Teachers fear health hazards of phone masts

Children's health and security could be threatened by the growing number of mobile telephone aerials being sited on school buildings, a teaching union is warning.

The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) is preparing to issue guidance to all schools advising them not to agree to install the aerial masts amid concern over their safety.

Research into the effects of the electromagnetic fields emitted by the masts has failed to disprove claims that exposure to the fields can cause cancer. The four mobile phone companies say they are operating within nationally set safety limits and deny any threat to health.

The union also fears that the aerials present a security risk, since schools are obliged to allow engineers on site for servicing and repairs.

Mobile phone operators anxious to spread their networks across the country offer schools as much as pounds 4,000 a year in return for siting the masts on their roofs or in their grounds.

More than 200 schools and further-education colleges have so far signed mast contracts, some agreeing to keep them for 12 years. However, at least one school is engaged in a legal battle after deciding to back out of a contract on safety grounds.

The NASUWT, which has put its case to the Health and Safety Executive, is to urge schools not to sign aerial contracts until research proves they are safe.

Simon Whitney, NASUWT county secretary in Norfolk, said British research had given the masts a clean bill of health but studies in the United States had raised questions. He said: "If there is even the slightest risk of cancer then these aerials should be kept well away from children."

The phone operators deny the masts are unsafe, citing an investigation by the National Radiological Protection Board which concluded that "there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic fields cause cancer". However, the NRPB and a European Commission study last year both said existing research was inadequate to allow firm conclusions.

A spokesman for Cellnet, which has 1,700 aerials countrywide including around 25 on schools, said: "There is no proven link between masts and any health effects whatsoever." He dismissed concerns over security, saying engineers entered schools only by appointment and always carried identification.

Vodafone, the largest operator which has 130 masts on schools, and Orange also dismissed health concerns. One2One, the smallest operator, said it put masts on school buildings only as a last resort.