from Catherine at www.electricalpollution.com
Phone masts health fears: US president asks for views of Midland woman
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/tm_headline=obama-enlists-sutton-coldfield-s-anti-mobile-phone-campaigner%26method=full%26objectid=22805912%26print_version=1%26siteid=65233-name_page.html
Jan 29 2009
by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has turned to a Midland anti-mobile phone mast campaigner to help the fight against cancer.
Eileen O’Connor, as a founder member of the Radiation Research Trust, has led the battle against the relentless growth of mobile phone masts and technology for the past seven years.
And now the US President’s cancer panel, set up by Obama to research the possible links with both nuclear and electro-magnetic radiation, has asked Eileen for her views on the issue.
The trust has supported widespread research into the possible dangers of mobile and wireless radiation and campaigns for the technology to be made safer.
Eileen said: “Obama’s panel has launched an information gathering exercise and I was invited to provide evidence. While I am not building up my hopes, I am delighted the issue is being taken seriously by the President.
“President Obama recently said science is about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology.
“It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient and I welcome this approach.”
The evidence gathered by the panel will be considered in drawing up advice to the new President on measures needed to be taken to improve the health of Americans.
Any steps taken are likely to be considered around the world.
Eileen first suspected a link between mobile phone masts and cancer when the arrival of a mast in her home village of Wishaw, near Sutton Coldfield coincided with a cluster of cancer cases, including her own.
The campaign hit the headlines in 2003 when the mast was pulled down in the middle of the night and residents blockaded the site to stop it being replaced.
The Radiation Research Trust funds and draws together scientific research from around the world and lobbies government to adopt a more cautious approach to mobile technology.
A key theory is that it is the electromagnetic radiation frequency, and not intensity or power of the signal, which can cause the damage. It is also thought that some people are more sensitive to the effects than others.