Mobile Phone Masts (Base Stations)

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There are over 60 million phones in use in the UK. Phones are being used more and more as the phone companies offer lots of free time deals. The existing mobile phone masts cannot cope with the demand, so more are being erected all over the country. Most network operators boast that they cover more than 99% of the UK population, covering the country in a blanket of electrosmog.

People living near masts are experiencing increasing health problems, especially sleep disruption, headaches, tiredness, behaviour changes in children, epilepsy, nosebleeds, skin complaints (See published research on humans - non-cancer, below).

The government received 22.6 billion pounds from selling the 3rd generation licences in 2000, and mobile phone related revenue now exceeds 20 billion pounds per year.

It is also important to remember that by the end of 2007 all Operators were required to install, maintain and provide 3G service where at least 80% of the population live, under the terms of their licenses granted to them by Central Government in 2000. All Operators managed this except O2 who hope to be the end of the summer 2008 (they were up to about 75% at the end of 2007).

We have now written a unit conversion document (with integrated calculator) and an updated international maximum exposure guidance levels document. There is also an excellent memorandum written by Alan Meyer (for Mast Action UK) regarding "Local Government Responsibilities" towards exposure to masts.

Many people do not know how many masts there are near them. There is a government website which has a reasonably accurate map of the masts currently integrated into the national network. Details are only put up when the mast is up and running. OFCOM, which maintains the site, depends on the phone operators to give them accurate information about the base station. They update the site every 3 months (or so). We have found some inaccuracies with respect to the existence, siting and information included on the database - and we have not looked at many places. Do not accept the information as definitive or accurate. The powers are given in dBW - you may need to read our Mobile Phones and Masts book to understand what these units mean in practice.

There is a dispute between the UK Information Commissioner, Ofcom and T-Mobile about whether the full Sitefinder database should be downloadable. Ofcom went to the High Court to stop the British public getting access to a list of every mobile phone mast in the UK. The Regulator is appealing the Information Commissioner's decision that the public has the right to know where all cellphone masts are located.

In September 2007, an Information Tribunal upheld a Freedom of Information request ruled that the public should have access to a full list of every base station in the UK. Though Ofcom argued that this is an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of the network operators, it was told the information must be made available, in addition to allowing people to search small areas as they can now. The information behind Sitefinder is supplied voluntarily, but reluctantly, by the network operators.

T-Mobile hasn't provided any cell information since August 2005, and generally joins Ofcom in court as a representative of the rest of the mobile industry. In the meantime, Ofcom has been holding discussions with operators, which have now resulted in a resumption of voluntary provision of this data. 3, O2, Orange, Vodafone, Airwave and Network Rail all supply data to Ofcom at approximately three month intervals (T-Mobile has refused to do so since 2005). Ofcom will also appeal the decision of the Information Tribunal, and a further hearing in the High Court is anticipated.

Many masts have more than one operator; the antennas have different degrees of uptilt or downtilt; the geography of the area is different; the distance the antennas need to cover is different. Microwaves are reflected off surfaces (especially metal ones) as well as absorbed. The amount of microwaves in an area will depend on things like metal roofs, lamp posts and other structures, building materials and structural additions, cars and lorries, etc. The only way to know for certain how a particular place, such as a house, flat, school or workplace, is affected by environmental microwave radiation is to measure the exposure.

If you live near a phone mast and are concerned about risks to your health, please read our section on reducing your exposure.

Planning Laws

Equipment on masts over 15 metres high, and other limited, special circumstances, need full planning permission. Small additional changes do not need permission. Several companies can share a mast or site. Lower height antennas do not need full planning permission.

When an application for a new mast is made, people have only 56 days to respond. This time limit is very strict and many applications have gone through because the time has expired. It is important to find out as much as you can, as quickly as possible, if you wish to lodge an objection. See our book "Mobile Phones and Masts, the Health Risks".

Published research into mobile phone base station health effects

The following are links into recent research finding strong evidence that phone mast emissions may well be having detrimental effects on the exposed population:

Research involving humans - cancer

Research involving humans - non-cancer

REFLEX Report - Risk Evaluation of Potential Environmental Hazards From Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure Using Sensitive in vitro Methods. A project funded by the European Union under the programme "Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources"
- Ross Adey's foreword on this site
- Download the whole 291 page scientific report (10.8MB)*

* Please be aware that this is a large file and may take some time to download

Research involving animals

Other Articles

- New problems with cellphone radiation, Andrew Michrowski (November 2005)
- German Doctors unite on RF health effects from masts (Bamberg, July 2005)
- Article on TETRA in October 2004 issue of the Ecologist (September 2004)
- The inadequacy of ICNIRP guidelines covering human exposure to mobile phone base stations (December 2003)
- How Exposure to GSM & TETRA Base-station radiation can Adversely Affect Humans (May 2003)
- Freiburger Appeal, signed by a number of established medical physicians (December 2002)

Our columnist, Lloyd Morgan, has produced the following three articles. The first link is intended for reporters, editors and EMF health activists, with the intention of educating readers how to intelligently interpret EMF Science papers and provide a precautionary approach to the situation that would not result in needing to lose cellphones. It discusses all the peer-reviewed science studies through Nov. 2004, on the risk of brain tumors of various types from cellphone use. The second link is a report given to an organization of American doctors. It discusses the previously published risk of leukemia and brain tumor from power frequency EMFs and reports on findings how transients from power frequency EMFs are linked to increases in blood glucose and asthma in school children. The third article is a good overview of the health implications of EMFs in an FAQ format, including references:

- Cellphones and Human Health (Lloyd Morgan, April 2005)
- High Frequency Transients on Electrical Wiring - A Missing Link to Increasing Diabetes and Asthma? (Lloyd Morgan)
- What's the Buzz on Electricity? (Lloyd Morgan, May 2005)