Mobile Phone Masts

[chin85]

I live on the top floor of a block of flats, there is a mobile phone mast on the roof and there are plans to add more. How safe is this? What are the exact dangers, and if it is dangerous how long can I live under a mast without being affected?

[nothingmuch]

there is no real evidence to say how dangerous mobiles and mobile masts are. there have been tests done on rats where they subjected them to the same amount of radiation as a mobile phone would emmit and they didn't fare too well. however tests have been done with humans where the mast has been on then off etc. and it was shown that there was no effect on their health, but  a 'placebo effect' i.e. they felt ill when the mast wasn't on. sorry to be so vague, but not much is known as to the effect on humans.

[Octavius]

How long can you chat on your mobile without being radiated by the internal electronics?  If you needed to use your mobile and couldn't get a signal would you be understanding if the phone company said that they were not allowed to build a mast within 30 miles of your town?  Or would you change mobile supplier?  It bugs me when parents complain about this near their kids' school - but they want their little cherubs to be able to phone home safely don't they??  If we believed everything we heard, we wouldn't eat, drink, talk, reproduce or even have the will to live.

[Octavius]

I just noted a very topical programme on BBC3 tonight for you:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/3_investigates/mobile_phone_masts.shtml

[Gevs]

I saw the programme that nothingmuch was talking about. They put loads of volunteers in a country house with a clearly visible mobile phone mast right outside. They told the volunteers that they had turned the mast on (but left it off) and they started complaining of headaches etc. They then turned the mast on and told the volunteers it was off and they all got better. The looks on their faces was quite funny when they were all told at the end.