A church has been accused by environmental groups for housing a mobile phone base station (MPBS) that they claim had caused some Chiayi residents to develop cancer.
A spokeswoman for the church yesterday insisted that mobile phone antennae are harmless.
"When we rented out rooftop for installing the MPBS, we registered with authorities and conducted safety inspections. So the allegations are baseless," said a member of the Lutheran Chia Nan Church, in Chiayi.
"We have done what we can to communicate with the locals for three years now, but a small group of them are determined to make an issue out of it and get the antenna removed," she said, identifying herself only as Chang.
Press reports said that residents near the Chia Nan Church launched the protest after some people developed cancer or tumors, had miscarriages, or began suffering from insomnia or migraines after the antenna was set up on the rooftop of the five-story church building in December 2003.
Since then, a China Times report claimed, 21 people have developed cancer and the number of deaths in the neighborhood has risen from 174 in 2003 to 240 in 2004.
Health studies conducted elsewhere have not found any evidence that the phone signals cause cancer.
The church receives NT$70,000 a month rent from the mobile phone company.
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union has also demanded that the church remove the antenna, while urging government to enact law on MPBS radiation to protect people's health.
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