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Mast Sanity cannot produce any more media releases as we have no one available to do this.  Inquiries have increased 10 fold and with a shortage of volunteers we have to prioritise - helping local campaigns always comes first!.  We are still in constant touch with numerous national and regional journalists, however to keep up the profile we have earned over the last 2 years we need to produce press releases on a regular basis. We have to get someone to produce press releases for us.. so if you think you can do it VOLUNTEER....

10th May 2004

The Home Office is unable to prove safety of its own TETRA police communications system, on grounds of research ethics.

26th January 2004

POLICE CONDEMN AIRWAVE TETRA TACTICS

15th January 2003

20th December 2002

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC FINANCE COMMITTEE SLAM COST OF 'TETRA' (Airwave)

28th October 2002

TETRA COMMENTS TAKEN TO HOME SECRETARY

24th October 2002

POLICE RADIO's 'V' OFFICERS HEALTH THE BIG 'TETRA' DEBATE CAMPAIGN DEMANDS HOME OFFICE APOLOGY

8th July 2002

NEW RADIO SYSTEM SEES POLICE DROP IN DROVES

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PRESS RELEASE - For immediate use: 10 May 2004

 The Home Office is unable to prove safety of its own TETRA police communications system, on grounds of research ethics.

Mast Sanity is calling for reassurance that the TETRA system is safe. Mast Sanity is being contacted by a huge and increasing number of people expressing enormous opposition to O2 Airwave as it erects TETRA masts in a nationwide network. Across all social strata and in all regions, ordinary people are reporting symptoms of ill health from these masts, which are now being installed approx. every ten miles in a desperate bid to meet contractual requirements and avoid late delivery compensation payouts. The symptoms reported range from headaches and itchy skin to increased epileptic episodes, repeated nosebleeds and serious sleep disorders. Confidence in this system, within the communities it is designed to serve, has been totally destroyed.

No reassurance of safety, no acceptance of evidence

Repeatedly we are told that “more research is needed”.  The Government and the Home Office in particular have sponsored a wide range of research around the area, but none of this will investigate the consistent range of immediate adverse health effects attributed by so many people to TETRA masts. Groups all over the UK, formed in opposition to the TETRA system, chiefly on grounds of risk to health, are able to report the effects in their own areas, where Tetra is installed. Yet all calls for epidemiological surveys to establish the connection with TETRA are being ignored.

David Baron of Mast Sanity said, “ People’s health is being put at risk; this cannot be dismissed as an acceptable consequence of progress.”

John O’Brien, a leading campaigner against TETRA in Sussex, went on to say, “The response we are usually given is ‘there is no evidence’, and that what they do report is too complex to be separated out from all other environmental influences. It is quite clearly more than coincidental that when TETRA masts are turned on, symptoms start. When they are turned off they stop.”

Government in public challenge

Mast Sanity has continually called for a stop to the TETRA rollout until appropriate research has been carried out.  Now, in a public letter to the Home Office, Department of Health, Health and Safety Executive, National Radiological Protection Board and Health Protection Agency, ten groups across the south have challenged the Government to amend this research deficiency.  As Andy Davidson of Worthing, who suffers as a result of a TETRA mast, stated, “We do not wish to be subjected to an untested system that is effectively being tested on us – we don’t want to be the guinea pigs”.

The group has proposed a simple double blind test of two TETRA masts, set up in comparable residential areas, one switched on and one off, so that a subsequent survey of reports of any adverse health effects could be statistically correlated with the masts. However, we understand researchers from the Home Office cannot do this on grounds of ethics. It appears that whilst the Home Office can engage a private company to erect and operate this untested system anywhere it likes, even expressly against the wishes of residents, it cannot engage its own research partners in erecting the same masts for the purposes of measuring their biological effects on people. Only if in the test communities (one live, one placebo) every man woman and child were to give their explicit consent, and continue to do so throughout the experiment, could such an experiment take place.

Yet the Home Office continues to assert that the system is “probably safe” and should continue to be rolled out regardless of the wishes or fears of anyone in those communities. While no pre-rollout research has been done, residents exposed to Tetra are de facto research subjects, along with the police.

