An open letter to the County Council
In last week’s Sounder, Councilman Rich Peterson is reported as saying that the [cell phone tower] regulations put in place over a decade ago have proven “onerous” and discourage cell phone companies from installing new antennas. I can certainly agree with that. The question is: to whom are the regulations onerous? Certainly not to residents who might live or work near any such tower!
Since the present regulations were put in place some scientific progress has been made in quantifying the risks of cell phone use. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that cell phone transmissions may be much riskier than we initially were lulled into believing. Radiation from cell phone transmitter towers is thousands of times more powerful than that of the cell phone, and as yet no scientifically sound standards have established safe separation distances for those who live and work in the vicinity of cell towers.
Councilman Peterson suggests that we should relax the present regulations to benefit public safety, personal convenience, and the economy. I don’t disagree with this. But I do hear in this the echoes of voices who urged the repeal of financial regulations so that the economy could grow and the greedy could make more money. We are now tasting the bitter fruits of that failure to properly regulate.
I urge the council to apply the precautionary principle to the establishment of regulations which might allow the proliferation of cell towers. The precautionary principle says that you don’t wait until you have a fatal accident at an intersection before you put up a stop sign. The precautionary principle says that you don’t drink the liquid from an unmarked bottle until you can determine with very great certainty that it is safe to drink. The precautionary principle says that you don’t put up a cell tower and wait to see if those who live or work nearby get cancer in ten or twenty years.
I urge every citizen to call or e-mail their Councilman to insist that they observe the precautionary principle in every case where public interest or safety is at stake.
Bill Griswold
Eastsound
An open letter to the County Council
In last week’s Sounder, Councilman Rich Peterson is reported as saying that the [cell phone tower] regulations put in place over a decade ago have proven “onerous” and discourage cell phone companies from installing new antennas. I can certainly agree with that. The question is: to whom are the regulations onerous? Certainly not to residents who might live or work near any such tower!
Since the present regulations were put in place some scientific progress has been made in quantifying the risks of cell phone use. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that cell phone transmissions may be much riskier than we initially were lulled into believing. Radiation from cell phone transmitter towers is thousands of times more powerful than that of the cell phone, and as yet no scientifically sound standards have established safe separation distances for those who live and work in the vicinity of cell towers.
Councilman Peterson suggests that we should relax the present regulations to benefit public safety, personal convenience, and the economy. I don’t disagree with this. But I do hear in this the echoes of voices who urged the repeal of financial regulations so that the economy could grow and the greedy could make more money. We are now tasting the bitter fruits of that failure to properly regulate.
I urge the council to apply the precautionary principle to the establishment of regulations which might allow the proliferation of cell towers. The precautionary principle says that you don’t wait until you have a fatal accident at an intersection before you put up a stop sign. The precautionary principle says that you don’t drink the liquid from an unmarked bottle until you can determine with very great certainty that it is safe to drink. The precautionary principle says that you don’t put up a cell tower and wait to see if those who live or work nearby get cancer in ten or twenty years.
I urge every citizen to call or e-mail their Councilman to insist that they observe the precautionary principle in every case where public interest or safety is at stake.
Bill Griswold
Eastsound
