This forms a strong precedent case, especially since it is lodged by the equivalent of a UK District Council. The nearest we have to health effects being regarded as reaching a ‘threshold of evidence’, and forming grounds for refusal, is the Mendip Council committee planning meeting in April 2022.
On April 6, 2022, the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Board of Health voted to send a cease and desist order to shut down a Verizon cell tower if Verizon does not respond with meaningful action regarding a cell tower . The Board took action after families living in the neighborhood of Shacktown near the tower on 877 South Street Pittsfield MA reported wireless radiation-related health issues soon after the tower became operational in 2020.
REQUIRING THAT PITTSFIELD CELLULAR TELEPHONE COMPANY, D/B/A VERIZON WIRELESS, AND FARLEY WHITE SOUTH STREET, LLC, SHOW CAUSE WHY THE PITTSFIELD BOARD OF HEALTH SHOULD NOT ISSUE A CEASE AND DESIST ORDER ABATING A NUISANCE AT 877 SOUTH STREET ARISING FROM THE OPERATION OF A VERIZON WIRELESS CELL TOWER THEREON AND CONSTITUTING IMMEDIATE ORDER OF DISCONTINUANCE AND ABATEMENT IF NO HEARING IS REQUESTED
Whereas, soon after the facility was activated and began transmitting, the City started to receive reports of illness and negative health symptoms from residents living nearby the facility, and in particular, from residents living in the so-called “Shacktown” neighborhood. The negative health symptoms the affected residents have reported include complaints of headaches, sleep problems, heart palpitations, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, nausea, skin rashes, and memory and cognitive problems, among other medical complaints.
