Irlanda: Minister to address health survey concerns. A health survey conducted by residents in Clondalkin recently revealed a high number of deaths and illnesses in an area dominated by a mobile phone mast.

Minister to address health survey concerns
Health Minister Mary Harney is to meet with campaigners this week to address serious concerns regarding a disproportionate level of deaths in a Southside suburb.
A health survey conducted by residents in Clondalkin recently revealed a high number of deaths and illnesses in an area dominated by a mobile phone mast.
The survey carried out by Mast Action Clondalkin (MAC) claims a number of local people have either suffered from or are suffering from cancer and other illnesses.
Imelda Russell’s brother Brian (20) was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour of the brain last year. The Russells live within 30 metres of the mobile phone mast on Ronanstown Garda station.
The Office of Public Works grants licences to mobile phone companies to install telecommunications equipment on Garda stations around the country.
The health survey took in approximately 200 houses in the Ronanstown area.
Imelda Russell said: “The vast majority of illnesses or deaths returned on the survey were in those households within 400 metres of the Garda station.”
According to the survey, eight people living in 55 houses within 400 metres of the mast have died since it was erected on the Garda station in 1997.
Of the eight, two of the deceased are said to have been in their 20s and the remainder are described as being aged between 40 and 60 years of age.

The survey also notes that seven of the deceased died from cancer and one from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
It goes on to claim that apart from those who have died, a further 17 residents in the area are either receiving treatment for cancer or have done so over the last 10 years.
The survey states that a further 25 residents suffer from severe headaches and two from Lupus, a dangerous condition that affects the immune system.
The survey also highlighted the fact that some households have been more adversely affected than others. For example, it states that among the occupants of one house in Rowlagh Park, one resident has died as a result of a cancerous brain tumour, while another continues to receive treatment for cervical cancer and a second for Lupus.
In another house in Ronanstown Park, a husband and wife, are said to have both died from cancer.
MAC has been lobbying to meet the health minister since the beginning of June, when the group was set up. A campaign spokesperson for MAC said they are happy that the Department of Health and Children has recognised their campaign and concerns in relation to the phone masts in the area.
In a statement they said: “We will be giving the preliminary health survey that we have conducted in the area to the Department of Health, to ask them to fully investigate our concerns on this matter.
“We will be asking the department to conduct their own study in relation to health concerns in the north Clondalkin area in regards to people living or in close proximity to phone masts or electrical pylons.”
MAC added that if the Department of Health and Children does not act on their survey, the campaign would not be afraid to intensify its action.
A spokesman for the Office of Public Works said that an Oireachtas Committee on Communications had concluded in a report, published earlier this year, that there is no evidence to suggest a link between ill health and electromagnetic radiation emitting from mobile phone masts.

Ver la noticia original AQUÍ