As I’ve often mentioned, many of us started out as shortwave listeners (SWLs). It’s also true that SW broadcasting isn’t what it used to be. Nearly everyone, except the Chinese, have cut back their broadcasting schedules. Heck, the BBC doesn’t even broadcast to North America anymore.
So, it’s hard to report bad news concerning a long-time SW broadcaster. The latest is that a court-ordered study in Italy has warned of “important risks” of dying of cancer for people who had resided at least 10 years within a nine-kilometre (5.5-mile) radius of the radio station’s antenna towers near Cesano, about 12 miles north of Rome.A Rome judge ordered the report in 2005 as part of an investigation into a complaint filed in 2001 by Cesano residents who alleged health hazards posed by the electromagnetic waves.
“There has been an important, coherent and meaningful correlation between exposure to Vatican Radio’s structures and the risk of leukaemia and lymphoma in children,” the report said, according to the daily La Stampa. The charges are so serious that there’s talk of indicting some Vatican Radio officials on charges of manslaughter.
The Vatican, of course, disputes this study, but it’s hard to say who will win the case. To read more, here are a few links:
- Vatican Radio: Still Making Waves (IEEE Spectrum)
- Challenge to Vatican Radio Station (ABC News)
- Vatican Radio Waves Blamed for High Cancer Risk (Telegraph.co.uk)
Leave a Reply