to carry out a study of radiation emissions from the Island's transmission towers.

Roger Choquette has arrived from Arizona to do a follow-up evaluation of the radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields being released from towers around Bermuda.

He began work on Monday when he met with the Ministry's Transmission Tower's Committee, which is made up of a cross section of the community.

The committee was set up to monitor and advise the minister on hazards to the public caused by emissions from transmitting towers and structures.

Armed with test equipment and an updated inventory of the Island's communications sites, Mr. Choquette will make predictive analyses based on technical data obtained from telecommunications operators, and will make any measurements necessary to detect the presence of harmful RF emissions.

At his meeting with the committee, concerns were raised about the potential for risks near to schools, homes and other public areas, including hotels.

These areas have been marked out for special evaluation and Mr. Choquette, accompanied by an environmental health officer and telecommunications officer, will visit each of them.

After the visit, Mr. Choquette will prepare and submit a report, which will be made available to the public.

Last night Ms Webb said when Mr. Choquette last visited in Bermuda in 1999 to carry out a study he made a number of recommendations.

At the time, action group Community Against Radiation Emissions (CARE), which is now represented on the committees, said Government had promised to have the studies carried out bi-annually.

But they also raised concerns that his recommendations had not been carried out by Government.

However, Ms Webb said yesterday that one of the reasons he was being brought back to Bermuda was for him to check that the recommendations had been followed up on.

She said: "This visit by Mr. Choquette is part of our on-going process to make sure that the towers in Bermuda are safe.

"We have a committee looking at towers and how to make them safe, and we have another committee looking at how we can develop the sharing of towers.

"This is all part of our long-term commitment to safety.

"Mr. Choquette has come back to monitor that people have done what he said they should do last time he was here.'' HEALTH HTH CLUB CLB