Contacts

David Baron - Mast Sanity (Tetra Coord)   - 

Andy Davidson – Mast Sanity spokesperson and person ill as a result of TETRA  -

John O’Brien - Spokesperson for ‘Protect Sussex from TETRA’ -

Mast Sanity Press Office  :

 Notes for Editors

Note: Whereas Mast Sanity does not advocate experimentation on any community, we feel that the position held by the Government when dealing with this group's suggestions is two faced.  As in the rollout of the controversial TETRA system, it refuses point blank to take into account the opinions of rank and file police officers as well as  those of hundreds of very frightened communities across the country.

1.       TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is the new Home Office radio communications system being offered to police authorities throughout the UK.

2.       Contrary to Government interpretations, all UK TETRA equipment, including base stations, transmit digital signals in pulses that coincide with beta brain wave activity, with a clear risk of disrupting key biological processes. The Stewart report to Government advised that this pulsed frequency be avoided.

3.       Pulsed radio waves at extremely low frequencies affect living tissues, promoting cell multiplication and growth, and are used in this way in the medical profession.

4.       The core network, with partial coverage, requires nearly 3,500 masts across the UK. Resistance in a number of areas has resulted in severe hold-up to the rollout as O2 Airwave struggle to fill the gaps.

5.       O2 Airwave has gathered a national reputation for breaching planning regulations, with a consistent lack of consultation and lack of respect for local people and decision makers, in a bid to complete its contract. Some Police Authorities have publicly distanced themselves from the behaviour of O2 Airwave.

6.       The system has been criticised on grounds of cost, value for money, on real functionality, and above all on the possible dangers to health. The issues have been raised in Parliament and in the European Parliament, and the NRPB has indicated the need for more research.

7.       In Dursley, Gloucestershire, some 70 residents regularly have to leave their village for respite and recovery.

8.       The system is not exclusive, but being run in parallel with the old analogue system because police authorities are not yet happy with its performance. The Government could retain the right to continue to use existing frequencies, on licence, after 2005, if it chose to, and to maintain continuity of service with the existing system’s known capabilities.

9.       The current estimated cost at £2.9 billion (increased from an original figure of £1.6 billion) is only an initial estimate for a core service. In order to achieve full operational capability, further very large sums will have to be committed by Police Forces to pay for development of presently unavailable functionality (eg data) and increased coverage.

10.   Research by Imperial College, London for the Home Office will monitor the health of the entire police force using Tetra equipment over many years. The ethics of this study is different because Imperial College has not set up the experiment. No research or monitoring has been done and none is planned, relating to Tetra base stations.

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Media Release – For Immediate Distribution  26th January 2004

POLICE CONDEMN AIRWAVE TETRA TACTICS

The recent deluge of bad publicity surrounding Airwave mmO2, the company installing the controversial TETRA communications system has prompted a swift response from the police. In an effort to distance themselves from the growing number of complaints about Airwave’s unlawful erection of masts in the county, Sussex Police Authority spokesman, Dr John Godfrey has made the following statement in a letter to the Campaign for Planning Sanity. He says, “The Police Authority has made it absolutely clear that any illegal action being taken to erect masts in advance of planning permission being obtained is unacceptable.”    

Campaigners concerned about the proliferation of phone masts generally are quick to point out that the problem is not confined to Sussex or simply to Airwave 02. Recent estimates suggest that fifty per cent of masts required for third generation mobile phones, the police TETRA system and Network Rail are bypassing the planning process altogether.  Loopholes and confused planning guidance are allowing the telecom operators a freedom from control not enjoyed by other private companies.

As public anxiety about health risks from mobile telecommunication technology grows, MPs all over the country are finding the issue dominating their postbags. West Suffolk MP, Richard Spring has responded by tabling a private member’s Bill in consultation with Planning Sanity and Mast Sanity, the national campaign group.  The bill will attempt to tighten up planning controls and give greater powers to local authorities to control the current chaotic situation in relation to mast siting.

Communities, which have seen their environments blighted over the last few years are urging their own MPs to support this initiative. Mast Sanity spokesman, Karen Barratt says the time has come for the Government to recognise the problem and do something about it. “ They must realise that they are dealing with highly educated, well-informed protest groups who are cynical about reassurances from Government and industry.  We are not prepared to be fobbed off with reports on health, that are based on selective research projects which make no attempt to replicate findings which show an adverse effect. The so-called “precautionary approach” is not being followed. The public, particularly children must be protected now.”   

