........From EMF-L........

I wonder??? .....If this won't prove to be an event of major significance??

Can anyone "out there" point to a similar case where a major government has implored another sovereign power to curtail its electromagnetic emissions because of the health risk???........guru......

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: sx3s3: Vatican to cut broadcasts over ecological fight
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 01:16:16 EDT
From: Envoptions@aol.com
To: roy@emfguru.com

Vatican to cut broadcasts over ecological fight

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican, in a last-ditch effort to stop Italy from cutting off electricity to its radio station over a dispute centering on electromagnetic radiation, said Monday it would eliminate some transmissions after Easter.

The surprise decision was announced a day before Environment Minister Willer Bordon was due to hold a news conference to announce measures against the station.

The minister has accused Vatican Radio of exceeding Italian laws on radiation and of being a health hazard.

Last month, Bordon threatened to cut off all electricity to the radio's transmission center on Rome's outskirts. Residents have said the radio's forest of large antennae have resulted in a higher incidence of leukemia in the area.

Vatican Radio, which broadcasts papal speeches and events to the world in some 40 languages, announced its decision hours after the latest tests ordered by the environment ministry confirmed that the transmissions violated Italian standards.

The statement said the broadcaster would shut down its medium wave (AM) transmissions on the 1530 khz band for seven hours a day beginning on April 16, the day after Easter.

That waveband is used for 14 hours a day and so the shutdown would affect some 50 percent of broadcasts on that frequency, which is primarily used for broadcasts in Europe.

A Vatican Radio spokesman said broadcasts on short wave (SW), which is beamed to other continents, and frequency modulation (FM), which is used for Italy, would continue normally.

Most of the world receives Vatican Radio via short wave.

The statement said it was "presumed" that the AM antennae, whose broadcasts are sent in horizontal waves, were the reason why the broadcaster exceeded Italian limits.

It confirmed Vatican Radio's willingness to seek a long-term solution on transmission levels that would "minimize the risk to the population."

VATICAN TERRITORY

Like Vatican City itself, the transmission center is on extraterritorial land and considered part of the sovereign Vatican state.

Last month, Bordon said the National Agency for the Protection of the Environment had registered three times the legal limit for electromagnetic radiation during one evening broadcast.

Since Vatican Radio was set up 44 years ago, Italy has introduced the European Union's toughest limits on such radiation, dubbed "electrosmog" by the Italian media.

The land housing the transmission center was once open countryside but has since been heavily built up with housing and factories.

The main stumbling block over the issue, which has flared for weeks in the Italian media, has been how the Italian government could force the Vatican, a sovereign state, to comply with its national laws.

--Additional reporting by Alexandra Salomon)

13:11 04-09-01 Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.

Forwarded by Spark Burmaster
Environmental Options
Wisconsin, USA

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