Students at New College are right to be worried about the proposed phone mast in Queens Drive. Parents of children attending Churchfields School have equal reason to be concerned.

It is often said by those with an interest in promoting phone masts, that there is no proof of adverse effects on health.

There is, however, a great deal of evidence that radiation can affect concentration, scramble DNA, and cause cancer and other illnesses.

People are being exposed, without their consent, to radiation which has been shown to be harmful in numerous scientific studies.

The idea that unelected bodies (the mobile phone companies in this case) have a right to expose people to risks unless they can prove harm, amounts to enrolling the population in a giant biological experiment without their consent.

Considering that children, the most vulnerable of all, are included in this experiment, it is shameful that their interests are disregarded so cynically in the pursuit of profit.

The Government-sponsored Stewart Report advocates the precautionary approach' because of gaps in current knowledge about the potential harm that low level radiation can cause.

It seems that this is being ignored by the phone industry, which continues to erect masts in populated areas as if no gaps in our knowledge exist.

Our councillors must pay heed to this problem. I am glad to read that Peter Mallinson is taking an interest.

Let us hope, for our children's sake, that he can persuade others on the council to throw out the proposal for the mast in Queens Drive. Only time will tell.

B Jones (chairman).

SHOC (Stop Harming Our Children)