Prohibits the placement and operation of wireless communication facilities upon school property

Summary of specific provisions

The legislation amends the education law by adding a new section 4094 to prohibit wireless communication facilities on school property. A school may not negotiate for or enter into a contract for the placement or operation of any wireless communi- cation facility on school property. A school with a cell tower already would have 180 days to terminate any contracts and remove the towers off its property.

Justification

Experts on the negative Impact of radiation on humans are warning that cell phone towers on, and near schools are a terrible danger to our children, school staff and administrators. According to Dr. David Carpenter, Md., Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, "There is increasingly strong evidence that prolonged exposure to radiofrequency radiation, such as that from radio and cell towers, Increases the risk of leukemia, and that prolonged use of a cell phone held against the head increases the risk of brain cancer. It is foolish and dangerous to put a cell tower on a school where children will be exposed constantly to radiofrequency radiation."

Dr. Carpenter is just one of many health experts cautioning us as to the dangers of microwave radiation on living tissue. Yet 50 school districts out of 700 in New York State have already moved to build and operate cell towers on school buildings or on school property, thereby putting everyone learning and working in these schools at danger of suffering from a range of health problems linked to exposure to microwave radi- ation, including cancer, childhood leukemia, memory loss and others.

School districts across New York are considering leasing school property to cell phone companies hi an attempt to raise revenue. However, the revenue potential is insignificant as a percentage of district budgets (in best case scenario of full leasing ability, revenue would be less then .003% of district budget). Considering the harmful impact on chil- dren and school staff, school districts should not be in the business of building cell towers to be built on schools and on school property.

Throughout Europe, children and school staff are being protected against exposure to microwave radiation used to operate cell phones:

*France has banned the use of cell phone for 5th graders and under,

*Sweden researchers just concluded that cell phone radiation will cause a 400% increase in brain cancers;

*Germany has placed strict limits on the distance between schools and cell towers; and

*England has documented cancer clusters near cell towers and British citizens are pushing to ban them near schools.

*Brain tumor specialist Dr, Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD works as both an oncologist and a researcher at Orebro University Hospital in Sweden. He is an expert on cell phones and brain tumors. 'The evidence for risks from prolonged cell phone and cordless phone use is quite strong. For people who have used these devices for 10 years or longer, and when they are used mainly on one side of the head, the risk of malignant brain tumor is doubled for adults and is even higher for persons with first use before the age Of 20 years'

*An international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (The Bioinitialive Working Group) has released its report on electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health. They document serious scientific concerns about current limits regulating how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, cell towers and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.

*Cindy Sage of Sage Associates says, "Prolonged exposure to radiofre- quency and microwave radiation from cell phones, cordless phones, cell towers, WI-FI and other wireless technologies has been linked to inter- ference with short-term memory and concentration, sleep disruption, headache and dizziness, fatigue, immune disruption, skin rashes and changes in cardiac function."

Prior legislative history

New legislation

Fiscal implications

N/A

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.