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Cell Towers & Schools

Cell towers are essentially huge microwave antennas, and the type of radiation they emit, radio frequency, or RF, has not been officially determined to be safe, even after many worldwide studies. In fact, exposure to low-intensity radio-frequency radiation is linked to increased stress response in cells, reproductive problems and damage to the blood-brain barrier, according to the University of Washington's bioelectromagnetics research lab.

  1. The Problem

    • There are almost two million cell towers in the U.S. now. What's not widely known is that about one-quarter of these are hidden --- they appear to be flagpoles or chimneys. While there is an aggressive demand by the mobile telecommunications companies for permits to build these towers, there is also a growing body of evidence that cell towers are dangerous. Studies have shown that positioning cell towers near schools exposes children to a greater risk of leukemia, and many parents are extremely concerned when they know a cell tower has been proposed for a location near their child's school. Because of their growing bodies and brains and because of their smaller size, children are more vulnerable to radiation.

    Local Communities Respond

    • Many local communities in the U.S., Canada and England have taken matters into their own hands and have ruled that cell towers cannot be constructed within a certain distance of schools. In March of 2010, the local authority in Greenwich, Connecticut, stopped a T-Mobile cell tower from being built at a neighborhood school by voting to forbid new towers to come within 1,500 feet of an accredited school.

    California Public Utility Commission

    • In California, the health effects of cell towers near schools were sufficiently worrying that, in 1993, the California Public Utilities Commission issued the following advisory: "Cellular companies can be encouraged to consider alternative siting, especially if projected cell sites are in close proximity to schools or hospitals. School and hospital sites can be designated only as last-choice possibilities." A map of cell towers in San Francisco shows the vast majority clustering around the financial district and downtown. According to the SF Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union website, many S.F. neighborhoods have gotten cell-tower permits overturned after appealing to the Board of Supervisors.

    Grass-roots Mobilization

    • Local groups such as the Novato-based Council on Wireless Technology Impacts (CWTI) collect and publicize information about health risks from cell towers, the impact on adult's and children's health, and what activists are doing, both in the U.S. and abroad, to curtail the building of cell towers. It's clear there is a groundswell of concern about these radio towers, while their long-term effects on the public's health remains uncertain at this point.

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