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This tree look burned but its not, according to Tracey-lee this is caused by a cellphone tower's radiation slowly causes this on trees and plants but the damage might be worse on people once all the scientific proof is done. Picture:Paballo Thekiso
A Joburg woman believes the imminent roll-out of 4G cellular telephony could have massive health implications for anyone in the path of the signal.
The government disagrees. So does cellphone giant MTN, which is doing 4G/LTE testing in the north of Joburg.
Tracey-Lee Dorny has 60 pine trees in her garden. They have all been burnt and blackened – in the last five months. Her neighbours also report blackened trees.
“I first noticed these big scorch marks on my pines, and then some of the eucalyptus and the fir trees around Fourways,” says Dorny, chairman of the Electromagnetic Research Foundation of SA, from her Craigavon home. “It’s like very focused beams are coming through here and hitting some of the trees and plants. The signals are fairly high-powered and they’re transmitting long distances… The resin just bursts open.”
4G is the fourth generation of wireless communication standards, converging computers and cellphones wirelessly in an era of ultra-fast broadband internet access.
Dorny suspects the sudden firestorm in her garden is MTN’s testing of its new technology in her area, which she believes corresponds with reports of illnesses in Fourways, Dainfern, Sunninghill and further afield.
The trees are an indicator of what is to come, she believes. “We’re receiving more reports of headaches, blurry vision, tinnitus and nausea and problems with breathing and hair loss in the area. Children are experiencing severe shooting pains in their muscles and joints.”
Last year she won an epic battle against iBurst when it removed a wi-fi mast it had erected 30m from her bedroom window, which had caused her family to fall ill. She has since been diagnosed as electrosensitive, becoming physically ill when exposed to electromagnetic radiation.
This month Dorny wrote to the Ministers of Communication, Health, Water and Environmental Affairs about her foundation’s concerns. She told them the MTN testing was the cusp of the next technological revolution with digital TV being next.
“The number of service providers in South Africa wanting to roll out the service, if it is allowed, will result in a bigger impact on health and environment and the deployment of even more towers.”
Israel, she said, had forbidden a 4G/LTE roll-out until a proper study was done but in SA the government had not acted on an industry that was self-regulating, unmonitored and out of control. “We want an investigation to find out who is doing what and who is testing… but Icasa have told us that once people are licensed, they have no idea what they roll out, when and where and how.”
This week Amanda Britz of the Department of Environmental Affairs wrote that the Department of Health was “satisfied that, based on the current research and guidelines, which are endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the health of the general public is not being compromised (by) their exposure to the microwave emissions of cellular base stations”.
However, says Dorny, there are areas in Joburg where the levels are high and uncontrolled.
“But the companies will tell you they’re perfectly safe, but nobody is monitoring… Our levels compared with what other countries define as safe levels are two totally different things. It just takes that one extra signal, frequency, or a WiMax, then you find a lot of people start to get ill. They get headaches and rashes, but the minute they switch it off, or remove it from their office, their symptoms go away.”
Last year the WHO revealed that the International Agency for Research on Cancer had declared that the electromagnetic fields produced by cellphones are possibly cancer-causing.
Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN chief technology officer, disputes the claims. “LTE is a standard that is part of the evolution of 3G, which incorporates significantly increased data rates and better performance to enhance the mobile broadband experience.”
MTN, he says, ensures that everything from 2G to 3G and 4G/LTE adheres to all world safety benchmarks. “There’s no evidence to convince experts that exposure below the guidelines set carries any health risks, for adults or children.”
The WHO found no evidence that “the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks” cause adverse health effects, he says. - Saturday Star
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mark, wrote
I live near an MTN DATACENTRE. Since July 2011, the time MTN started to test 4GLTE, I have been hearing an extremely high-pitched sound at all times of the day and night. After months and months of investigation with Cape Town City Council Sound Engineers reviewing all possible sources we have arrived at the conclusion that the noise can only be Electro Magnetic Frequency Radiation which is produced Cell phones use to transmitting DATA in the Microwave frequency range. The Health implications, as experienced by my family include disturb sleep and the associated stress and anxiety, tinnitus, flu like symptoms, headaches and nausea. 4GLTE is extremely HAZARDOUS to PUBLIC HEALTH. STOP IT NOW. PLEASE.
