Representatives of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) yesterday took an appeal to the Presidential Office, alleging a weather radar in Chiku Township (七股), Tainan County, was causing a high rate of mental retardation and other illnesses in the area.
Accompanied by alleged victims of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the Doppler weather radar station in Yencheng Village (
The Doppler radar station was built in 2001 and is one of four such stations in the country. The bureau's Weather Integration and Nowcasting System (WINS) employs Doppler radar both to monitor and predict precipitation.
PHOTO: MEGGIE LU, TAIPEI TIMES
A woman surnamed Chang (張), whose six-year-old granddaughter was diagnosed with severe mental retardation (MR) this month, attended the appeal. Chang's granddaughter is the third in the family to be diagnosed with MR after Chang's two youngest sons received the same diagnosis, Chen said.
Chen said that medical tests had revealed no genetic predisposition in the family for MR, while lead poisoning and radioactive contamination in the area had also been ruled out.
Chen said that, in addition to MR cases, the village had also seen an increase in the incidence of hearing loss, brain damage and cancer since the installment of the radar station.
She cited 12 articles by international scientists to support her claim that radioactivity in residential areas is harmful to human health.
Chen said National Taiwan University and the Industrial Technology Research Institute had measured the electromagnetic waves in the village at 4,027 and 84,200 microwatts per square meter respectively. A report by US scientist S. Amy Sage last month suggested that levels above 1,000 microwatts per square meter be avoided for health reasons.
After meeting a Presidential Office representative, Chen said the the staffer had promised to relay the group's appeal to the president.
In addition to the appeal, Chiku residents demonstrated yesterday against the radar's presence in their community.
The weather bureau said in a press release later yesterday that the research TEPU had cited concerned low-frequency electromagnetic waves, microwaves and handheld radar, adding that Doppler waves are different.
In addition, the radar is perched 30m above the ground, it said, adding that since the installment of the station in 2001, the bureau has employed independent agencies to test electromagnetic levels on five occasions.
The most recent electromagnetic test, conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was completed last week, the statement said, adding that electromagnetic waves were measured at 25,200 microwatts per square meter directly around the radar and 10,200 microwatts per square meter near the closest residency. The release said this was 0.1 percent to 0.25 percent of the EPA's safety limit.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS