APPEAL TO SOUTH AFRICA'S MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS, EDNA MOLEWA, TO URGENTLY RECONSIDER LEGISLATION
I, the undersigned, object to the regulation passed on August 2010 which allows industry to install relay antennae (cell masts and similar) under 15m height without an Environmental Impact Assessment being undertaken and without notifying the public. This is in direct conflict with our Constitutional rights as set out in Sections 24 and 33 of the Bill of Rights.
I further request that legislation be urgently considered to better regulate the placement of cellphone masts as current policy is guided by the ICNIRP guidelines from 1998 which do not take the athermic or biological effects of electromagnetic emissions or radiation into account.
"Far more dangerous than a despotic leader in an autocrocy, is an apathetic citizen in a democracy."
What South Africans are saying through this petition
I am of the firm conviction that until it is proven beyond any doubt that Elecro magnetic radiation is NOT harmful to humans, masts must be sited well away from human habitation - at least 1km away. The cell phone companies are basing their opinion on a standard that was set more than a decade ago. This needs to be revised taking into account the increased usage and all the independant information and studies that have and are still being undertaken which strongly indicate that EMR IS harmful to humans - especially children and the elderly. Emphasis is being given to the physical and not the physiological aspects. Nerve synapses use electrical impulses and it is surely obvious that external radiation many, many times greater than what humans have been exposed to for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years must be harmful, especially when exposed 24/7, 365 days a year. It is, I believe, a ticking time bomb.
Please make a plan here! Our children are so vulnerable! Or force cell phone manufacturers and cell phone service providers to come up with protective measures.
It is important that the voice of the public be recognised. We are a democracy!
The ICNIRP guidelines are totally outdated and we cannot be expected to become more "friendly", if we cannot protect our guests from these radiations & emissions
Please would you urgently hear our call to keep cell phone masts out of our environment.
Please for the sake of our future and the future of our children, let's regulate properly to be fair to all.
Through expediency we ignore the longterm ill effects on health caused by cell mast radiation.
the current situation bears no consideration for individual welfare- we have lived with a cellphone mast (private) on a home next door to us which the owener is paid to host ( disgraceful). Regulate this industry in line with our constitutional rights.
Cellphone masts are dangerous!!!Not even a debate- evidence exists!! Do the right thing - DO NOT PUT NEAR KIDS!!!
as above and we owe it to the future children of this world to be conscious of the decisions we make today.
I have a cellphone mast erected on the block of flats I live in right in the middle of a very busy residential main road in Fish Hoek. No consultation with residents was done by the Louis Group who owns the buildings. Various people in the flats have already begun to have negative health symptoms Please instigate laws that do not harm the citizens of this country.
All over the world evidence relating to the harmful effects of the radiation from cell phone towers is emerging. The matter requires open-minded investigation, not masking of the problem with unthinking blanket statements and disempowerment of the public in the decision-making process. Please do rethink the current situation.
This legislation is a flagrant undermining of our constitutional rights - time for the government to show it has the health of its citizens as a top priority.
I object to the cell masts which have been erected on the Blauwberg Municipal Building... without consulting the residents that live 30 meters away from the tower.
Having had breast cancer two years ago, and having gone through chemo and radiation for it, I am appaled that Vodacom may be able to put a small mast 25 meters from our home without an Environmental Impact Assesment or having a direct responsibility to get our agreement.
In my opinion the lowering of the height of the mast actually increases the risk factors as you are now lowering the point of emision making possible radiation more likely. The visual impact is also in no way affected by the height of the tower.
Please consider the health of people living near these towers and don't wait untill indisputable scientific proof is finally achieved and it is too late.
'Salus Populi Lex'- the health of the population is the ultimate law. The way cellphone masts and base stations are being erected, shows a total disregard for public health.It appears that cellphone companies and many landlords place profits before the health of the public.People must be held accountable for actions where these instruments of ill-health are placed without the proper public participation. Class action like what happened with the cigarette industry and with the asbestos industry, must and will take place, to address the ill effects of their use. Winning compensation years later is actually no comfort nor consolation for the victims. I appeal to you and your ministry to reconsider the legislation around cellphone masts and base stations, and the siting thereof. Please introduce legislation which takes into consideration the latest world best practices, corrective procedures, and experiences of progressive countries with up-to- date legislation, and strict penalties for offenders.
We need a balanced approach - jobs are important, ecomony is important, but so is healthy human life - decisions cannot only be made because they make econmoic sense.
URGENT REFORMS NEED TO TAKE PLACE. THE HEALTH OF OUR CITIZENS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOOD CONNECTIONS.
Include WIFI and WIMAX interference from neighbours.
Having 11 cell base station antenna within 700m from my home must impose a hazard. Numerous neighbours suffer from cancer or have died from it over the past 3 yaers. Will some cabinet ministers please live within 300m of a base station and report they are not concerned?
I fully object to any antennae on our residential block. It stands 2ft away from the sleeping residents on both sides of the building. At the back of the building where access can be gained onto the roof of the adjoining neighbouring building to access the antennae there is a sign indicating the danger of proximity due to radio / radiation , and that is 15 ft away from the antennae . How much more is the danger then to sleeping residents who lie in their beds 2ft away from the antennae , seperated merely by a wall ? Move them out and ban them from residential buildings.
As much as the Cellphone is useful, I think we have enough masts up in a Residential areas..
I am suffering from sleeping disorders, since they erected 7 Cell Antennae right opposite from our place. The antennae are too close to our homes(15 meters)I have to sleep since they erected this construction on a matress in a backroom. We wanted to sell, but it s a huge loss for us, because we don t get the money we have paid, no one wants to live straight opposite the antennae! - The Cell antennae do devaluate our property and no one is compensating us...iam sick and tired to sleep in the backroom. I am not the only one complaining, the tennants of the building with the 7 antennae are moving in and out. It's like traffic, no one is renting out there for long term. The tennents who moved out were complaining about sleeping disorders, headache and skin rush! If someone tells me "it s just in your heads that electromagnetic waves are making you sick", please come, I will invite you to stay with us and sleep in our guestroom...I will assure you in about 3-6 months you will suffer from the same problems!
... I objected to the proposed Vodacom mast at the water reservoir on Watsonia Road to the Planning & Building Development Management, City of Cape Town:
1. The site in Watsonia Road is immediately adjacent to residential properties. Our property is just 50-80 m away from the proposed place for this installation.
2. We are afraid to be permanently exposed to EMF and unknown risks and negative affects on human's health.
3 We think that also fauna, flora, possibly the water in the reservoir will be effected by radiation with unkown negative consequences.
4 The mast will disfigure the nature in our environment. The mast will cause visual degradation to this area which belongs to the Table Mountain National Park!
5. Finally we come to the conclusion that because of the a.m. reasons the mast will negative effect the value of our property and the houses of all residents around!
The mast should be sited as far away from people as possible! ...
I strongly oppose any form of bullying by corporates and government on civilians that are entitled to protect their rights. If a corporate wishes to infringe on a residential area in any way they should be obliged by law to consult the residents beforehand. What is happening throughout the world today in the take over of the corporates on government and civilians is a disgrace and we should start doing something about it before we become like America where there is no longer any such thing as freedom of speech is a supposed \"free country\". Protect your families for gods sake.
Preemptive action must be taken in this regard by taking a page out of history relating to other health considerations. It is an accepted fact today that smoking aggravates the risk of lung cancer; why must we go through the same lengthy process before we fundamentally accept the risks of electromagnetic radiation? Despite the possibility that the risks associated with cellular phones might prove to be minimal, our lessons from the past should dictate, at the very least, significant caution until the impact of this technology is understood.
In addition to just cellphone masts the exclusion of other environmentally harmful masts (such as anemometer masts used for wind farm projects) MUST also be subjected to EIA.