A NEWCASTLE community group has defended sending a newsletter to East End residents warning them of exposure to asbestos and “electromagnetic fields”, despite being accused of “scare-mongering”.
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Access Newcastle Foreshore, a community group that wants light rail to run down the former heavy rail corridor, has distributed a “notice” to residents and businesses on Scott Street warning them of “health issues” arising from exposure to the “electromagnetic field” caused by the “proposed light rail overhead lines”.
The notice also advised residents to “ask your doctor to record on your medical record that you may have been exposed to asbestos dust” during work on the corridor between July and August this year.
“This exposure can take 30 years to effect your health,” the notice read.
“This is for your children and grandchildren.”
Despite Department of Transport officials insisting that materials from the corridor were being “disposed of in line with Environment Protection Authority requirements” and that light rail customers “will not face a health risk from electromagnetic fields”, Access Newcastle Foreshore administrator Barbara Ferris defended distributing the warning.
The group says it had asked for Transport officials to confirm in writing that there was no risk from exposure to asbestos or exposure to electromagnetic fields, but had been told only the Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance, could do so.
“Apparently because the wires are electric the magnetic field is around the wires and those wires will be about level with the units on Scott Street,” she said.
“It can effect health apparently [and] we thought people should know.”
But the notice has angered some business owners in the street, and Andrew Fletcher from the Property Council accused the group of running a campaign of “irresponsible scare-mongering”.
“Anonymous propaganda should always be treated with suspicion,” Mr Fletcher said.
“It's just plain loopy.”
Concern about links between exposure to electromagnetic fields and health impacts are nothing new.
In 1996 the World Health Organisation launched a large, “multidisciplinary research effort” into the issue. It states that “current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields”.
“There is no doubt that short-term exposure to very high levels of electromagnetic fields can be harmful to health [but] to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health,” it’s advice states.