Campaigners say that the problems with Airwave TETRA system are the latest example of an ill-advised Government policy which has put too much faith in an untested, high-risk technology and has allowed the operational freedom given to the industry to threaten local democracy. “I’m not surprised that Airwave think they can  ignore planning refusals,” says Karen Barratt. “They’ve seen the way Orange, T-Mobile and the rest disregard the wishes of ordinary people and get away with it. I’m glad the Sussex Police Authority have condemned their outrageous behaviour but I’d be far more impressed if David Blunkett ended their Home Office contract”.

END.

EDITORS NOTE: Contact: Mast Sanity Spokesperson Karen Barratt  tel: ****  - Mast Sanity Public Helpline 08704 322377

                                        For information on the Telecommunication Mast Bill 2004  See:  http://www.planningsanity.co.uk/forums/masts/mastbill.html    

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For immediate release - 15^th January 2003

PROTESTERS CHALK UP MAJOR VICTORY AS POLICE FORCE PUTS TETRA ON HOLD

Celebrations were taking place tonight at the Mast Sanity head quarters as Devon and Cornwall admitted that protesters had scored at major victory forcing them to put the planned TETRA system on hold for 2 years. Mast Sanity the national campaign group are now urging local communities across the UK to put the pressure on to ensure that other areas take similar decisions as well as urging that this untried unsafe system is admitted to be a white elephant and totally rejected.

Mast Sanity Director Lisa Oldham said "This is very good news and yet again demonstrates that when local residents band together they can make a real difference. This system has never been demonstrated as being safe, yet the Government committed £3billion to its implementation, money that could have been spent on putting more police on the beat, improving our hospitals, schools and other hard pressed institutions that are under funded".

Lisa Added "I would just like to take this opportunity of thanking all those local communities that have stood up to the system that was hell bent on rolling out such a risky system, but would urge them not o get complacent, to carry on the fight, and to show solidarity by taking part in the UKs biggest ever phone mast rally on the 8^th March in London".

Mast Sanity Chair Chris Maile said "Now is the time to knock the nail into the coffin, let everyone right across the UK who is saying no to this system to stand up with a single voice and say no. Let every application on every insensitive site be opposed to the best of that communities ability, the communities of Devon and Cornwall have shown us the way, let us now take the bull by the horn and charge this system into the history books. Help for local communities is readily available from Mast Sanity, both from our WEB site www.mastsanity.org and from our helpline 0161 959 0999 requesting our free information pack".

 If a two year delay in implementing the system can be announced then no longer can the Operator 02 claim that it is important to rush these installations through. Therefore, a moratorium on the further expansion of the system should be ordered until research results are known. That is the sensible way forward, rather than subjecting thousands of local communities to misery and stress implementing a system that has not been demonstrated to be safe, and which has resulted in hundreds of serving police officers reporting ill as a result of the handsets. Or will we have to wait until police officers are admitted to hospital before action is taken. Whilst the Government is set to spend £billions on a war in Iraq, they are also prepared to spend even more on implementing a system that could see as many serious injuries as will be inflicted by that war being inflicted on our own police force.

END.

 EDITORS NOTE: For more information phone the Mast Sanity Media Office on or our national helpline on 0161 959 0999. For more Info on TETRA go to our TETRA Forum www.mastsanity.org/Tetra/TETRA1.htm

NATIONAL PHONE MAST RALLY - LONDON 8th MARCH 2003 - 12 NOON - HYDE PARK CORNER LARGEST EVER UK PHONE MAST PROTEST

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For immediate release - 20^th December 2002

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC FINANCE COMMITTEE SLAM COST OF 'TETRA' (Airwave)

A powerful Government Committee has published a damming report on the cost to the taxpayer of the roll-out of the new Police radio system TETRA (Airwave).  They say that the cost of the system will be double the original estimates, from £1.5billion to in excess of £3billion. The report concludes that, "Airwave might be more sophisticated and expensive than it really needs to be …… It is significant that individual police authorities and the fire service cited the cost of Airwave as their reason for being unwilling to subscribe to it ….. The remedies available to the Home Office if the system does not work will not fully compensate police forces for the disruption and operational risks that would inevitably follow".

