Photo essay by ERIC SHULTZ
Last Friday at the busy Alameda and St. Francis intersection, drivers waved and emphatically honked their horns to support the dozens of Gonzales School community members holding picket signs in front of the Burger King. Their issue was a health concern but—perhaps surprisingly—not about the food. The owners of the fast food outlet’s site have made a deal with ATT to place a 4-G antenna tower there. And from there, a kid with a baseball and a good arm could break a classroom window. That’s how close the proposed tower site is from the place where thousands of northwest Santa Fe kids will spend a large part of their early lives.
There is broad scientific consensus that electromagnetic radiation (EMR) of the kind these antennas emit causes serious health problems. There are even U.S. government health regulations regarding exposure. But as we have seen regarding the health effects of tobacco, for example, or the human causes of climate disruption, powerful economic interests actively muddy the waters of science to the benefit of corporate shareholders and to the detriment of public health. In the case of EMR, scientists agree that such radiation causes problems. The only disagreement is about whether low levels are safe. As has been the case with all other forms of environmental contamination, more focused research is finding negative effects from levels several orders of magnitude below those currently regulated as safe. And in a classic example of an agency held captive by the industry it regulates, the FCC claims legal power to overrule any local government’s opposition to EMR sources if the decision is based on health concerns. Look for an upcoming article on the scientific, economic, legal and political issues involved in this looming environmental crisis of the information age. The Gonzales School protest is as local as politics gets, but its implications are truly global. Long live the Gonzales School families!
La Jicarita 
Speaking for DOCTORS W.A.R.N.[Wireless And Radiation Network] a group of 95 health and research professionals apprised of the international research showing the dangers of EMF/EMR THANK YOU FOR THIS ARTICLE, as the New Mexican and Channel 7 were both at the picket and refused to cover it. For more info:
First, check the International Association of Fire Fighters 2004 determination to NOT allows cell towers or antennas on any of their facilities due to proven negative health effects on fire fighters. They also provide worldwide research to substantiate this: http://www.iaff.org/hs/Facts/CellTowerFinal.asp , excerpted below:
WHEREAS, the brain is the first organ to be affected by RF radiation and symptoms manifest in a multitude of neurological conditions including migraine headaches, extreme fatigue, disorientation, slowed reaction time, vertigo, vital memory loss and attention deficit amidst life threatening emergencies; and
WHEREAS, most of the firefighters who are experiencing symptoms can attribute the onset to the first week(s) these towers/antennas were activated; and
*Note: A pilot study was conducted in 2004 of six California fire fighters working and sleeping in stations with towers. The study, conducted by Gunnar Heuser, M.D., PhD. of Agoura Hills, CA, focused on neurological symptoms of six fire fighters who had been working for up to five years in stations with cell towers. Those symptoms included slowed reaction time, lack of focus, lack of impulse control, severe headaches, anesthesia-like sleep, sleep deprivation, depression, and tremors….
Second, check the recent peer-reviewed published research showing that 81% of the cancer deaths within a ten year period all occurred to those residing within 3000 feet of a cell tower in an otherwise upscale, elite community: Adilza Dode et all/Bel Horizonte.
Third, for international news articles and research on this issue with local updates, see http://www.WhyFry.org.
Visit our website for information about our successful (so far) protest to protect our schools. http://www.GETtheCELLoutATL.org and “like” us on Faceboook, https://www.facebook.com/Get.the.Cell.Out.ATL