December 18th, 2012
Rafael Delgado, Veracruz, México
Attention:
Lorenzo de
Jesús Teodoro
Ejido
Commissary of “San Juan del Rio”
Armando Joel
Trinidad Quirino
Municipal President of Rafael Delgado,
Veracruz
Javier Duarte de Ochoa
Governor
of the state of Veracruz-Llave
We, the undersigned doctors, nurses and other health care professionals
would like to express our profound worry about the risk to the health of the
inhabitants of the ejido San Juan del Rio, located in the municipality of
Rafael Delgado, Veracruz, Mexico, due to the installation and possible
activation of a cell phone antenna in ejido territory by the company MATC
Digital S. de R.L. De C.V., for the benefit of the company TELCEL of the CARSO
group. The main shareholder and director of TELCEL is Carlos Slim Helú. Since
2010, this company has tried to install this antenna in the middle of ejido
lands, an area inhabited by women, men and children, rich in flora and fauna
and used for the planting and harvesting of agricultural products by farmers of
predominantly indigenous background. Since 2010, those affected by the antenna
have openly expressed their opposition to its presence and activation on their
land mainly due to the side effects of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by
cell phone antennas. The antenna has in fact been voted against by the ejido
members in official assembly.
As health care professionals we would like to bring to your attention
that the concern of the farmers with respect to the impacts of the antenna on their
health is indeed well-founded and legitimate. Although international rules and
standards with respect to radiation tend to focus solely on its thermal
effects, assuming a zero risk in the case of radiation which does not produce
thermal energy, this presumption is not only adventured but also erroneous
given that evidence presented in international studies has shown negative
clinical and biochemical effects caused by non-ionizing radiation which does
not produce thermal energy.
To
date, seven epidemiological studies have been carried out in populations living
in proximity to cell phone antennas. One German study
demonstrated a threefold risk of developing cancer in the population living
within a radius of 400 meters of a cell phone antenna compared to the
population living outside that radius. Besides the augmented incidence of cancer, the phenomenon of electromagnetic hypersensitivity
(EHS) has also been shown in people continually exposed to cell phone antennas.
Some of the symptoms expressed by individuals with EHS included: weakness,
fatigue, headache, problems with concentration and memory, depression,
irritability, dermatological problems, dizziness and cardiovascular effects.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined EHS as “a phenomenon in which
individuals demonstrate adverse health effects during the use of or proximity
to devices which emit magnetic or electromagnetic fields. Whatever the cause of
EHS, it is a real phenomenon which sometimes results in a debilitating problem
for the persons affected. The exposition of individuals who develop EHS is
often quite below the internationally accepted standards”.
The biochemical and structural effects which have been shown as a consequence
of this radiation include: DNA breaks, altered DNA reproduction, increased
permeability of the blood-brain barrier, alterations in the flow of calcium and
changes in enzymatic activity.
Based in the current established evidence of adverse effects and other
areas of concern which require greater study, various international
organizations have denounced the establishment of telephone antennas in
proximity to human populations. One of these organizations, the International
Association of Firefighters (IAFF), emitted a declaration in
2004 against the use of fire stations as bases for antennas and cell phone
towers due to the results of a study which showed abnormal cerebral activity in
firefighters in California who worked in a fire station with an antenna on its
roof during five years. Also, the firefighters presented confusion, amnesia,
migraines, insomnia, infertility, depression, tremor and vertigo. The changes
in cerebral activity were demonstrated in SPECT studies and could not be
explained by exposition to other chemical substances.
In cities such as Vancouver, Los Angeles and Palm Beach, by-laws have
been established to prevent the location of cell phone antennas in proximity to
schools due to the concern of greater adverse effects in children. In addition,
in 2002, over 3000 physicians signed the Freiburger Appeal,
denouncing the adverse effects of cell phone antennas based on observations of
their patients. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also
informed that cell phone towers are “possibly carcinogenic” in a communiqué
from 2011. The WHO has recommended that these towers should not be installed
within a 500 meter radius of areas where people live.
At the national level, the establishment of the cell phone antenna in
San Juan del Rio territory represents a clear violation of Article 4 of the
Carta Magna, which declares that all people have the right to health and an
adequate environment for their well-being and development. In complete
agreement with the definition of health established by the WHO, (“the state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not only the absence of
disease”) we support the demands of the inhabitants of San Juan del Rio,
Veracruz, and their rejection of the installation and activation of the cell
phone antenna by the companies MATC Digital and TELCEL given the very real
health risk that the antenna represents for the inhabitants of the area. Along
with them, we demand that the municipal authorities of Rafael Delgado, the
state and federal governments comply with the stipulations of the Mexican
constitution and international norms in the areas of health and indigenous
rights and as a result, that they respond favorably to the demands of the
affected.
Sincerely,
