Town Residents Fear Cancer Linked to Mobile Phone Mast

Residents in a small English town fear a mobile phone mast in their community is behind the deaths of 14 residents and illness of 20 others.

The mobile phone mast has stood in a council-owned field in Dudley in 1995, and is leased to mobile telephone companies. Residents claim health problems have increased since more antennae and dishes were added to the mast in 2001.

Wendy Baggott, leader of a protest group, lives 200 meters from the mast and blames it for her husband’s two cases of skin cancer and the cancer deaths of four people on her road, as well as other deaths in the area. Mrs. Baggot, a retired NHS clinical auditor, is very outspoken about the mast.
“It’s a monstrosity and feels like a threatening presence looming all over the neighborhood,” Mrs. Baggott says. “We have counted 18 antennae and eight dishes. The well being of the whole community is being affected. It is a massive concern to us that there is a children’s play area so near to it.”

Several area residents have died of cancer since the mast’s installation, including 57-year-old Michael Morris, who died from brain cancer in 2003, and Betty Genner, who succumbed to ovarian cancer the same year at age 68.
The communications watchdog Ofcom said the area around the mast, in Kingswinford, West Mids, had very high radiation levels, and in fact had higher radiation levels than any other site tested by Ofcom. However, Ofcom also said the radiation levels remained “well within” the legal guidelines.

Pamela Morris’s husband, Michael, was reportedly very healthy before his diagnosis with a fatal brain tumor some five years ago; he died at age 57. “He was diagnosed with a brain tumor, but there have been so many people in the neighborhood that have died of these cancers. Michael used to take the dogs for walks up there by the tower and I wonder if it might have been that. Before this he was a picture of health.”

The Dudley Council has been criticized for not disclosing details about the equipment in use. A spokesman for the council points out that there is no legal requirement to keep or disclose information on masts or other structures. The spokesman reported that the equipment is working properly and is being maintained correctly.
Dudley South MP Ian Pearson says the mast and water tower should be torn down and the area turned into public space. “I understand the very real concerns of local residents.”
The Health Protection Agency promised to work with local doctors to identify any worrying health trends.

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