A persistent group of activists will hand over a memorandum to the Penang government to demand safer levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure produced by telecommunication towers and wireless devices.

dap counter zahrain 300110 chow kon yeow Calling itself the Penang Electromagnetic Field Protection Alliance (PEMF), the group said the need for a memorandum came in the wake of the state's plan to erect hundreds of telco towers on the island and mainland by year's end.

The group, whose battle cry is "We have no right to make mistakes", planned to submit the document to the Health Ministry, Education Ministry and state local government, traffic management and environment committee chairperson, Chow Kon Yeow ( left ).

Chow was unavailable for comment but an office staff member confirmed that the Tanjong (DAP) parliamentarian has yet to receive the memo from the group, who said they were to hand it over to him yesterday afternoon.

PEMF advisor Dr Thor Teong Gee denied the group was against the state's wireless project launched by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in 2008.

Dr Thor and the group's legality and credibility had been questioned by several sectors for allegedly being linked to and motivated by BN component party Gerakan.

"Whenever we bring up these issues, we get comments asking us if any of us use mobile phones, for example, the comments in Malaysiakini ," he said.

"We feel sad reading these comments because we have always said we do not oppose IT but rather feel that telco towers, WiMax, Wifi and other transceiver devices should not be in close proximity to schools, kindergartens, hospitals, residence and places of leisure," he added.

At a press conference in Penang yesterday, the group pulled out a report by Russian National Committee on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP) chairperson Professor Yury Grigoriev, which stated that "existing standards cannot guarantee the safety of the population".

Yury said this in his presentation ‘Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health' at the 2009 International EMF Conference in Norway, last November.

'Protect the children'

He made a special plea to protect children as they are especially vulnerable to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.

penang gerakan youth thor teong ghee Meanwhile, Dr Thor ( left ) said the group also wanted telco operators to share the usage of transceivers and network operations to reduce their numbers and emission power.

"The authority must exercise transparency in the approval of telco transceiving sites and seek approval of the affected neighbourhood," he said, adding the people were hardly consulted about the matter.

"It must promote and extend the use of fibre optics and other forms of non-radiofrequency methodology to achieve similar connectivity goals."

The group also urged the government to educate the public on proper use of mobile and cordless phones, wifi and other wireless devices to limit the health impact especially to children.

They also called for an International EMF Conference in Malaysia to educate the public and policy makers on possible new radiofrequency electromagnetic field radiation standards.

"The work to promote radio electromagnetic field safety is a long journey but we will not conform to any form of threats, coercion and suppression by invoking draconian laws to stymie the effort to improve health protection," they added in a statement to the press.

But during the peak of the controversy last month, Jelutong (DAP) parliamentarian Jeff Ooi Chuan Aik, stood steadfastly by the ‘approved' safety limits despite being hammered by the group.

He questioned the legality of the group, asking them to prove their credentials or stop challenging the state-approved safety limits as he felt they were trying to halt the progress of the wireless project.

Ooi, who heads the state-owned Penang Development Corporation Telecommunications Services Sdn Bhd, vowed to use all federal laws, including the Sedition Act, to deal with the group who questioned it.