Simcoe Ontario - EMF Canada

--SIMCOE, ONTARIO

-------Man says Cellphone Tower near home
-------is making him and neighbours sick - Simcoe Reformer
-------FULL STORY June 2, 2006

-------Simcoe Cell Antenna Moving - Norfolk Radio
-------FULL STORY June 7th, 2006

-------Simcoe cellphone tower to be moved;
-------Neighbours complaint of illness - Brantford Expositor
-------Wednesday, June 07, 2006

-------Campaign over Second tower - Simcoe Reformer
-------FULL STORY June 8th, 2006

Simcoe : Cell Antennae Moving
2006/6/7 5:50:02 Norflolk Radio CD 98.9fm
http://www.cd989.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5327

A cell antennae atop the water tower in Simcoe will be moved.
Last night Norfolk council agreed to move the antennae after
many complaints from area residents about the negative impact
it's had on their health. The cost of moving of the tower will
most likely fall on the county. Council heard many deputations
from affected residents, concerned students and health professionals
about the tower. Representatives were also on hand from
Health Canada, Industry Canada, and Rogers Wireless.
The cell antennae does comply with the regulations set out
by both health and industry Canada.

Simcoe cellphone tower to be moved;
Neighbours complaint of illness
Wednesday, June 07, 2006 - 01:00
Cheryl Bauslaugh - Brantford Expositor http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/

Local News
Norfolk councillors have decided to get rid of a cellphone tower in the centre of Simcoe that residents say is a health risk.

After hearing from more than 20 people in an often emotional five-hour debate Tuesday, council voted to move recently installed Rogers Wireless Inc. antennae on the Simcoe water tower - even though it could cost the county an estimated $300,000.

"I'm proud to be a resident of Norfolk County," said Dan Currie,
who first raised the issue in February, shortly after the antennae were installed.

"Council was receptive and concerned about the welfare of its citizens," said Currie, who has been unable to live in his century home on Union Street because of symptoms such as nausea, headaches, fatigue and dizziness that he says are caused by the cell tower.

"I was fine before the antennae went up and I'm fine when I'm not at home," he told council.

Students in the senior law class at Simcoe Composite School did a survey of residents in the area - which is close to Elgin Avenue School and Norfolk General Hospital - and discovered several more residents with similar symptoms. To date, 17 people have reported recurring illnesses since the cell tower was installed.

No evidence

Staff said there's no conclusive evidence linking radio frequency waves with illness. And they noted that the cell tower meets federal health and safety regulations in regard to exposure levels.

But Mayor Rita Kalmbach said she'd rather err on the side of caution when it comes to people's health.

"When I hear people say they only get sick at home, when they're close to the tower, I have to believe there's something to this," she said.

"I believe we have to do what is right and good. But it is going to cost all the people of Norfolk County considerable money."

Just how much money isn't clear. When Kalmbach asked a Rogers representative about the possibility of getting out of the lease before the March 31, 2008, expiry date, Jack Hills said that will be up to the company's lawyers to decide.

He was also non-committal about the possibility that Rogers might voluntarily move its cell tower to another site.

"It's not our policy," he said, adding that the tower is operating within guidelines set by Health Canada and Industry Canada.

"The alleged fear can be mitigated by the guidelines."

Hills also noted that Rogers has many other telecommunications towers that are close to hospitals and schools. Some, in fact, are on top of schools.

However, Magna Havas, an environmental scientist at Trent University, told council that Canada's guidelines aren't as stringent as those in other countries. She cited studies that show an increased risk of cancer, as well as symptoms such as headaches, insomnia and nausea, when people live within 400 metres of a cell tower.

"I think there's enough evidence to cause a concern. I recommend not allowing antennae within 400 metres of schools, homes or buildings where people work."

Havas said she is particularly concerned about the risk to students at Elgin because children are more vulnerable to developing cancer than adults.

Council directed staff to begin negotiating a way out of the lease agreement as soon as possible. County manager Bill Allcock said that process will begin this week but he's not sure how long it will take before the cell tower finds a new home - or what the cost will be to taxpayers. He said Rogers will have to find an alternate location before the antennae can be removed.

