Page 12 - link magazine

12 swindonlink.com • February 2010

D & L Blinds Council backed wi-fi service triggers health concerns
Rollers • Verticals • Venetians – how worried should we be?
Pleated Blinds • VELUX
®
Conservatory Blinds Swindon residents have expressed concerns over the health effects of electromagnetic field radiation (EMF)
from the proposal by Digital City UK Ltd. under the brand name Signal to provide a wireless internet
Made-to-Measure Curtains service across the town - with a £450,000 investment by Swindon Borough Council, writes Juliet Platt.
Quality blinds at The system went live in High- safety checks.” cies (high ultra violet), x-rays and
affordable prices worth in December and Digital Digital City says that their wi-fi gamma rays can break chemical
Fast and reliable service City hopes to make wi-fi available network adheres quite properly to bonds, damaging the material of
to the rest of the town in the first Health Protection Agency (HPA) cells in the body (ionisation). RF
All blinds fitted free half of the year but Dr Alex Parfitt standards and internationally signals are non-ionising, causing
Choose from a wide range from Haydon Wick has written to accepted guidelines. Its website no known damage to the body’s
of fabrics from the comfort Swindon Council to express his says, “based on current knowledge, cell structures.”
of your own home worries about the health impacts radio frequency exposures from wi- What is perhaps most worrying
contact paul on 01793 619428 of the 1,400 wi-fi transmitters to fi are likely to be lower than those here is the speed with which the
www.dandlblinds.co.uk be mounted on lamposts across from mobile phones.” wi-fi rollout has taken effect, with-
FREE qUotEs no oBLigAtion the town.
“As a Swindon resident with
two children, I have concerns over
Tailor-made the health implications” he said.
“Have the health implications of
by SueLynn high power broad area coverage
systems, such as that proposed for
Curtains Swindon, been investigated and
Pelmets published for peer review?”
“If not, will a review of the health
Roman blinds impacts be carried out indepen-
Swags & tails dently of the council and Digital
Cushion covers City before subjecting any residents
to the proposed system?”
Fitting service available Basil Jones, founder of Swindon
No job too small based charity Stop Harming Our Pupils from Highworth Warnford School with Caroline Spelman shadow secretary
Children (SHOC) has expressed
For further information call vehement concern about the effects for communities and local government at the Signal launch in December
Sue: 01793 870451 or of EMF radiation from wi-fi. “I The debate about the safety of out either public consultation nor
Lynn: on 01793 330595 simply cannot accept that it is wise mobile phones has raged for years. the merest attempt to educate the
to install a system with no proper In 2000 the Stewart enquiry advised public on the safety of the system,
a ‘precautionary approach’ to using other than to refer consumers to
the Health Protection Agency’s
mobile phones including prohibit-
CUTTING ZONE ing children under the age of 8 directives.
The World Health Organisation
from using them, and ensuring a
phone is not held close to the head web-site states, “experience shows
U NI S E X H A I R S A LON
during use. Similarly, government that education programmes as well
13 Rodbourne Rd, Swindon guidelines for the use of wireless as effective communications and
laptops state that children should involvement of the public before
For a new look not use them on their knees. installing RF sources can enhance
“This is because the power of the confidence and acceptability.”
in 2010 give us field emitted by a wireless device As far as usability is concerned,
is greater at close quarters, but de- some Taw Hill residents will wel-
a call on creases rapidly over distance,” says come Signal wi-fi. For years they
Swindon-based independent com- suffered poor broadband service
01793 490947 puter consultant Andy Eastham, a because they were over three
graduate in electronic engineering miles from the Blunsdon telephone
from Cambridge University. “The exchange until a new exchange
Late night opening power in the middle of the street opened in Haydon End in 2008.
on Thursdays 30 metres away from a wi-fi base David Parkinson is keen to know
station is 900 times weaker than at 1 more about Signal. “I get a useable
metre. In the case of mobile phones, download speed from BT - about
Does your existing agent have a the field experienced when the 2Mb/s - downhill with the wind
Landlords!! laid back attitude? Why not try us? phone is 1 metre away from you is behind it.
10 ,000 times less than when it’s 1cm “What is really annoying is that
We are an independent family owned and run away from your ear. It is important BT made an arbitrary decision to
estate agency offering over 40 years of combined to understand this feature of EMF connect virtually everybody in Taw
property experience in Wootton Bassett, Purton,
Lyneham, Swindon and surrounding villages. when considering the relative risks Hill estate to the new exchange at
of new wi-fi transmitters compared Haydon End, leaving just a few
• Only 10% pcm for our Full Property Management
service. with your existing mobile phone.” houses still connected to Blunsdon.
In terms of biological risks, it I’ve been right to the top of BT but
• Competitive one off fee for our Introduction Only
service. is also important to distinguish it’s too hard to provide a few of
• Further discounts on multiple properties & between ionising and non-ionising us with a faster service - so we’re
recommendations. radiation. The Mobile Operators’ stuck with it.
• Advertising through the web & local publications Association website states “RF is “I hope Signal can do better than
• No costs until a tenant has been housed part of the electro-magnetic spec- 2Mb/s.”
• 7 days a week viewings trum as are television emissions, • BT has announced that the
light, x-rays and gamma rays, Toothill telephone exchange is to
01793 855222 but they operate at much lower be upgraded to provide super-fast
www.alanhawkins.co.uk
frequencies. At the higher frequen- fibre-based broadband services.

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