 |
Scientist's
radiation fears of North Yorks base
Inside Out, BBC ONE (North East & Cumbria), Monday 2 June, 7.30pm
A
senior United States Air Force scientist has told the BBC he would
not buy a house near Britain's biggest radar base because he fears
its radiation could pose a serious health risk.
The
role of RAF Fylingdales on the North York Moors is set to be expanded
under plans for President Bush's new "Star Wars" missile
defence system.
But
BBC ONE's Inside Out programme for North East & Cumbria will
tonight reveal that an almost identical base on Cape Cod in the
USA is at the centre of a $5m investigation into an unexplained
cluster of rare cancers in the local community.
In
an exclusive interview with Inside Out reporter Sophie Hull, serving
USAF researcher Dr Richard Albanese says he fears Phased Array Radiation
from radars may have carcinogenic properties that science has yet
to understand.
Dr
Albanese: "If I were coming into this area (Cape Cod) to purchase
a new house, I would live behind the radar."
Sophie
Hull: "Why?"
Dr
Albanese: "I am concerned about the radiation."
Sophie
Hull: "So if you were buying a house on the North York Moors,
which side of the radar would you choose to live on?"
Dr
Albanese : "I'm medically very conservative and I would prefer
to live outside the beam.
"I
think the concerns I have mandate the kind of action that is being
taken - medical study, aggressive urgent medical study taking a
path between alarm and complacency."
What
makes Dr Albanese's claims more disturbing is that he was a member
of the medical team that first identified Agent Orange a
defoliant used during the Vietnam War as the cause of unexplained
cancers in American veterans.
He's
now running the Cape Cod tests, which were ordered after local medical
experts identified raised levels of breast and lung cancer in young
women near the Sagamore base, 70 miles from Boston.
Emissions
from the radar like those at Fylingdales are well
within legal limits but some researchers are now questioning whether
the complex waves of electro-magnetic radiation from Phased Array
bases should be subject to much tighter regulation.
Some
experiments have suggested they can actually damage DNA.
Dr
Albanese told Inside Out: "Technology seems to lead our medical
understanding by somewhere between ten and 20 years.
"With
asbestos there was a 30 to 40 year delay and I think now it is the
wireless systems."
He
compared his concerns to those over X-Rays, asbestos and lead in
fuel in the years leading up to scientific proof they could damage
health.
There
is no evidence of a cancer cluster in the Fylingdales area, but
the Yorkshire Cancer Register confirmed no research has yet been
done in the area.
Emissions
from the base are known to be within existing legal limits.
The
only known effect that emissions from the base have is on local
motorists numerous breakdowns on the busy A171 are due to
interference with car alarms and immobilisers.
But
local campaigner Jackie Fearnley says she is shocked by Inside Out's
revelations from America, which come only months after the MoD reassured
local people that the British base was safe.
Jackie,
who lives in Goathland, says: "My husband and I have talked
seriously about whether we go on living in such a place.
"We've
see the way America decides policy purely to suit themselves and
we are not necessarily going to be in very much control or given
much information so we really must ask: is this the right thing
for us?"
Cape
Cod campaigner Richard Judge warned people in Goathland: "I
would make sure the people in Britain understand they've been given
a system that may not be safe."
Notes
to Editors
BBC
ONE's Inside Out must be credited if any extracts from the programme
are used.
Also
on this week's programme - Art
connoisseur faces his critics in the north
Inside
Out investigates the disappearance of actor Leslie Howard - BBC
ONE West (30.05.03)
Morris
seeks out weird and wonderful - BBC ONE North West (30.05.03)
All the
BBC's digital services are now available on Freeview,
the new free-to-view digital terrestrial television service, as well
as on satellite and cable.
Freeview
offers the BBC's eight television channels, interactive services
from BBCi, as well as 11 BBC radio networks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
