James Debono
“This is an aesthetic and health issue, and not an educational one”: such was the justification proffered by the Education Department for consenting to a mobile phone antenna less than 70 metres from the Dun Manwel Attard school for children with special needs in Wardija.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority only issued the permit after seeking approval from the Education Department, which in turn found no objection despite the possibility of radiation health risks associated with mobile phone antennae.
Although scientific opinion remains divided on this issue, the World Health Organisation (WHO) calls for “special consideration” when antennae are located next to schools.
But the local Education Department does not even have a policy regulating the installation of mobile phones near or in schools.
When asked on the department’s policy, a ministry spokesperson replied that whenever an application for a mobile phone antenna is received by MEPA, the authority issues a set of conditions amongst which are those set by the health authorities.
“As long as MEPA conditions are observed, including the one ensuring health and safety, the Ministry of Education has no other reason to object. This is an aesthetic and health issue, and not an educational one,” the ministry spokesperson said.
In August 2005, faced with the objections of a group of Wardija residents against the installation of a similar antenna in Ta’ Kossimu, limits of St Paul’s Bay, Vodafone justified the location of this antenna claiming that it was 350 metres away from the same school.
The World Health Organisation says that although electromagnetic levels around base stations are not considered a health risk, “siting base stations near kindergartens, schools and playgrounds may need special consideration.”
Adherence to international exposure guidelines, which are strictly enforced in Malta, protects humans from the thermal effects of base station emissions.
But a growing number of scientists contend that non-thermal effects, resulting from low level radiation transmitted from mobile phone base stations, can cause damage to the DNA of living cells, and may also cause cancer.
Renowned German scientist Professor Franz Adlkofer recently called the mobile radiation and the political justifications for it an “uncontrolled and unplanned field experiment” on humans.
Adlkofer had coordinated a four-year, €3m+ research project, funded by the European Union, to evaluate the risk of potential environmental hazards from low energy electromagnetic exposure.
The study concluded that low frequency radiation below levels set by the INCIRP guidelines damage cells.

jdebono@mediatodaday.com.mt

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