Editorial: More research needed

Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 | 7:01 a.m.

Cell towers are spreading across the valley like gigantic dandelions and, for those who question the potential of ill effects from the towers' emissions, they are about as popular.

A story by the Las Vegas Sun on Thursday says that cell towers, which numbered 913 nationally in 1985, will number more than 195,600 by the end of the year. Clark County has 725 of them, perched in parks, schoolyards and other public places. Some are even disguised as palm trees or have been placed inside church steeples.

Although the improved cell phone service and reliability that the towers create are welcome, an increasing number of residents say the towers themselves - and their radio frequency emissions - are not.

A cell tower fashioned to look like a high-tech palm tree or flagpole is still unsightly in a residential area, critics told Sun reporter Tony Cook. Some residents also fear that there hasn't been enough research on how much energy is being emitted and whether it could have adverse health effects.

The heat from standing directly in front of a cell antenna is enough to warm human molecules to dangerous levels, the Sun reports. But the strength of emissions and the thermal effects decrease significantly with distance. Critics wonder, however, whether other harmful effects exist, even at distances where the heat is absent.

One University of Wisconsin radiation biologist told the Sun "there is no evidence" that cell towers threaten residents' health. The World Health Organization also says there is no information attesting to such risks, the Sun reports.

But the absence of evidence doesn't mean the absence of ill effects. Other researchers told the Sun that more study is needed.

Demands for more and better cell service are constant, and government can't simply put a moratorium on new towers. But government can initiate comprehensive and objective scientific research to determine how much risk is actually posed by cell towers and devise ways to mitigate any risks that are found to exist.