City Reconsiders Cellphone Towers

http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com

May 27, 2010 (The Namibian/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- THE City of Windhoek has placed a moratorium on the erection of cellphone towers in the city until there is more clarity about the health implications.

This was announced at the latest City Council meeting last week.

In a media statement last month, the City had said that "to date, no available and reliable information from internationally recognised scientific bodies has proven health and safety implications related to base transceiver stations".


A group of concerned residents recently said that Namibians were uninformed about the results of numerous, serious scientific studies which indicated that long-term health hazards may be associated with living too close to mobile phone towers.

The main bone of contention was a base transceiver station that MTC intended to erect on Bowker Hill in Klein Windhoek.

The City will hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the health impacts of these towers and to clarify what policies are followed when an application for the erection of a tower is considered.

The requirements of environmental impact assessments (EIA) for cellphone towers will also be discussed at the meeting, it was announced.

A professor at the Central University of Technology in the Free State in South Africa, Linda de Jager, will be the main speaker at the event.

MTC spokesperson Albertus Aochamub did not want to comment yesterday. He said he would only respond to questions after tomorrow's meeting.