Please sign this petition to stop the 140 foot Verizon cell phone tower from being build between 2139 and 2145 State Highway 67. The tower will be in close proximity to quiet residential neighborhoods, churches and to the beautiful natural greenspace just outside Johnstown’s eastern city limits.  The installation of the tower poses health risks and devaluation of real estate, and residents already have adequate cell phone/wireless data coverage in the area. The plan to build the tower was put into motion without the input or knowledge of nearby residents. 

We are strongly opposed to the installation of the tower for the following reasons: 

1.  Potential health risks to adults, pets and environment – Stationary cell towers create a circle of high power wireless radiation (1500 feet) around them, with a much larger radius (dozens of miles) of lower power radiation. Federal regulations protect the public only from the thermal (i.e., heating) risk due to short-term exposure to high intensity, cell tower radiation. The Federal regulations ignore the hundreds of studies that find harmful bio-effects from long-term exposure to non-thermal levels of radiation.

Cell towers that hold antennas and other communications equipment flood the area for miles around with powerful high frequency radio waves (known as microwaves) to support the use of cellphones as well as Wi-Fi, WiMax, Wireless LANs, 802.11 networks, Bluetooth supported devices and more.

Cell tower microwaves might travel for as few as two miles in hilly areas, and up to 45 miles where there are fewer obstructions; and of course, they easily penetrate brick and metal.

Mobile towers are especially dangerous because they emit microwaves at a frequency of 1900 MHz. Recent studies have shown that the intense radioactivity from mobile phone towers adversely impacts every biological organism within one square kilometer.

Cellphone tower microwaves have a significantly higher frequency than even radio waves. The higher the frequency, the more powerful the wave—and the more powerful effect on biological organisms (recall that a mobile tower emit microwaves at 1900 MHz).

Even if Verizon’s proposed installation complies with FCC regulations on microwave radiation levels (The current safety standards were developed in 1993 and based on a 200+lb adult man). This ignores the existing microwave radiation levels in the area from existing cell phone towers and transmitters.

Studies have shown that even at low levels of this radiation (one tower), there is evidence of damage to cell tissue and DNA, and it has been linked to brain tumors, cancer, suppressed immune function, depression, miscarriage, Alzheimer’s disease, fatigue, sleep disturbance and numerous other serious illnesses.

For example, in “The Influence of Being Physically Near to a Cell Phone Transmission Mast on the Incidence of Cancer” by Horst Eger, Klaus Uwe Hagen, Birgitt Lucas, Peter Vogel, Helmut Voit (Published in Umwelt·Medizin·Gesellschaft 17,4 in 2004), the researchers found a fourfold increase in cancer rates amongst people living within 350 meters (1148 feet) of a cell phone tower. Amongst women there was a tenfold increase.

In 2011, The World Health Organization (WHO)/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified EMR (microwave radiation) as a possible carcinogen to humans (the same classification as DDT and lead) based on an increased risk for glioma (a malignant type of brain cancer).

In 2015, Morgan, Miller, Sasco and Davies published a paper in the International Journal of Oncology titled “Mobile phone radiation causes brain tumors and should be classified as a probable human carcinogen (2A)." The title says it all in this case.

In the past five years alone, about 1,800 new scientific papers have been published that show adverse health effects. Dr. George Carlo, a public health expert who coordinated the telecommunications industry’s own study, which was mandated by congress, confirms that exposure to communications radiation from wireless technology is "potentially the biggest health insult" this nation has ever seen. Dr. Carlo believes RF/microwave radiation is a greater threat than cigarette smoking and asbestos.

2.  Potential health risks to children – There is robust evidence that children are more at risk. Children have thinner skulls and the immaturity of their central nervous systems puts them at greater risk. See, for example, Morgan, Kesari, and Davis, 2014, "Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The consequences", published in the Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure. 

 3.  Potential Environmental Disturbances –Trees are harmed by radiofrequency radiation. A 4-year experiment by Waldmann-Selsam et al (2016) clearly demonstrated, with accurate RF emission testing, cell tower radiation causing the death of nearby trees over time. He notes, “These results are consistent with the fact that damage afflicted on trees by mobile phone towers usually start on one side, extending to the whole tree over time.”   These are truly alarming findings and serve as a dire warning on further wireless expansion. Wildlife are susceptible to harm from manmade ambient electromagnetic fields. Researchers are now attributing RFR from cellular telecommunications to be a contributing cause of bee “colony collapse disorder”, insect disappearance, the decline in house sparrows in London, as well as the steady deterioration of the worlds bird population with now than 40% of bird species under critical threat. Scientists note a serious lack of radiation monitoring and protocols to study the impacts and call for precaution in the placement of cell towers and further expansion of wireless broadband. In the United States, Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 does not allow consideration of environmental effects in the placement of cell towers.

4. The devaluation of real estate. In March, 2014 the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy’s survey “Neighborhood Cell Towers & Antennas—Do They Impact a Property’s Desirability?” found that an overwhelming majority of respondents (94%) reported that cell towers and antennas in a neighborhood or on a building would impact interest in a property and the price they would be willing to pay for it.

Studies by Dr. Sandy Bond, Ph.D. have shown that a cell phone tower negatively affects the real estate values of homes surrounding it. Depending on proximity to the cell phone tower property values can be reduced by up to 20% for properties within 200-300 meters of the tower. (See for example https://scientists4wiredtech.com/what-are-4g-5g/cell-tower-installation-plans-lower-property-values/).

Johnstown residents do not want decreased property values caused by an unnecessary cell phone tower, and we hope that the Township wouldn't want the value of homes to fall substantially as such a decrease would be accompanied by a significant decline in property tax revenues.

5. Residents already have adequate cell phone and wireless data coverage in the area and so we don't need a new Verizon phone tower. Verizon website's coverage map shows complete coverage in this area, with no gaps. There is not a real enough "need" to warrant putting the residents in this area at risk for health problems or a decrease in their property values. 

6. The proposed cell phone tower will be adjacent to St. Patrick’s Cemetery. Grieving loved ones should not be subjected to any possible health risks. St. Patrick's Cemetery is currently renowned for its tranquil natural setting.

7.  A 140-foot tower is incompatible with the neighborhood aesthetics. The antenna will be near quiet residential neighborhoods, churches and the beautiful natural greenspace currently home to pollinators, songbirds and other wildlife.

WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME TO THE NEXT TOWN PLANNING BOARD MEETING ON Tuesday, August 13 at 6:00PM at the Johnstown Town Hall, 2753 State Highway 29, Johnstown NY 12095. Sizable turn-out is crucial and the most effective way to influence the board members. In-person testimonies from residents are critical. We will provide updates closer to the date, but please mark your calendars and try to make the meeting on 8/13.

Thank you for reading our petition! Please share it with everyone.