FELIXSTOWE residents have vowed to keep up their fight against mobile phone masts – despite new evidence that radiation levels are well below recommended limits.

By ANDY HOLLIS

andy.hollis@eveningstar.co.uk

FELIXSTOWE residents have vowed to keep up their fight against mobile phone masts – despite new evidence that radiation levels are well below recommended limits.

A government study of radiation emissions from mobile phone masts sited next to schools and hospitals showed the exposure levels were well below recommended limits.

The Department of Trade and Industry said readings ranged from hundreds to millions of times below international guidelines.

Stephen Timms, Telecoms Minister, said: "We are aware of public concerns and it is important to give the public the information they need. These results continue to show exposure levels to the public are well below recommended limits."

But residents protesting against Hutchinson 3G's plans to put up seven of their new generation masts in the area are not convinced.

Dave Cawdron, 41, of Grange Road, said: "The Hutchinson 3G masts are new technology for sending and receiving picture messages. They are more powerful than older ones and no experiments have been done on them to find out how much radiation they emit or at what frequency.

"They are shorter so the radiation reaches the ground a lot quicker and is stronger. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them and I will continue to fight plans to put them in residential areas, especially near schools, until proper research has been carried out and they can guarantee they are safe."

Because communication companies are paying a lot of money for the licenses to put up these new generation masts, Mr Cawdron believes the government is trying to pull the wool over peoples' eyes in restricting research.

"In fifty or sixty years time I believe we are going to see people dying from it, just like we saw with asbestos," he added.

Town and district councillor, Dot Paddick, echoed his remarks: "The government are ignoring the Stewart report which recommends that masts should not be put near schools because there are biological effects below these guidelines. The third generation masts are not even included in this report, as no research has been carried out on them, and they are even more powerful."