A LEADING scientist has backed calls for Fareham's phone mast plague to be halted amid growing health fears.

Dr Gerard Hyland, an international expert in biophysics, said the low frequency radiation from the town's 30-odd phone masts was capable of affecting human brain-wave activity and weakening the human immune system.

Dr Hyland has also warned that an increased likelihood of more serious diseases like cancer and leukaemia could not be ruled out.

He said: "The human body is an electromagnetic instrument of great and very exquisite sensitivity. We are like mini-receivers.

"Anyone who lives within 500 metres of a base station can experience neurological effects.

"It depends on the strength of the individual's immune system.

They don't suffer from back-ache or a pain in the knee.

"They suffer from headaches, sleeping disorders, chronic tiredness, lack of concentration, anxiety. One of the most sinister aspects is an increase in epileptic seizures."

Dr Hyland has reported to the government's science and technology committee on mobile phones and health.

And he has already helped six groups of concerned residents defeat mast planning applications across the country.

The academic, who works at the University of Warwick, is a member of the International Institute of Biophysics.

He said the current safety guidelines, issued by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), were flawed and did not go far enough.

Fareham resident Fay Andrews greeted Dr Hyland's views with horror.

She said a mast had been installed near her house in Hampton Grove, Catisfield just last month, which was only 16.5m away from the home of one of her neighbours.

"It's so frightening.

"This is what we have been telling the council all along.

"But they won't listen because the government tells them it's safe.

"We just don't know what to do.

"Our MP has put us in touch with a solicitor and we are going to see if we have a case in law.

"The mast near us looks like a mini-prison. "And we've been told that we have lost £6,000 from the value of our house."

Council leader Sean Woodward said planners were unable to reject applications purely on health grounds: "Microwave radiation is dangerous. If you are sat on top of the mast the chances are it wouldn't do you any good.

"But the fact is that, at the moment, the rules are that the operators have a licence from the government to produce a total coverage and the council is almost bound to approve them.

"We've got about 30 masts in Fareham and they are predicting possibly as many again."

Dr Michael Clark, scientific spokesman for the NRPB, dismissed Dr Hyland's views.

"Of course you can't give an absolute assurance. "But there's no evidence of any harm.

"The health issue is a red herring. Science is an argument.

"But there's a consensus that, certainly with these masts, the level of dose you get is trivial and less than you have been exposed to from the TV and FM radio."

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.