New Zealand shares this limit of 450 with India, but many other countries have lower limits - for example the US 300, China 40, Russia 10 and Switzerland 4.2.
There is widespread concern the present New Zealand standard does not give adequate protection from EMR.
In November 2009, a petition signed by more than 3000 people was presented to Parliament noting there was increasing international evidence EMR can cause adverse effects even at low exposure levels that are thousands of times below the public safety limits set in our standard.
The petitioners called for a new standard to be developed that protected the public from acute and chronic biological effects of exposure to EMR.
As reported in the Hindustan Times (15.7.12), Prof Girish Kumar, department of electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, stated: ''Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50m of your home or workplace is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours.''
He noted that although cancer occurred in only extreme cases, almost everyone living close to mobile towers reported disorders such as sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, and joint pains.
He stated the impact was higher on children because they had smaller and thinner skulls.
Other effects included burning and tingling sensations in the scalp, dizziness, lack of concentration, ringing in the ears, increased reaction time, loss of memory, headaches, indigestion, acute itchiness, and increased heart rate.
The late Dr Neil Cherry, of Lincoln University, studied the evidence on the health effects of EMR and found it interfered with the natural EMR-based communication systems in our bodies, particularly our brains and hearts.
He found EMR reduced secretion of the free radical scavenger melatonin from the pineal gland in the brain and that this led to DNA damage in chromosomes leading to a variety of both acute and chronic diseases, including miscarriages and foetal abnormalities.
Dr Cherry reviewed the study of the residents of the US embassy in Moscow who, from 1953 to 1976, were chronically exposed to a radar signal averaging 1.9 microwatts per square centimetre on the outside wall but far less inside.
The study found chronic exposure to very low intensity pulsed microwaves in the range of 0.04 0.2 resulted in cardiac symptoms, neurological and psychological symptoms, altered blood cell counts, increased chromosome aberrations, and elevated cancer in children and adults.
Sickness increased in a dose-response manner with the years of residence in the embassy.
After considering more than 50 studies in the scientific literature, Dr Cherry recommended an outdoor public exposure limit at property boundaries of 0.1, a standard now accepted in the cities of Salzburg (Austria) and Plenum Leganes (Spain).
Why should Dunedin residents accept EMR levels that are 20 to 40 times higher (2 to 4 microwatts per square centimetre)?
If the proposed tower goes ahead it is inevitable a deterioration in the health of Brighton and Ocean View residents will occur.
That is why they are alarmed.
Karen Hanna explains why residents around Scroggs Hill Rd, Brighton, are alarmed about the possible health effects of a planned 2degrees mobile phone tower.
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