'Mobile mast could kill me'
A WOMAN who is allergic to the mobile phone era is praying that the High Court will back her fight against an 80ft transmission mast. Because she is sensitive to electro-magnetic emissions, Pam Harris has turned her home into a cocoon where there is no microwave oven and no food which has been packed in tin cans.
Pam is also allergic to wheat and gluten products. To stay alive, she has to hook herself up to a machine for 17 hours every other day to have essential nutrients pumped into her bloodstream.
Today, she said she fears that emissions from the mast might make the machine malfunction.
She said: "I have to use the machine overnight and have to depend on its alarm system warning me that the treatment has nearly come to an end, and if I do not get the warning there's a risk of getting an air bubble in the tube which is connected to my heart.
"This could cause a stroke or blood clot.
"When I am exposed to emissions, even at a low level when passing a mast in the car, my blood levels alter dramatically, and my heart skips a beat.
"That is why it is such a stressful situation."
When mobile company 3G submitted plans to Peterborough City Council in May 2005, residents formed the Deeping Mast Action Group.
The council threw out the application, but the decision was overturned by a Government inspector.
The action group, which is rallying round Pam, raised £5,000 to challenge 3G in the High Court in London – but is still waiting for a hearing date to be confirmed.
Pam was first diagnosed with rare electro-magnetic sensitivity in 1983 – a condition which she believes has been diagnosed as serious in just 15 other people since medical records began – and the boom in mobile phones was her worst nightmare.
She and her husband, Johnny, left Northamptonshire seven years ago and thought she would be safe in the bungalow at Deeping Gate, near Market deeping, which they spent thousands of pounds converting to accommodate the machine.
She said: "If the mast is approved, I can no longer live here without serious risk to my life.
"My life is just as important to me as their mobile phone mast seems to be to them."
In a letter, which the protest group has submitted to the High Court, Pam's specialist, Dr Jeremy Nightingale, a consultant at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: "There may be health risks and mechanical problems with the pump relating to a telecommunication tower if situated very near to her house.
"In view of the uncertainty, it would be best to avoid building the tower close to her house."
Pam's GP, Dr Andrew Norman, said: "She has significant allergies to food, chemicals and drugs, and the effect of extraneous exposure to chemicals and to electromagnetic radiation may have unpredictable serious consequences."
A spokesman for the action group said : "This is a very real case, and all the medical evidence is there, even though it was ignored by the Government inspector.
"They are riding roughshod over the health of people who would have to live near this mast, when there is no proof that they don't cause health problems."
A spokeswoman for 3G said today it was "unable to comment at this time".
13 November 2006
All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1874762
Pam is also allergic to wheat and gluten products. To stay alive, she has to hook herself up to a machine for 17 hours every other day to have essential nutrients pumped into her bloodstream.
Today, she said she fears that emissions from the mast might make the machine malfunction.
She said: "I have to use the machine overnight and have to depend on its alarm system warning me that the treatment has nearly come to an end, and if I do not get the warning there's a risk of getting an air bubble in the tube which is connected to my heart.
"This could cause a stroke or blood clot.
"When I am exposed to emissions, even at a low level when passing a mast in the car, my blood levels alter dramatically, and my heart skips a beat.
"That is why it is such a stressful situation."
When mobile company 3G submitted plans to Peterborough City Council in May 2005, residents formed the Deeping Mast Action Group.
The council threw out the application, but the decision was overturned by a Government inspector.
The action group, which is rallying round Pam, raised £5,000 to challenge 3G in the High Court in London – but is still waiting for a hearing date to be confirmed.
Pam was first diagnosed with rare electro-magnetic sensitivity in 1983 – a condition which she believes has been diagnosed as serious in just 15 other people since medical records began – and the boom in mobile phones was her worst nightmare.
She and her husband, Johnny, left Northamptonshire seven years ago and thought she would be safe in the bungalow at Deeping Gate, near Market deeping, which they spent thousands of pounds converting to accommodate the machine.
She said: "If the mast is approved, I can no longer live here without serious risk to my life.
"My life is just as important to me as their mobile phone mast seems to be to them."
In a letter, which the protest group has submitted to the High Court, Pam's specialist, Dr Jeremy Nightingale, a consultant at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: "There may be health risks and mechanical problems with the pump relating to a telecommunication tower if situated very near to her house.
"In view of the uncertainty, it would be best to avoid building the tower close to her house."
Pam's GP, Dr Andrew Norman, said: "She has significant allergies to food, chemicals and drugs, and the effect of extraneous exposure to chemicals and to electromagnetic radiation may have unpredictable serious consequences."
A spokesman for the action group said : "This is a very real case, and all the medical evidence is there, even though it was ignored by the Government inspector.
"They are riding roughshod over the health of people who would have to live near this mast, when there is no proof that they don't cause health problems."
A spokeswoman for 3G said today it was "unable to comment at this time".
13 November 2006
All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1874762
rudkla - 13. Nov, 18:56