Oscar, wrote
I kinda don't blame her. Whether she's right or not for these trees, I wouldn't be so happy if some big money company planted a massive wi-fi mast 30m from my bedroom window, and just said, you'r fine, don't you worry about the thing. Outdoor EMF radiation sources that are being distributed everywhere without any knowledge or care about their long term effects are primary reason why I decided to use EMF radiation protection ( http:www.emfprotectionstore.com ) besides reduction of exposure to EMF radiation I can organize in my own home. If she's wrong about scorched trees, than ok, she's wrong, but someone should investigate what really happened. If it's not radiation, than great, even better for the company, they can say out loud with certainty to everyone that "it's fine, you're ok".
Anonymous, wrote
"It’s like very focused beams are coming through here and hitting some of the trees and plants" I suggest Tracey-Lee investigates these very focused beams - by nature of that definition it cannot be cellular. I would also challenge The Star to abandon this kind of senstationalism and investigate stories properly before running them. This is not journalism.
Anonymous, wrote
Dorny is entitled to her opinion, along with everyone else, however I wonder if she extends her views to all forms of RF? Does she own and use a microwave oven, which operates in the same frequency as WiFi? Does she have an electronic garage door? Does she use a cell phone? Radio? TV? If yes to any of these, then her anger is somewhat hyporcritical.
Anonymous, wrote
tbone, wrote
Funny that nobody is asking the question: What is blackening those trees? If its not the LTE, what is it? Are we not investigating because it might raise another inconvenience we would not like to deal with. Or is connection to the inter-web more important than our heath? For the comments that think this women is dotty... please come forward and explain the condition of the trees...
Debbie, wrote
@ Robert For one thing, radiation from the sun is widely accepted to be a leading cause of skin cancer. Second, the sun was here first. Life evolved based on the sun. Third, cellphone radiation is digitally pulsed, unlike that from the sun. Fourth, ever heard of the ozone layer and the ionosphere, and how they protect us from the sun's UV radiationsolar wind? Fifth, and most importantly, it's not the wattagepower output of communications devices and towers that is the major problem, it is the frequencies and how the data on those frequencies is transmitted.
Debbie, wrote
@Tonto A proper spectrum analyser costs in the region of R150k-millions). When Tracy was up against the illegal iBurst mast, iBurst paid a third party to come and do an analysis of the radiation at her house. The results were that the radiation levels were ten thousand times lower than the ICNIRP “standard” that industry likes to quote (though remember, this “standard” is not really an exposure guideline as it applies only to short-term exposures based on 6 minutes, not long-term exposures as encountered by people living next to communications towers. Also note that biological effects occur at as low as one millionth of ICNIRP). When Tracey privately hired the exact same company to come do a repeat measurement without iBurst's fore-knowledge, surprise surprise the results showed a radiation reading ten thousand times HIGHER than the previous, Iburst-sponsored reading. Interesting isn't it? And we are told to “trust” this industry to self-regulate??
Anonymous, wrote
Tracey, I live perhaps 200m from your home. I am well. My family is well. My neighbours and their families are well. Except for the daily frustration we have with pitiful 3G communication, we are all doing just fine. Our trees too are healthy and happy, as are out pets. We are, however, desperate for improved 3G4Gwifi services in the Craigavon area. May I suggest you move to a remote farm where there are no communication devices, electrical supply lines or microwave ovens that could harm you, your family or your trees.
Anonymous, wrote
I can't believe how naive some of you guys are. Anyone who works for Mtn, Cell C or Vodacom will tell you this is true. I work for vodacom and this was included in our training, aswell as how the most harmful towers are diguised and hidden in plain sight. 90% of people don't know what these towers look like, i never knew either even though i would walk past them quite often...But what can you do? this is big business and money talks.
