PEOPLE living near an Ilkley mobile phone mast are becoming increasingly worried about the

danger of long-term health risks and want the mast removing.

Although the jury is still out on the health risks caused by the microwave radiation emissions, the growing body of anecdotal evidence has prompted residents to write to their local MP about the mast.

The 50-foot mast was built three years ago this month in a BT compound next to the Royal Mail Delivery Office on Cowpasture Road by a company called Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Limited.

In the nearby flats complex on Sefton Drive residents are unhappy about the mast's presence.

Pamela Cadwallader said yesterday : "I am not happy at all about it - I am worried about the microwaves because I am in the nearest flat to it."

Mrs Cadwallader said since the mast was erected just yards from her home she had suffered health problems. "My health problems have got worse - I am not blaming it, but I haven't been right since," said Mrs Cadwallader.

Neighbour Angela Gray said that she didn't know enough about the evidence but added that worries about phone masts were not unique to Ilkley.

"If you have young children you must be frantic - one must think about the young," said Mrs Gray.

In nearby Chantry Drive, Sukie Blackburn has written to Labour MP Ann Cryer about her fears over the mast.

"I am very concerned about this horrible mast which might affect my children playing in the garden," said Mrs Blackburn.

She added: "I am sure a lot of

people aren't aware of the implications of this mast - it is really quite frightening."

Mrs Blackburn said she intended to start a campaign calling for the mast's removal by taking round a petition to neighbours.

Telecommunications company Mercury states that all emissions from telephone masts are within guidelines set down by the National Radiological Protection Board and therefore safe - a view shared by the rest of the industry and the Government.

But billions of pounds or research money is being poured into the

problem to satisfy a growing body of dissent.

The main fears over the masts is that the emissions trigger cancers in children such as leukaemia, and that epilepsy sufferers living in

the vicinity experience more fits.

There are now more than 200 campaign groups in the UK protesting that further research is needed. Without it they fear that children could become involuntary guinea pigs in a dangerous experiment - a view shared by some of the

residents of Sefton Drive.

A spokesman for BT's mobile phone network, Cellnet, said: "We are absolutely confident that our cell sites pose no threat to public health whatsoever."

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