to sign a Commons motion calling for the recall of the Stewart Committee to look again at the health effects of base stations.

Meanwhile, MPs are being urged to support a private member's bill coming before the Commons on March 19 which could tighten up the planning procedure for applications for new masts.

The bill would scrap the prior approval process for masts under 15m high which many campaigners believe favours the mobile phone giants.

Network Rail and police authorities would also be forced to go through normal planning procedures for their private networks of masts.

Chris Maile, of campaign group Planning Sanity, who drafted the clauses, said: "Every member of the public, every councillor, every planning authority and every MP that has concerns over the present planning regime must support this bill."
This is Exeter in conjunction with Express & Echo, 8th March 2005