In These New Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

next-up.org

7th december, 2008

The minister André Antoine is concerned 

about the health of people living near GSM 

phone masts.   

 

 

NAMUR-At present there are more than 10,400,000 

mobile phones in use in Belgium. The controversy 

over the risks to public health from the GSM 

network and GSM masts is getting more intense.  

 

 

The Walloon minister of Town Planning, André 

Antoine, intends to provide better protection for the 

Walloons.  

 

“We can no longer bury our heads in the 

sand,” he insists. “The fields of radio frequency   The minister André Antoine (BELGA) 

created by mobile phones and GSM masts are a real cause for concern. 

 

 

As an elected politician, it is my duty to take my responsibilities seriously.  

 

 

I have therefore decided to forbid the further development of new GSM phone 

masts. It’s a matter of public health.”  

 

 

Specifically this means that the minister will not permit any more GSM phone masts 

to be installed in the Walloon Region except in special circumstances.  

 

 

He declares: “The operators will no longer be allowed to install them unless they 

are integrated into their surroundings and unless they respect scrupulously the 

permitted limit of 3V/m.”  

 

 

In addition to these two new restraints, André Antoine intends to do even more to 

protect nearby inhabitants. “An enquiry on the installation of a new phone mast,” 

he warns, “will have to last a month, and the operators will be obliged to 

provide local people with a summary of the technical and health issues in 

terms they can understand.   

 

 

“It is essential,” he continued, “that everyone living nearby realises what a GSM 

phone mast represents. 

Finally, I am currently considering the possibility of increasing the radius of 

notification of people living nearby. At the moment this is 50 meters, which is not 

enough. I intend to have it increased to 100 or even 200 meters. I consider it my 

duty to take everyone’s health into consideration.”  

The assessment of the CDH minister is confirmed by two recent decisions: “First of 

all, the Health Council [Conseil Supérieur de la Santé] issued a demand that the 

permitted limit be reduced to 3 volts/metre. And then there was the discussion we 

had with the Inter-environment Agency on 8 October. On this occasion, there was 

a large consensus for reducing the limit to this level.”  

Vincent Lievin