Phone mast allergy 'in the mind'

nilhg

According to a report on the BBC people who have symptoms blamed on mobile masts cannot detect whether they are being exposed or not.

altered121

there has nwver been ANY proof of health risks from masts. I get really annoyed driving through certain areas and then phone coverage stops and another 100yards down the road some brain-dead hump will have erected a sign along the lines of " no mast here" "no to masts" or some other "we want to stay in1884" anti technology sign. maybe this will help

watty

It's the related but negative version of Placebo,

Nocebo
"In the strictest sense, a nocebo response is where a drug-trial's subject's symptoms are worsened by the administration of an inert, sham,[1] or dummy (simulator) treatment, called a placebo."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

In double blind trials that are statistically significant, no one has performed better than chance at identifying wiring currents or transmissions.

In 90 years of use of high power wireless, not one proven cancer, though burns from high power RF close, or cateracts from close exposure 10kw Radar have been reported. In other words similar exposure (power & distance) to gas/ oil/ wood/ coal heating equipment or fire to cause burns.


I beleive the current belief in "Radio Sensitivity" started with this
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.htm

Discovery Channel's Mythbusters could not duplicate the effect.

Duiske

altered121 wrote:

there has nwver been ANY proof of health risks from masts. I get really annoyed driving through certain areas and then phone coverage stops and another 100yards down the road some brain-dead hump will have erected a sign along the lines of " no mast here" "no to masts" or some other "we want to stay in1884" anti technology sign. maybe this will help

There was an anti-mast march in our town about a year ago, bemoaning the fact that a mast was being erected 2 miles outside town. I don't think anyone on the march took a upward glance whilst passing the Garda station to admire the 02 anntena attached to the garda comms mast. Strange nobody seems to mention these. Maybe its the size of the masts that put fear into peoples minds.

emaherx

Damn anti everything committy.

There is a mast two fields behind my house (I know not an acurate distance) which is great because now People can ring me when I'm at home and I have 3g Broadband. Before the mast was installed a woman called to the house with a pettition to stop the "cancer mast", the same woman had a mobile phone and a box of cigerettes in her hand, (I don't know what the hell was going on in her head).

rahtkennades

Haha. Did anybody here the guy on Radio 1 this morning from Tipperary? I've heard about him before.

Vodafone wanted to put up masts in his area a few years ago, and he leased them a plot of ground (for a handsome fee). He claims that after they went live, he started to get bad headaches and the rest. He was interviewed this morning and the reporter noted that he was wearing a 'wire mesh head-dress' to "Ward off the evil spirits" or some such. He says he's had the whole house done out with this wire to 'deflect' the rays.

Anyway, Vodafone are taking away the mast now because the lease is up, so there's one crank that's getting his own way now.

I for one don't believe a work of it about 'radio waves' and headaches. But I was standing under one of those boxes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito) yesterday and I got a headache pretty quickly, even though I'm 30. I wonder if maybe there is something that might be resonating something that might be causing a vibration that might be causing a noise that might.......???? That could be all bunkum too, but obviously it's real enough to the guy with the lampshade on his head!!

thebman

emaherx wrote:

Damn anti everything committy.

There is a mast two fields behind my house (I know not an acurate distance) which is great because now People can ring me when I'm at home and I have 3g Broadband. Before the mast was installed a woman called to the house with a pettition to stop the "cancer mast", the same woman had a mobile phone and a box of cigerettes in her hand, (I don't know what the hell was going on in her head).

Everyone smart knows that only the masts give you cancer, using the phone doesn't do anything. All those reports are nonsense. Same as cigarettes, its a conspiracy by governments against the tobacco industry. Cigarettes don't give you cancer, nor phones, it just the masts. Cigarette companies are very socially responsible and would not release a product on the market that gives consumers cancer.

Alun

Richard Hammond, of Top Gear fame, did a program on the BBC a while back looking into this. He took a bunch of people who claimed that they suffered from this 'electro-sensitivity' or whatever it's called, and put them all together in a large house a long way away from anywhere. Outside the house was a very impressive, but actually totally fake, looking 'transmitter van' bristling with antennae and other scary looking stuff. They told the inhabitants that they'd switched the thing on and lo and behold the next morning everyone was complaining of headaches, sleeplessness and other vague symptoms. Of course, in reality they hadn't switched anything on at all, just told them they had. This went on for another few days, with the symptoms gradually getting worse, until they 'switched it off' and told the guinea pigs this. And what do you know, equally as suddenly all the symptoms suddenly disappeared.

Possibly not the most scientifically sound experiment, but nevertheless it just goes to show that it's all in the mind.

I was also amused once to see on the TV some film footage of some "stop the mast" demo, with a number of the participants babbling away on their mobile phones trying to drum up more support! Doh!

nilhg

Soon you might be able to have your very own base station.

I wonder would you need planning permission for that?

bushy...

nilhg wrote:

Soon you might be able to have your very own base station.

You could do much the same thing no prob right now , get one of those wireless routers that take 3g cards and a mobile that does voip n away you go .

pedropumpalot

I regularly climb mast with work with a Narda Meter (RF Meter) and very rarely does the thing go off and when it does I descend. Check out http://www.openaccess.ie for more information.

Peanut

This trial used very short term exposures, therefore it really has very little bearing on people who complain of possible adverse reactions from masts, as these tend to be from people living/working near them as opposed to a brief 10-20 minute stint.

What this trial may show is that there is unlikely to be widespread acute sensitivity to the type of RF exposure tested.