Update on DAS in Scarsdale

For those who are concerned about new DAS antennas in Scarsdale, here's the latest. Following a meeting of the Scarsdale Planning Board on February 11 to discuss changes to the zoning code to accommodate DAS in Scarsdale, residents saw new DAS antennas going up around town.

One was installed on Palmer Avenue and we also heard that several went up on the Post Road. Since these roads are state owned, the telecommunications company did not need Scarsdale's permission to install antennas in the right of way.

We called Village Planner Elizabeth Marrinan on February 18 to inquire about the antennas and she says that the Building Department will spend an inspector to look into who installed the antennas and confirm that they were authorized. This has not been done to date. We also emailed Peter Heimdehl of Crown Castle, the company that applied to install DAS antennas on residential streets in Scarsdale. He did not reply to our request for more information.

However, we did hear from public health advocate Deborah Kopald who is running a
Conference called "Corporate Interference with Science and Health" in NYC on March 13th and 14th. She has convened a group of experts to discuss food, fracking and wireless technologies. According to Kopald, "The wireless piece is the topic nobody knows about or is talking about- but it is a huge public health threat-especially in NYC, which is the least regulated environment in the world."

The panel will include an international expert on cell phone health effects; Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD from Sweden. Hardell's work was the basis for the World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration that radiofrequency radiation a class 2b carcinogen. The other experts speaking on this topic (which includes the transmitter infrastucture such as wi-fi, cell towers and "smart meters") are David O. Carpenter, MD from the Presidential Cancer Panel, Representative Andrea Boland (Maine), Toxicologist Magda Havas, PhD, Deborah Kopald and former US Attorney Whitney North Seymour, Jr.

Kopald says that "New York City is one of the only places in the world with no regulations on cell transmitters where they pop up outside peoples' bedroom windows and on the decks of fancy penthouses and are a major public health problem, along with Wi-Fi ... a concept that I realize is anathema to almost everybody!"

She believes that the risk has not been adequately covered by the media and contends that reputable scientists say that if you look at non-industry sponsored research, radio frequency radiation looks to be a worse health threat than global warming.

Panelists at the meeting include:

• Will Allen, PhD
• Ronald E. Bishop, PhD, CHO
• Representative Andrea Boland, MBA
• Arline L. Bronzaft, PhD
• David Brown, ScD
• David O. Carpenter, MD
• Michael Hansen, PhD
• Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD
• Magda Havas, PhD
• Deborah Kopald, MBA
• Sheldon Krimsky, PhD
• David Mortensen, PhD
• Kathleen Nolan, MD
• Cheryl Rogowski, MacArthur Fellow
• Paul Rubin, MA
• Whitney North Seymour, Jr., Esq.
• Katherine Tucker, PhD

Here's the information about the conference:

Corporate Interference with Science & Health
March 13-14, 2013
9 am - 5 pm
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue (at 38th Street)
New York City

Admission is free, but registration is required.
Register at www.CorporateInterference.org or call (888) 998-0491.

Photo credit Jon Thaler