Distributed Antennae Systems Do Not Belong Near Schools or Homes

As you may remember, I stood here two weeks ago to express my concerns regarding the potential deployment and installation of DAS antennas throughout Scarsdale. Wendi Li, another Scarsdale resident, also expressed her concerns about DAS antennas. Why? Because DAS antennas are dangerous devices that should not be placed near schools or residences. Period. I’ll tell you why. But for now, let me begin with a short anecdote.

I contacted Mayor Hochvert three times last week to schedule a meeting with him, myself, and a wireless radiation expert, Patricia Wood, Founder and Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education. The intent of the meeting was to help educate our Mayor about the biological hazards associated with chronic, low-level exposure to wireless radiation before taking a meeting with any telecommunications firm looking to install DAS antennas in our community, not after.

Long story short, he refused to meet with us…three times. Our Mayor said there are conflicting opinions about wireless radiation and that he’s knowledgeable about the issue because when he was in the workforce he was in contact with some FCC scientists. Unfortunately, Dan’s remarks do little to comfort me. First, these two 3-inch digests of recent, peer-reviewed, scientific studies, studies conducted by people that don’t have a financial stake in the wireless industry, contain indisputable science illustrating a correlation between wireless radiation exposure and adverse health impacts.

Secondly, the FCC is a captured agency, an agency that has been run by telecom industry executives over the past three administrations. With all due respect, I have no confidence that the FCC is protecting public health the way they should be. I should also note that when the FCC established their now outdated wireless radiation standards and recommendations, they did not take into consideration any of the robust, growing of body of science that dispels their position that there are only thermal effects from wireless exposure. Certainly, the world’s leading wireless radiation researchers, like the Head of Reproductive Sciences at Yale Medical School, Hugh Taylor, the Director and Principal Investigator at the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley, Joel Moskowitz, Dr. Martha Herbert at Harvard University, Dr. Devra Davis, a leading toxicologist, and the World Health Organization, would share my sentiment towards the FCC. So, to drive this point home, our Mayor’s argument that he knows enough about wireless because he’s spoken to FCC insiders has no teeth.

Third, Mayor Hochvert has repeatedly reminded me in public and in emails that the installation of DAS antennas is a federally pre-empted area. Yes, I know that. What I have repeatedly said in response is that the Village cannot regulate the placement of these antennas, but does have the legal authority to offer suggestions about the placement of antennas. If the contracting company is unreceptive to our requests to keep these dangerous systems away from schools and residences, then we have every right to either accept or decline the contract. However, it is essential that the Village be fully educated about the health implications associated with chronic wireless exposure before meeting with any telecommunications firm so that our representatives can go to the table with a set of comprehensive, health-based guidelines to ensure the prioritization of residents’ biological safety. Again, the company can either be receptive to our needs or lose the business. It’s not complicated and it’s completely legal.

To conclude, DAS antennas would emit more localized, amplified concentrations of wireless, involuntary exposing thousands of residents to a 2B carcinogen. I implore our Mayor and our Board of Trustees to take this DAS antenna issue very seriously. We are talking about malignant brain tumors, behavioral disorders, DNA damage. We are talking about our kids, our families. We have the opportunity to be proactive, operate via the precautionary principle, get educated, and safeguard the health and wellbeing of our residents. This is not a small issue, and I think the size of these science digests are a testament to that.

So I must ask you, Mayor Hochvert, why have you refused three times to meet with a wireless expert and myself about installing this potentially harmful technology all over town before meeting with Crown Castle?

Zoe Berg is a Fox Meadow resident and recent Barnard College graduate.