Robert , wrote
@Debbie: if all this "harmful" wireless radiation is so badly affecting people and living beings, please explain to me how it is that life has existed 8.5 light minutes away from a fusion bomb 110 times larger than the earth itself for billions of years? Does the electromagnetic radiation that strikes the earth at an intensity of 1300 watts per square metre not worry you?? Given this woman's campaign against wireless radiation that is only in the sub-milliwatt range, you should be terrified...
Peter, wrote
Debbie, wrote
We all want better communications. But providing it via harmful wireless radiation is not the way to go. Give us fixed line communications that don't involve sending signals through trees and humans and other living beings. This is possible! Anyone who imagines that Tracey Lee Dorny is profitting from speaking the truth about wireless radiation needs to have their head checked. Equally ridiculous are claims that she is some kind of agent for less successful operators. Holding unpopular opinions are not socially nor financially profitable I assure you. Ridicule is always the price paid for being ahead of your time. (Oh, and for those of you who don't know, commenter 'electrical engineer' is Jannie van Zyl, former iburst CEO who faced off against Tracey and lost both his mast and his job in the process. He is on a crusade to discredit Dorny. While he was iBurst CEO he lied about turning off the tower, and, bolstered by the comments from an online forum crew that he plies and buys with alcohol and freebies, he believes that his lies have disproved her assertions that wireless radiation causes health problems. Note that he has refused to provide any evidence that he turned the tower off as he claimed.)
Robert, wrote
MTN is testing LTE using spectrum in the 1800MHz band, so here is a primer: They have been using this band for other technologies (like good old GSM) for the last 15 years or so. The power level out of a base station is typically about 40 to 47 dBm (about 10 to 20 watts) at the antenna. The equipment is actually not capable of more than this. So the question of “regulation” that this woman poses is moot. By the time this signal has traveled just 10m the power level will be about 0.1 watts. Now I challenge you, try and scorch a tree using something 150 times less powerful than an energy saving bulb. That is 10 times less than the power that leaks out of the door of your microwave oven. Regardless of the type of technology used, electromagnetic radiation is electromagnetic radiation, if 1800MHz as used in LTE is scorching pine trees it would have been doing this for the last 15 years while we were all happily using it for GSM. In short, if this was real, there would be burnt trees all over the country around every single GSM and 3G tower.
Rachell Lass, wrote
What a lot of whiney noise from a lady who has nothing better to do than look for radio masts to shut down. The RF levels from cell phone towers is in the region of a hand full of watts. There have been transmitters in and around Joburg pumping out kilowatts of energy for years. Why doesn't anyone try and shut down the SABC towers in Brixton ? Or any of the multitude of repeaters on top of buildings and high sites ? Because no-one WANTS them shutdown. These “whiners” are being paid by opposing companies, all bent on getting a slice of the lucrative cell market.
William, wrote
I doubt the actual radiation will have any effect on anyone's health, but the lousy, expensive wireless bandwidth makes me sick.
Anonymous, wrote
This woman will do well in New Zealand, she has the typical anti-progress 19th centuary mentality stance based on fiction they find on the Web and propagate as facts.
Matthew, wrote
Just a load of rubbish. If the towers were burning trees then everyone around them would be dead. “We’re receiving more reports of headaches, blurry vision, tinnitus and nausea and problems with breathing and hair loss in the area. Children are experiencing severe shooting pains in their muscles and joints.” Rubbish. Lived right by a cellphone tower with my family. Went to a school with one right on the campus. And I have a wi-fi router in my room switched on 247. Neither me nor anybody around me has had any ill effects from these. These remind of the loons you see on UFO documentaries.
FreeGuy, wrote
An Electronic Engineer, wrote
To the Editor : Kindly refrain from publishing articles involving Tracey-Lee Dorny and wireless service providers. She has been on an unfounded and unsubstantiated crusade with these service providers for some time. Her reputation with regards to these matters is clearly biased. A simple Google search of the lady in question will show to the even casual observer, that evidence represented by her in these matters cannot be trusted. Articles like these do not present scientific consensus and is neither informative, nor useful.
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