Coun. Roger Geysens voted in favour of moving the cell tower but he warned that this might be the start of similar requests from other county residents who live near cell towers.

"I certainly don't want to put children at risk but there's not very many places in Norfolk County where you're not gong to be within 400 metres of some residents. "I think we're asking for some very difficult times."

Man says cellphone tower near home
is making him and neighbours sick
Tower of Anger
Samantha Craggs - SIMCOE REFORMER Friday June 02, 2006 http://www.simcoereformer.ca/story.php?id=234062

Since February, Dan Currie hasn't felt quite himself. An accountant by trade, ordinarily quick thinking and alert, Currie couldn't concentrate. He lost his train of thought midway through sentences. Then came the dizziness, nausea, and a tingle that seemed to stretch from one side of his brain to the other. Currie worked every day in his newly-renovated century home under the looming shadow of the Union Street water tower, which since fall has had a Rogers cell phone antennae on top of it. His family was due to move into the home earlier this year. Instead, he packed his office and worked out of the family's temporary apartment on Evergreen Hill Road. At first, Currie was skeptical that the tower could cause his illness. His wife had heard about the potential problems of radiation exposure. He thought it might be the power of suggestion. But the more he looked into it, the more neighbours he encountered with similar health problems, some of whom didn't even know the antennae was there. He gets ill when he is near the tower. Each time he walks away, it takes longer to recover. He has had blood tests, an ultrasound and a CAT scan. No doctor seems to know what is wrong with him. Currie knows evidence of the health effects of such antennae is inconclusive. He knows Norfolk County followed Health Canada guidelines when leasing the space at the top of the water tower. But if there is even a chance that it is making him and others sick, he wants it moved. "I am mad. I am angry," he said. "I may have to put a for sale sign on my home. And how could I in good conscience let someone else move in?" He will also not move his three children, aged seven to 14, into the home that has been in his family for more than 20 years. Some research suggests the effects can be more serious for children, including higher incidence of childhood leukemia. The tower is also near two elementary schools, a hospital and a nursing home. Reports say Elgin Avenue Public School is more than 100 metres from the tower. At recess, though, children play on the grassy slope that nearly reaches the tower's base. On Tuesday night, with a staff report in hand, Norfolk councillors will vote on whether to move the antennae. The report, submitted by public works manager Eric D'Hondt and Glen Steen from the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit's healthy environmental team, recommends leaving it there. It also says the county has no escape clause in its lease agreement with Rogers Wireless. The best it could do is ask Rogers to voluntarily move it, which Rogers has said it will not do. Requesting Rogers to remove the equipment, the report says, could impact "not only other telecommunications equipment installations on the Simcoe water tower but also the telecommunications equipment installed on other county water towers." These leases mean revenue for the water and wastewater division. The health unit has also concluded that there is no conclusive evidence such towers, by current standards, are health hazards. Currie said it is the health unit's responsibility to consider the people who are already ill, and to err on the side of caution. "I still have faith in council and that councillors will do the right thing," he said. "All we're asking is to not take the chance with me and my kids."

* * * *

Currie and David Cole, a Simcoe Composite School law teacher who has been using the issue as a lesson in grassroots activism for his students, now have a chart. The names are cut off so as not to reveal individual identities, but along the top are symptoms. Abdominal pain. Itching and burning. Mood swings and depression. Floaters and spots on the eyes. Underneath is a check mark for each Simcoe resident experiencing the ailments since the antennae has been installed. Fatigue: three. Nausea: three. Headaches: nine. "We've talked to everybody," Cole said. "I've spent time on porches and in living rooms, listening to the symptoms. It was remarkable how many people repeated similar things." The team has an ally in Magda Havas, Trent University professor and expert in cell phone tower radiation effects. She likens cell phone tower radiation to asbestos. "In the future," she said, "we're going to look back at this era and say 'why did we ignore that data?'" Health Canada regulations have been followed in the Simcoe case, but Health Canada regulations are lax, she said. "Our guidelines aren't there to protect us from prolonged exposure, they're there to protect flesh from heating up in the microwave," she said. "They're based on dead meat, not living people." Regulations and research are lacking because it is a highly political issue with money and modern conveniences at stake. "A lot needs to be done," she said.