The question has to be asked - are the Home Office misleading the public on the question of the issue of the health of Police Officers? A letter received by Mast Sanity from the Home Office, whilst not specifically admitting that there is a health risk to Officers, takes great pains NOT to deny such a risk. This when compared to the evidence of Home Office officials when answering questions put to them by the Committee, who again do not deny that some officers have complained of illnesses that they contribute to these radios (see note below).

CHRis this last sentence doesn’t make sense… don’t know what you are trying tosay at all…  is it the fact that the 2 separate points shows that they def do not deny a helath risk.

The report also states that there are still problems knowing whether the system can be used in Major Cities, after the system was found not to work in parts of Manchester.  They will not know whether it will work in these areas for another 2 years.

It is clear from the report, and the questions that many of the Committee were asking, that they were not happy with the high cost, the profit margins and the lack of financial benefit to UK Tax payers, as a result of no profits, if the system is sold off.  They were not very happy at the unproven nature of the system, and whether it actually gave value for money in terms of police resources as well as the fact that health and safety issues had not been factored into the costing.

Mast Sanity Chair Chris Maile said "The report shows that despite many reservations, the Home Office is hell bent on pushing ahead with a system that is proving very costly, has not been proven to be capable of delivering the service that it is intended for, and has serious health implications for the users. Whilst questions were not raised relating to the effect on sensitive electronic equipment, concerns are still being raised by the Medical Devices Agencies that TETRA handsets interfere with life saving and other medical equipment. It is surely time that sanity ruled the day and that this system is put on hold until these very serious issues are resolved".

Mast Sanity Director, Lisa Oldham, said "It has been reported that over 200 Police Officers have suffered illness as a direct result of the use of TETRA handsets.  Yet as this report demonstrates there is no user base that enables a proper research study to take place on real people. All of the statements on the potential health risk relate to laboratory studies and therefore we must ask the question, just how many of our police officers have to report ill before a stop is put to the use of ordinary police officers being used as guinea pigs, whilst attempting to do their work protecting the public?"

END.

EDITORS NOTE: For further information Tel: (Media Office) or 0161 959 0999 (Helpline)

See House of Commons Public Accounts Committees 64^th Report

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmpubacc/783/78302.htm

The following is a series of questions and answers taking from the minutes of the Committee that relate to the health issue.

Mr Richard Bacon - M.P. is asking the questions

Mr Asque is from the Science and Technology Unit, at the Home Office

 240. How many policemen have complained that their radios are making them ill?
  (Mr Asque) A number of people have expressed concerns on the health issues.

  241. How many?
  (Mr Asque) The numbers are not fed directly to us. We get representations from the Police Federation, which we have been in contact with, answering the concerns on behalf of their members. We have not dealt directly with policemen.

  242. I am looking at a letter in the police magazine from March 2002 from a Mr Nigel Wood from Lancashire who writes that he knows personally of new cases of skin problems, sleeplessness, migraines, depression, difficulty in concentrating and headaches. In the December 2001 issue there is reference to TETRA causing a variety of things including potentially heart and blood disorders, affecting the brain electro-chemistry, increasing the risk of leukaemia and so on. What is the current state of play on the health research?
  (Mr Asque) The current state is that we are addressing all of the recommendations which were made in the report you referred to. A list of recommendations was drawn up and we have research projects going on all of those recommendations, addressing them in great detail.

  243. Do the research projects have people wearing these things and making them operate and then checking out whether they get migraine or depression or whether they lose concentration?
  (Mr Asque) Projects are being developed which will have that sort of aspect. At the moment we do not have a user base. We are in negotiation with one of the police forces which has offered to participate in a trial of that order, but it has not started yet.

  244. That was July 2001. It is now April 2002 and you have just said that at the moment you do not have a user base. Do you not have people you can test this on?
  (Mr Asque) The issue is that there is no proof that there are any of these effects.

  245. I did not say there was. Nine months after that July 2001 report and a more recent report you say you do not have a user base, you do not have a bunch of people on whom you can test it specifically not relating to operability or interoperability but specifically relating to health. Is that correct? You do not have a user base of such people?
  (Mr Asque) The Airwave service is only now being rolled out. We have done work in the laboratory, we have done a lot of experimental work in the laboratory prior to the final trial which we are doing as part of a health programme which is not directly led by the Home Office. It is part of the mobile phone research.

