To the editor:

Locating a 115 foot cell tower at the top of Alma Street in Pittsfield is a mistake.

The adverse impacts to nearby residents can include:

  • Increased health issues due to Radio Frequency (RF) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR); since the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the non ionizing RF EMR potentially carcinogenic and in need of more research. (For detailed information on electrical impacts on the human body; reference: the book ” The Body Electric” by Robert O. Becker M.D. and Gary Seldes.
  • Decreased property values due to undesirability of living near a potentially carcinogenic source of RF EMR.
  • Periodic exposure to excessive noise from the cell towers diesel power generator, when tested/maintained or use during power outages.

I’m concerned with these impacts because my daughter and her family live on Alma Street.

As an experienced electrical engineer I know the military requires its electronics systems to be protected from EMR by detailed design/specification /test and significant safety margins to insure its reliable operation. This military rigor appears to be lacking RF EMR generated by cell towers based on the WHO findings, that it is potentially carcinogenic and in need of more research . Until that research is completed ,the largest possible safety margins should be required to minimize risk to residents living near the cell tower.

The bottom line is that the further away you are from a cell tower the less RF EMR you receive, since intensity decreases by the inverse square of separation distance. For this reason Pittsfield should require this cell tower to be built as far away from residential areas as possible.

Phil Gilardi,

Lenox

Published in the Berkshire Eagle
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/letter-cell-tower-wrong-for-residential-area,604732