* * * *

Health Canada has reviewed and re-reviewed its regulation, which is Safety Code 6. In 1996, The Royal Society Panel looked hard at it, then updated its findings in 2001. The conclusion is the same when it comes to knowing for sure the health affects, there is no conclusion. Simcoe councillor Peter Black will chair Tuesday's meeting. He does not fault staff or the health department, and will keep an open mind. "The health department has to rely on the factual scientific evidence out there," he said. "Our authority says we are within regulatory standards. I guess it's up to us as councillors to look at the anecdotal evidence and see if that's enough to employ the precautionary principle." Representatives from Rogers and the health unit were not available yesterday. Rogers confirmed that a representative will be at Tuesday's meeting.

SIMCOE PRESENTATION JUNE 6th
SWEEP News 18 - Submitted Kelly M.

SIMCOE PRESENTATION

Dr. Magda Havas and other speakers will present at an important Simcoe Town
Council meeting this coming Tuesday at 5pm. Local advocates have generated
significant publicity as they explore the relationship between recently sited
cell towers and health effects of local residents and the population of a
school. This is already a precedent setting case for Canada because of the
level of community involvement nad media attention.Those within driving distance are encouraged to attend.
June 6th, 5pm Town Council Chambers 50 Colborne Street Simcoe, ON

Campaign brews over Second cell tower
Residents encouraged by council decision to move Rogers tower

Thursday June 08, 2006 - Monte Sonnenberg - SIMCOE REFORMER
http://www.simcoereformer.ca/story.php?id=235142

Families in the south end of Simcoe are deciding whether to make an issue of the microwave cellphone antenna in their neighbourhood.
Residents in the area of Ireland Road are encouraged by Norfolk council's decision this week to order the removal of a microwave cellphone antenna from the Simcoe water tower at the west end of Union Street.
The Rogers Wireless antenna in that case was installed late last year. The 100-metre Bell Cellular tower behind Sprucedale Youth Centre and secondary school near Boswell Street was erected in late 1997.
"Oh yeah, what we'll probably do is go around and get another petition," says Brad Cronkwright, who lives on Ireland Road near the intersection with Decou Road.
Cronkwright gathered a petition against the tower and presented it to the former Simcoe council nearly 10 years ago. Simcoe council chose not to get involved, saying telecommunications issues are a federal responsibility.
Like the dozens of concerned community members who crammed the council chamber at Governor Simcoe Square this week, residents in the southeast part of Simcoe are concerned about the potential health effects of microwave cell tower transmissions.
Chris Cronkwright, wife of Brad, says there's an unusually large number of people in the neighbourhood suffering from cancer.
And as with the Union Street-Elgin Avenue situation, a number of residents complain of vague symptoms such as headaches, sleep disorders, mood swings, depression, aches, pains and the like. Some wonder if the Bell tower is to blame.
Chris Cronkwright herself beat cancer more than 10 years ago and intends to keep it that way. She's disturbed that her three young sons complain regularly of headaches.
"It's an ongoing problem," she said. "Nothing seems to be causing it."
Neighbour Lori Ernst also wonders if microwave cell towers are especially bad for young people. She noted that young people are concentrated in the neighbourhood at Sprucedale, Lynndale Heights Public School and St. Joseph's School on Oakwood Avenue.
"I have kids playing outside all the time," Ernst said yesterday. "If there is any kind of risk, I want it taken down."
Ernst added that she's developed spots within her field of vision since the tower went up.
The situation regarding the Bell tower is significantly different from the Rogers Wireless tower that was ordered removed this week. The Bell tower is located on private property. As well, Bell owns all the infrastructure on the land.
Ken Glasser of National Antenna in Elmira was site foreman for the Bell project in 1997.
Nine years ago, he dismissed theories that microwave transmissions cause illness as "a bunch of hocus pocus." He noted at the time that the broadcast unit at the top of the Bell tower was rated at eight watts. Glasser said this is substantially less than the 10,000 watts associated with typical FM radio broadcast towers.
"If the seal on the door of your microwave (oven) isn't perfect, you'll get a lot more radiation from there than you will from this tower," he said. "Most microwave ovens are driven by a 100-watt system. There is just no comparison."

updated 2006