Cable & Wireless has reaffirmed that all its mobile masts on the Isle of Man are operated within safe parameters.

Concerns have recently been raised about the level of emissions from the mast at the Onchan Health Centre, which is shared by Cable & Wireless and Manx Telecom. 

There is no scientific evidence that mobile masts adversely affect human health when operated within the parameters set out by the International Committee on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), which is the recognised global authority. All Cable & Wireless' masts on the island are operated at only one 25,000^th of that level. 

Simon Last-Sutton, Commercial Director for Cable & Wireless in the Isle of Man said:

"Cable & Wireless takes public health concerns very seriously which is why we welcomed OFCOM's findings last month that independently confirmed the results of our own ongoing testing procedures."

The Office for Communications (OFCOM) is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK. Its audit measured the levels of radiation from the masts at the Health Centre and concluded that the highest level of exposure was only 1/25113 of the ICNIRP maximum guideline reference level for public exposure. The OFCOM audit mirrored the results of tests undertaken by Cable & Wireless some weeks previously. The operator had proactively flown in a team of experts to test the site in order to put the people of Onchan at ease.

As a further commitment to public safety, Cable & Wireless also fully complies with the recommendations of the Stewart report on mobile health. In 1999, the British government commissioned a group of independent scientists to look into any health threat from mobile phones. In May 2000 the Stewart Report published its findings that there was no evidence of adverse health effects caused by radio wave radiation. It did though make a number of best practice recommendations for operators. In 2004 the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation supported the Stewart report's findings.

The most recent major study about the safety issues around phone masts was completed earlier this year by a group of independent scientists at the University of Essex. They tested 44 people who had previously reported symptoms or sensitivity to mobile phone technology, and 114 people who had not reported any health effects. The results showed that the sensitive group reported more symptoms and greater severity of symptoms, as well as higher skin conductance (which is a good measure of physiological response to environmental stressors), regardless of whether the 3G signal was on or off. Hence, the range of symptoms and physiological response did not appear to be related to the presence of either GSM or 3G signals.

When publishing that report Principal investigator Professor Elaine Fox explained:

"It is clear that sensitive individuals are suffering real symptoms and often have a poor quality of life. It is now important to determine what other factors could be causing these symptoms, so appropriate research studies and treatment strategies can be developed."

Mr Last-Sutton added,

"All of our sites in the Isle of Man have been subject to the proper planning process defined by the local government. We do feel a duty of care to both the public and our own engineers who maintain these mast sites. However, there is no scientific evidence that mobile masts adversely affect health when operated by a responsible operator like Cable & Wireless."