  246. Are you responsible for the Home Office's input into health and safety on these issues?
  (Mr Asque) Yes, we are and we are feeding into the wider programmes because we have more users involved and a wider base of information.

  247. But you do not have a user base at the moment.
  (Mr Asque) We have had discussions with one police force who are going to collaborate with us.

  248. You have had discussions. I am just amazed. It was 1998 when you had the first review on effectiveness. Three years later you had a review on health safety specifically because of these concerns. Not quite a year later, but nearly a year later, you still do not have people to testify. Why not?
  (Mr Asque) There are two issues here. We have to have people using the system. At the moment we have a trial system and now we are starting operational use. We also have to have a research programme in which we have to agree how we measure this. This is very subjective. People will have concerns about this; it is a very emotive topic —

  249. These policemen are complaining about headaches and so on. You are in charge of health and safety. Have you thought of going along, getting on a train, going up to Manchester, participating, using it yourself and seeing whether you get headaches? It would be a quick way to move the thing forward, would it not?
  (Mr Asque) It would, but I suffer from headaches for all sorts of reasons and I cannot say whether it is due to using that handset or not. We need proper scientific trials to analyse these things because a lot of these things are so subjective.

  250. I am just amazed you have not started yet.
  (Mr Gieve) Vaughan is referring to a particular monitoring programme we are setting up with the forces which are starting to use Airwave. We actually have a whole programme of research, most of which has started, on the effects on rat brains and lots of biological stuff to try to find out whether, as has been alleged, features of this technology do have effects on animals and on biology. So far there is no reason to think they do.
  (Mr Parris) We take health and safety very, very seriously. The Airwave service operates within national and international guidelines which are laid down after years of research. Sure, more research is going on and it is absolutely right and proper that it should go on.

Chairman - Mr Edward Leigh M.P.

  264. If the research you are undertaking led to a belief or suspicion that the technology could be a health hazard, what effect would that have on the contract?
  (Mr Gieve) If there were evidence that this was damaging to health, then we would have to change it. First of all the police authorities as employers would have their obligations under health and safety. Secondly, O2 as suppliers of the technology have to meet all health standards, which they currently do. If research led us to change those health standards because of new science, then we would have to change the system.

For immediate release - 28^th October 2002

TETRA COMMENTS TAKEN TO HOME SECRETARY

The alleged comments made by the Home Office Health and Safety Officer in charge of the TETRA (Police Radio System) Dr Mirielle Levy at an industry sponsored Conference for Police Federation Reps at Birmingham last week (23^rd Oct) has now been reported to the Home Secretary David Blunkett with a demand that she be replaced by someone that has not already formed a view on the health implecations prior to the completion of research that she is in charge of.

The alleged comments at the heart of the Mast Sanity complaint are:

"I don't believe they are sick, they are not sick enough to stop this trial" South West Police Federation Rep Steve Pearce is then alleged to have asked about the Police Officers who are ill, when Dr Levy is alleged to have replied "They can always leave the force…nothing will stop TETRA and if the Officers don't like it they can resign…". In her final statement to the conference proper she is said to have stated that "They will be studying the health of the police for 10-15 years, but they are not guinea pigs". Other comments to questions put to her by delegates from the conference floor were: "What would happen I refused to use the equipment?" Dr Levy replied: "You would be required to use the equipment that you are issued, if you do not want to use the equipment then you could leave the force". Another delegate asked: "Who would be responsible if I contacted Leukaemia?" Dr Levy replied, "No one is"

Lisa Oldham Mast Sanity Director said: "200 (176 in Lancashire, and 24 in North Yorkshire) Police Officers have reported sick as a direct result of the TETRA system, yet it has not yet been fully implemented. Lancashire, which ran the pilot scheme suffers the most with 174 offiers having reported ill effects, yet it is barely a year since it became operational. The full trials are going to last 15 years, before a final decision on whether it is a health risk, it takes little to calculate, that in Lancashire alone at this rate at the end of the trial 2610 officers will have become ill. When that is multiplied by the entire police force, and we have to ask, will there be any officers well enough to police the UK".

