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Man uses tank in phone mast flattening rampage

Mad Max meets Convoy

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An Aussie bloke went on a phone mast destroying spree yesterday, on the grounds that his health had been damaged by mobile phone signals.

According to the Times, John Patterson - who previously worked at Australia's biggest telecoms firm, Telstra - used a 15-tonne armoured personnel carrier (APC) to bring down seven phone towers.

A convoy of more than 20 police cars and onlookers, some of whom egged him on, followed Patterson across western suburbs of Sydney.

He had earlier taken the APC from its owner's tow company. The heavy vehicle resembles a tracked tank and even boasts its own replica cannon for added faux-military appeal.

His rampage led to several parts of Sydney being temporarily left without a mobile signal.

Police said they had no option but to simply follow the vehicle as the rampage continued because they had no way of overpowering the APC and bringing it to a halt.

At one dramatic point, 45-year-old Patterson rammed a police car after officers had tried to prevent him from moving on.

But his criminal spree abruptly came to an end at 4am when the APC stalled as he tried to flatten his seventh mobile phone tower in Dean Park.

He was restrained with pepper spray, arrested, and led away.

A magistrate refused to grant bail to Patterson who has been charged with stealing, predatory driving, and driving in a dangerous manner. ®

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Latest Comments

Small correction to previous post

"but it could also be electromagnetic fields, including extremely low frequency (ELF) fields, generated by the mobile device itself..." should read "but it could also be other electromagnetic fields, including extremely low frequency (ELF) fields, also generated by the mobile device..."

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Please take this issue seriously

Sometimes it takes an event like this to get the attention of the public and government on this issue: some people seem to be sensitive (more so than the norm) to mobile phone radiation (and related electromagnetic fields). Even though studies to date have failed to show a link between mobile phone radiation (within exposure guidlines) and symptoms people have been claiming result from exposure to this kind of radiation, the studies themselves might not have been setup in the right way to resolve the kind of symptoms being reported. The reason I say this is because I have found myself affected by this radiation, but only from the headsets (I've been near mobile phone towers and never noticed anything, but some people do claim that the signals emitted from the antennas on such towers do cause them problems; however, it might be that one might think exposure is coming from a tower signal when a handset is to blame). The kind of symptoms I have noticed are: skin irritation like painful and prickling sensations, rapid and repeated nerve twitching (sometimes quite severe), very bad tinnitus (ticking and buzzing sounds), eyesight problems like snowy and less light sensitive vision after long exposure to such fields, and feeling of pressure that bulids up in sinus region. The symptoms tend to have a delayed onset in that they build-up during exposure and continue well after exposure, only slowly subsiding. This latency effect could make testing difficult, but certainly not impossible (I think there also needs to be more objective testing done in such studies, such as blood tests, nerve tests etc..). Also, I have found that using WiFi on my mobile device seems to be worse, but it could also be electromagnetic fields, including extremely low frequency (ELF) fields, generated by the mobile device itself that are having an effect. There are definitely noticable and sometimes severe symptoms.

I think this issue really has to be taken more seriously by the relevant government regulatory authorities. As such, the usual line that 'mobile phone radiation is just non-ionising radiowaves and harmless within the exposure guidlines' is being maintained. This is of course welcome news for the mobile phone industry, but it really doesn't help in raising public awareness of the potential health hazard. I honestly think there is too much complacency about this issue at the moment, especially given the proliferation of mobile phones, yet there are many people like myself who are noticing health problems from being in close proximity to the electromagnetic fields these devices emitt.

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Re: Bonkers

Yes. If you've seen the Panorama "a warning signal" show on Wi-Fi,

you know they don't allow the towers near schools in the UK because

the government science adviser thinks there could be health effects.

Personally, my ears ring when I am exposed to most towers, which I found out later is an effect shown by Allan H. Frey back in 1962 (and in Science, 1973). His 1998 paper on headaches from cell phones is a must read for anyone in the civilized world.

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