Menacing Cell Phone Towers

Abstract

So I’m reading the Washington Post while eating my lunch last Monday, and a story in the Metro section catches my eye: “ Fight over cell towers on school land grows: Prince George’s system is latest to hear health concerns from parents.” The story’s lede reads: “Prince George’s County has become the latest school system in the Washington region to become locked in a debate over building cellphone towers on school property.” It turns out that two other Washington, D.C.-area counties, Montgomery and Anne Arundel, have recently abandoned plans to build cell phone towers on school property over parents’ safety concerns about exposure to electromagnetic radiation. I’ve always been fascinated by irrational fears engendered by most people’s poor understanding of science and the often unsuccessful efforts by organizations like the American Chemical Society to counter such fears with accurate information on the benefits and risks of, for example, chemicals. Partly ...