Mast Sanity Chair Chris Maile continued: "Yes there must be research, yes some of that research must be in the field. What is not aceptable is the Government putting £2.5billion of tax payers money into a system that is not proven to be safe, and then put in charge an official who (if the alleged comments can be attibuted to her) would rather see police officers leave the force than protect them from the hazard in the first place".

END:

EDITORS NOTE: For your reference please find attached Mast Sanity letter to the Home Secretary.

Contact Mast Sanity on 0161 959 0999.

Rt. Hon David Blunkett MP

Home Office

Queen Anne's Gate

London

SW1H 9AT

28^th October 2002

Dear Mr. Blunkett

RE: TETRA COMMENTS ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY Dr MIRIELLE LEVY HOME OFFICE TETRA HEALTH AND SAFETY OFFICER.

It has been reported to Mast Sanity that Dr Mirielle Levy, who we understand is the Officer at the Home Office and is responsible for research projects into the new police radio service TETRA, stated: "I don't believe they are sick, they are not sick enough to stop this trial". South West Police Federation Rep Steve Pearce is then alleged to have asked about the Police Officers who are ill, when Dr Levy is alleged to have replied: "They can always leave the force… nothing will stop TETRA and if the Officers don't like it they can resign…". In her final statement to the conference proper she is said to have stated that: "They will be studying the health of the police for 10-15 years, but they are not guinea pigs". Other comments to questions put to her by delegates from the conference floor were: "What would happen if I refused to use the equipment?". Dr Levy replied: "You would be required to use the equipment that you are issued, if you do not want to use the equipment then you could leave the force". Another delegate asked: "Who would be responsible if I contracted Leukaemia?". Dr Levy replied: "No one is".

It is our understanding that the first two of these comments were voiced by Dr Levy on the eve of the Police Federation Conference on TETRA held in Birmingham on the 23^rd October at a packed public house to a party of academics and Federation Representatives who she was with. However, irrespective of the location or to whom she made these comments, her position can no longer be seen as tenable. It is our understanding that she is the official to whom officers affected by ill health thought to be associated with TETRA must report. Clearly as she starts from a biased stance, there is little prospect of a balanced view being forthcoming.

It is also our understanding that 174 police officers from the Lancashire force have already reported ill as a direct result of TETRA, as well as a further 20 Officers from the Yorkshire Force. We are also reliably informed that the only officer brave enough to speak out on this emotive topic has been moved to another section of the force. With so many officers having reported ill, there is clearly a problem, that cannot wait the 3 to 15 years for the results of ongoing research. Our police officers are clearly too valuable to be used as guinea pigs in this way. We therefore urge you, in the first instance, to replace Dr Levy with someone who will conduct the required research from an unbiased stance, and secondly to order a moritorium on the further use of the system until it is declared safe.

We are copying this letter to your opposite numbers in both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Parties, as well as the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mobile Communications, with requests that if action is not forthcoming that the issue is raised in the House.

We look forward to your response with interest.

Yours sincerely,

 Ms. L.M. Oldham – Director Mast Sanity

 cc    Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP         - Shadow Home Secretary

        Simon Hughes MP                               - Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary

        Phil Willis MP - Chair All-Party       - Parliamentary Group on Mobile Communications

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 24^th OCTOBER 2002

POLICE RADIO's 'V' OFFICERS HEALTH THE BIG 'TETRA' DEBATE

CAMPAIGN DEMANDS HOME OFFICE APOLOGY

A big debate has taken place today (23^rd Oct) in Birmingham on the question of the new Police Radio system TETRA. It is believed that at least 174 police officers have so far fallen ill as a direct result of using the new radio handsets, whilst concerns similar to those for mobile phones are being voiced by local communities across the UK that the emissions given out by TETRA base stations are harmful to health, particularly children.

HOME OFFICE SAYS POLICE ILL FROM THE EFFECTS OF TETRA CAN ALWAYS LEAVE THE FORCE

Mast Sanity has demanded an immediate response from the Home Secretary to clarify the comments alleged to have been made by Dr Mirielle Levy the Home Office Health and Safety Officer in charge of TETRA in relation to the 200 plus Police Officers in Lancashire who are said to have become ill as a consequence of using TETRA radios - "I don't believe they are sick, they are not sick enough to stop this trial" South West Police Federation Rep Steve Pearce is then alleged to have asked about the Police Officers who are ill, when Dr Levy is alleged to have replied "They can always leave the force…nothing will stop TETRA and if the Officers don't like it they can resign…". In the her final statement to the conference proper she is said to have stated that "They will be studying the health of the police for 10-15 years, but they are not guiney pigs".

