OVER 60 people crammed themselves into Penally Village Hall last night to hear a range of concerns related to the proposed siting of a TETRA Mast on the ridgeway near the village.

The meeting centred around a presentation by community councillor Ann Dasson and a fellow Penally resident. The two women relayed various pieces of information that a frantic week of late night research had turned up to a hushed hall.

The TETRA mast planned for Penally forms part of the £2.9 billion police communication system that is eventually to be used by all the emergency services.

“We have absolutely no argument with the police,” said Mrs Dasson. “In fact, if anything, we are concerned for the health of police officers who use these things. There is no real reason why we have to have TETRA. In France they use TETRAPOL which has different and lower radiation levels and cost about 10% of the TETRA system here.”

Heading up the list of concerns was the possible effects of a TETRA mast on health. The TETRA communication system uses microwave radiation as opposed to radio-waves.

The meeting heard extensive quotes from the leaked Trower Report, “TETRA: A Confidential Report”, prepared for the Police Federation of England and Wales. Dr Trower reveals that for one particular type of microwave transmitter safety levels vary greatly around the world. 

Toronto Health Board : 6 units

Italy : 10 units

Russia : 10 units

Poland : 100 units

US Research Base : 100 units

International Commission : 450 units

The NRPB (National Radiological Protection Board) for Britain : 3,300 units

The difference is explained by the fact that other countries, according to Dr Trower “base their safety limits on possible effects from the electric field, the magnetic field and the heat produced in the body. Our NRPB will only base the safety limit for this country on the heat produced in the body.”

Mixing scientific articles, like the Trower Report, with local rumour, the Penally meeting seemed at times to leave hard headed research behind in favour of unsupported conjecture.

At one point a member of the audience stood up to relay a story about a friend’s son who had suffered nose-bleeds at school “on the day they switched the TETRA Mast on”.

This initial nose-bleed was followed by several others and the pupil now has home tuition. TETRA may have been to blame, it may not, but this piece of news was greeted as “clear proof” that TETRA caused the nose-bleeds and would do the same or worse to pupils at the five schools within a mile and a half of the proposed mast.

But hard proof of harm is even harder to come by and there seems to be no body of evidence that proves things one way or the other. However there are many respected scientists who believe that the frequency used by TETRA coupled with the radiation levels considered safe by the UK government are actively courting problems.

Unlike other radio systems, TETRA uses something called Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and operates with four channels on a single radio carrier wave.

The system operates its TDMA at 17.6 hertz meaning that TETRA operates by sending out pulsed frequencies slightly over 17 times each second, ensuring its signals are classified as microwaves rather than radio waves like previous emergency communication systems.

A frequency of 17.6hz is considered very low and even Government-appointed experts have warned it may prove dangerous.  

Various scientists have claimed such a frequency interferes with normal human brain activity in people either using the receivers or living or working near the transmitting base stations.

It is also thought that frequencies above 16hz can interfere with the human immune system and may lead to an increased likelihood of some forms of cancer.

Ann Dasson

“Health effects of TETRA are not considered to be a material planning consideration, but public concern is a material consideration.”

The planning committee is due to consider the Penally TETRA proposal as early as November 6^th.

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