UH professor urges
probe of radiation
from antenna

Kathy Ferguson says at least
6 workers in the Social Sciences
building had cancer

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

A University of Hawaii professor is calling for an investigation into an apparently high incidence of cancer among workers on the seventh floor of the Manoa campus' Social Sciences Building.

Kathy Ferguson, director of the Women's Studies Program, said yesterday she was drafting a letter to UH's director of environmental health and safety asking about the potential long-range health effects on workers whose offices are just a rooftop away from five antennae atop the building.

Last Thursday, the KTUH antenna increased to 3,000 watts from 100 watts, renewing long-simmering concerns about possible electromagnetic radiation risks in the building.

Ferguson said she is aware of five women who have had breast cancer who work on the seventh floor, another person who has had another cancer and two workers who have autoimmune system disorders.

She said her letter will ask that the university investigate any possible connection with the workplace.

"I'm going to ask them to check in a timely way and get back to me as quickly as possible," Ferguson said. "It's fair to let the organization show its concern.

"Typically what happens in these cases is that institutions in general can say, 'Well, there's such a small sample, we don't have any proof,'" she said.

"From what I understand, UH did look at it, but according to what they told my colleague, they looked at what radiation people on the roof would be exposed to" while there for short periods of time, not workers on the seventh floor 40 or more hours a week.

Irene Sakimoto, UH radiation safety officer, said in her 12 years on the job, she is not aware of any questions being raised about the safety of the rooftop antennae.

"We think that with all these calculations and procedures that we have, it should have been safe for anybody working in that building," Sakimoto said. "To have somebody say that kind of took us aback. It's the first we ever heard of it."

Ionizing radiation can knock out electrons from molecules, altering DNA, Sakimoto said.

In contrast, nonionizing radiation, such as all the devices on the Social Sciences rooftop, cannot disturb electrons. However, since late 2000, anything that transmits has to go through an environmental assessment, Sakimoto said.

Former UH physics professor Vincent Z. Peterson concluded in a 1996 study of effects from the KTUH wattage increase that "since KTUH's frequency is about ... a million times lower than the threshold frequency for ionizing radiation, we can dismiss any worry about direct (ionizing) damage to human flesh from KTUH radiation.

"I conclude, therefore, that the FM radiation from the KTUH 4-bay antenna as described, with 3,000 total radiated power, does NOT constitute a radiation hazard to occupants of the top floor (or ANY floor) of Porteus Hall (Social Sciences Building,)" Peterson wrote.

The PeaceSat project (Pan-Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite) is another UH department that has offices on the seventh floor. Director Christina Higa said the project had to get approval from the radiation safety office before it put recycled weather satellites on the rooftop to communicate with Pacific islands.

Representatives of other offices on the seventh floor of the building and those who have cancer could not be reached for comment.

Up on the roof There are five devices transmitting electromagnetic radiation from the roof of the University of Hawaii's Social Sciences Building on Maile Way in Manoa: >> KTUH-FM antenna, transmitting at 3,000 watts. Based on Federal Communications Commission standards for safe amount of radiation, the antenna has 30 times less than the minimum allowable. Allowable exposure time on rooftop: "As long as you wanted to stand up there." >> Social Sciences Research Institute laser radio, transmitting at 0.1 watt. The only potential risk would be for a bird flying by that looked directly into the laser beam; no emissions at building level. >> PeaceSat microwave dish, specifications not available yesterday. >> Voicestream cellphone antenna array. Safety standard is that no one should go in front of the transmitting antenna, which faces an outside wall of the building. >> Telecommunications and Information Policy-Group (TIP-G) microwave dish. Safe exposure at 7 inches or more from dish. Source: Irene Sakimoto,UH radiation safety officer