Lisa Oldham Mast Sanity Director: "If the statement made by the Home Office is Government policy then the Home Secretary must immediately state in clear terms why the Government are more interested in implementing a system that has so far been demonstrated to have an effect upon the health of officers than what should be their primary concern the health of officers on the beat".

Lisa continued "It is inconvievable that the Government should commit '£2.5billion' to implementing this scheme, yet spend only '£7.4million' on research into all aspects of the safety of  telecommunication installations. Which clearly demonstrates that the Government have little concern for the welfare of individual police officers or members of the public, whether that is from TETRA or Mobile Phone Base Station. Their concern being clearly that of financial rather than the protection of health".

Barrie Trower who was commissioned by the Police Federation to report on TETRA stated after the conference "This has been a complete farce, a whitewash, that was more concerned with PR than debating the real concerns of ordinary police officers on the beat. It is clearly disappointing for the 200 officers who are ill as they have no representation, and they are not being believed".

Mast Sanity Chair Chris Maile concluded: "As an organisation that represents hundreds of local communities we are dismayed at the attitude of a high ranking Government Official making such irresponsible comments concerning the health of police officers. This official should be immediately replaced by a person that understands the concerns of those effected. These officers that are ill are not imaginary, they are real people policing our streets, in order to make them safe, yet the Government is prepared to send them out with tools that are puuting their health at risk. It is now time for a complete change in policy, along with a moritorium on the further expansion of the system until it is demonstrated that it is safe".

END.

EDITORS NOTE: For more information contact Mast Sanity Media Office 0161 427 7977 or our national helpline 0161 959 0999. Leading Academic Barry Trower who attended the conference but was not allowed to address the delegates can be contacted on 01626 821014.

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For immediate release 8^th July 2002 - 0161 959 0999

NEW RADIO SYSTEM SEES  POLICE DROP IN DROVES

With only 3 police forces turned onto the new Emergency Services Radio Service 'TETRA' it has emerged that 173 Officers in the Lancashire Force and 20 in the Yorkshire Force have now fallen ill as a direct or indirect result of using the new radios, it is asserted that of these 20 are considered to be serious. From the very beginning there have been concerned raised by academics and organisations such as Mast Sanity and its parent organisation the Campaign for Planning Sanity that the new system was unsafe and untested. These alarming figures that are due to be updated in the next few days puts a clear question mark over continued use of the entire system.

With a question mark over the Manchester forces continued use of the system after its recent withdrawal due to technical problems, coupled to the refusal of he majority of Ambulance and Fire Authorities to take up the system. Mean there are real questions to be asked over the Governments 2.5 billion pound funding.

Mast Sanity Chair Chris Maile said "These significant levels of health effects on officers although mainly consisting of minor ailments such as nose bleeds and headaches must put a serious question mark over the service. And requires a Ministerial statement that the system will be suspended until further investigations are undertaken. It is vitally important that our police officers are protected from the adverse effects of untested equipment. Especially as this effects have been known for some time, and were clearly pointed to in the report by the renowned scientist Barry Trower commissioned by a South West branch of the Police Federation'.

Mast Sanity will be raising these concerns with the Home Office in the near future.  In the mean time we urge restraint in the implementation of the continued role out of the system. And that measures are put into place to halt further use of the equipment until such time as a clean bill of health can be given to all officers, and members of the public.

END

EDITORS NOTE: More info from Chris Maile on 0161 959 0999.

The following is taken from the March edition of the Police Federation Magazine letters page:

RADIO HEADS

I am writing to you to express my concern and amazement at the report by B Trower that is circulating freely in the Lancashire Police area regarding TETRA radio.

I find it unbelievable that Lancashire officers are still having to use these radios as there would appear to be an increased and surely now measurable number of instances of ill-health directly attributable to the electromagnetic wave frequency used by TETRA.

I personally know of new cases of skin problems, sleeplessness, migraines, depression, difficulty in concentrating and headaches.

We need firm action now to prevent our colleagues being further exposed to this needless electromagnetic radiation.

Nigel R Wood, Lancashire