The Legal Handbook for Massachusetts Boards of Health 3rd Edition Chapter on Cell Tower Radiation Exposure

“The majority of studies in the US, upon which the FCC bases its presumption of safety of cell towers, have concluded that the actual risk needs further study. The body of science outside the US includes studies that demonstrate everything from “no known risk,” to a doubling or more than doubling of the risk of cancer within certain distances from the cellular antennae mounted on the towers. The FCC says that while some experimental data have suggested a “possible link between exposure and tumor formation in animals exposed under certain specific conditions,” the results have not been independently replicated, and the current literature concludes that “further research is needed.” Also, notably, the FCC’s primary jurisdiction does not lie in the health and safety area, and it acknowledges that it must rely on other agencies and organizations for guidance in these matters. FCC also calls for specific studies including chronic (lifetime) animal exposures, which should “be given the highest priority.” According to the FCC’s scientists, chronic animal exposures should be performed both with and without the application of chemical initiating agents to investigate tumor promotion in addition to tumorigenesis. According to the FCC, Identification of potential risks should include end points other than brain cancer (e.g., ocular effects of RF radiation exposure).”

“The world literature is more comprehensive. A study of cancer patients in Germany found a 3.29 times greater risk of cancer (p < 0.01) in patients with residence closer than 400 meters to a cell phone tower. Risk of breast cancer was 3.4 times greater, and average age of diagnosis of breast cancer was 19 years earlier.50 Similarly, a study in Israel found women living within 350 meters of a cell phone tower to have over 10 times greater risk of cancer than the community as a whole (p < 0.0001).51 More recently, in a case/control study of cancer patients residing near a cell phone transmission tower in Austria, those with external residential exposures of greater than 1000 μW/m2 (> 0.1 μW/cm2 ) had a breast cancer risk that was 23 times higher (p = 0.0007) and brain tumor risk was 121 times higher (p = 0.001) than controls.52”