More than 20 environmental protection activists petitioned the Executive Yuan yesterday, requesting the government lay out stricter measures regulating electromagnetic waves (EMW).
"The regulations governing EMW are not strict enough. Unfortunately, the government will not do anything about it," said Chen Jiau-hua (
"As there are an increasing number of cellphone towers, the electromagnetic waves are getting stronger in the environment. It is quite ridiculous that the government is now planning to establish more than 10,000 WiMAX towers before we have laws for EMW related issues," she added.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
WiMAX stands for "worldwide interoperability for microwave access." It aims to provide wireless data over long distances, in a variety of different ways, from point to point links to full mobile cellular type access.
In its petition, the union submitted five requests.
It asked the National Communications Commission not to issue operating licenses for any WiMAX towers before the government guarantees that their EMW are harmless and requested that existing cellphone towers decrease their strength to six volts per meter.
Those aged 16 and below must not be allowed to use cellphones, the group suggested.
The group also asked the government to postpone the establishment of campus wireless Internet networks before the technology is proved to be harmless and relocate cellphone towers, power stations and high-voltage power line towers away from campuses, residential areas and hospitals.
The union provided a list of people who had died of cancers, which they alleged were related to EMW pollution.
The union said that the people lived close to Chianan Church in Chiayi City, which has a large cellphone tower on its roof.
The statistics provided by the group showed that 12 residents died of cancer between 2004 and this May.
"There is insufficient evidence to prove that these residents died from the effects of electromagnetism, but no one can guarantee that their cancer had nothing to do with it either," Chen said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS