Dear Sir, On June 17 and 18, I visited Bermuda to inspect several call phone towers, and to meet with Government officials, the press and community representatives on issues relating to potential hazard to human health from exposure to the radio frequency electromagnetic radiation coming from these towers.

While I was invited as a guest of CARE, a group with specific concerns relating to the Faraway Cottages Tower, I also had the opportunity to visit the towers at South Shore Road at Barnes' Corner, one in Somerset at Scott's Hill Road and the complex of towers near CedarBridge Academy, the National Stadium and the Police Headquarters in Prospect.

I also was informed that there are more than 35 radio frequency towers in Bermuda.

While there remains debate on the degree to which exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields causes harm to human health, there is a significant and growing body of studies of human health which suggest that at least two types of human cancer, leukemia and brain tumours, are elevated in exposed populations.

There are less well studied reports of headaches, sleeplessness and psychological abnormalities in exposed populations. While in aggregate these studies by no means prove that exposure to cell-phone frequencies are harmful, in my judgment they are sufficiently suggestive that it would be foolish to ignore the evidence that they are dangerous.

I have provided to several Ministers of the Bermuda government and to CARE representatives copies of the scientific studies that support this view.

Under these considerations, there are several conclusions regarding the situation in Bermuda.

In my judgment it is downright foolish to place towers in dense residential neighbourhoods. Some of the towers are literally in the backyards of homes where children live and play. One can expect litigation as soon as one of these children develop leukemia, under these circumstances.

The practice of paying one home-owner for putting a tower on his/her property, but not consulting the neighbours who live almost as close to the tower, seems particularly onerous.

It is also unclear to me why, with so many uninhabited islands in Bermuda, it is necessary to position towers in residential areas, or why so many towers are needed. I do understand the special problems associated with signal reception in a hilly area, but this can be overcome in many ways.

Most of the towers I saw in the residential neighbourhood were on hills but were not tall. Tall towers on uninhabited islands would be equally effective in transmitting signals, but would not impact human health to nearly the same degree. With so many towers, it would seem logical to have sharing by different companies, with the Police, and other responsible parties.

I am certainly not an advocate of doing away with contemporary communications technology. However there are some relatively simply and inexpensive ways in which this can be done without compromising human health, which is, of course, easier with the siting of new towers than in dealing with ones that already exist and are operational.

However as a public health official, I believe that it is in the best interest of all parties to find ways of providing cell phone service in such a manner so as not to pose a threat to the health of the citizens of Bermuda.

DAVID O. CARPENTER, M.D. Professor University of Albany, N.Y Dr. David Carpenter