Tuesday, June 9, 2015 10:15 pm
SUSAN McIVER
SUMMERLAND — Following a presentation by Vicki Lightfoot Monday evening, Summerland staff will be developing a policy on radio frequency radiation from cell towers.
Chief administrative officer Linda Tynan said staff will review the policies of other jurisdictions in preparation of a policy to be presented to council for consideration.
Lightfoot, who was speaking on behalf of a group of concerned citizens, told council of the increased recognition of the dangers associated with RF radiation since the Telus cell tower was installed on Little Conkle Mountain in 2009.
She also said that the amount of RF radiation from the tower has increased over the same period.
“In May, 2011, the World Health Organization Agency for Research on Cancer classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields associated with wireless devices as being possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B),” Lightfoot said.
The insecticide DDT and lead are in the same category and both are banned in Canada.
In May 2012, approximately 200 scientists petitioned the United Nations to have RF radiation classified as “2A probable carcinogen.”
Lightfoot and other opponents to the Little Conkle Mountain cell tower had been told by previous councils that such devices were of no or negligible danger to human health because they were approved by Health Canada.
This April the House of Commons’ standing committee on health released a report that questioned Health Canada’s reasons for rejecting scientific studies showing harm.
“We are in a soup of radiation from cell phone towers. Health Canada, the department charged with helping Canadians maintain and improve their health, is failing to do its job,” Lightfoot quoted MP Terrance Young telling Parliament.
Lightfoot cited policies established by the City of Colwood and District of Metchosin that govern the placement and/or activation of electromagnetic radiating devices.
She also told council that a Quebec court had upheld the City of Châteauguay’s power to expropriation regarding radio-communication equipment in the service of the well-being of its citizens.
“If challenged in court, there would be hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps more, in legal fees associated with RF injury. Especially if RF radiation is classified as a 2A probable carcinogen,” Lightfoot said.
Her comments were based on damage associated with electomagnetic fields being a general insurance exclusion.
“The purpose of the exclusion is to exclude cover for illnesses caused by continuous long-term non-ionising radiation exposure, that is, through mobile phone usage,” Lightfoot said.
Establishment of a local cell tower policy regarding sites and application of the ‘as low as reasonably achievable’ precautionary principle as advised by the international scientific community were among Lightfoot’s four recommendations to council.
The other two were to minimize ambient RF radiation exposure levels in neighbourhoods where people live and to monitor levels in the entire community.
“People living within a 50 to 300 meter radius from a cell tower are in the high radiation zone and are most prone to ill effects of electromagnetic radiation,” Lightfoot said.
Loretta Krauter who lives close to the Little Conkle Mountain tower told council of the dramatic decrease in wildlife she has observed since its installation.
