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Re: Re: RF and bird pop. decline

Subject: Re: Re: RF and bird pop. decline
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 15:27:47 -0500
evertveldhuis  wrote:
> --- In  Wild Sanctuary <> wrot=
e:
>
>>The following came across my email desk this AM and I thought it
>>might be of interest to some of the group.
>>
>>I have no opinion on this since I am not up to date on the
>>publications but some of you may find it of note.
>>
>>Bernie Krause
>>
>>***************************
>>
>><CUT by Evert>
>
>
> Bernie,
>
> Thanks, this info is very interesting to me; I've always thought
> about the negative influences of GSM. Never heard of any hard proof,
> yet.

What I'm reading in this is not hard proof. It does appear to be
correlation, though no proper statistical measures were quoted. The
problem is that most jump to correlation being cause far too easily,
it's neither cause or proof. There are a wide variety of factors that
can be different in the same environment. Maybe the density of cellular
towers is just a indicator of the density of human population, or
thermal profiles, or food and water sources, and so on.

Think of correlation as being a way of sorting out what you should study
next. But, in this case I'd not focus on just this correlation. A lot
more checks of other factors need to be done.

Statistics is a tricky subject, much misunderstood. It's very easy to
jump to the wrong conclusion if you don't fully understand what they
say. I've long advocated statistics being a manditory course for
everyone, considering the amount of error it's generating.

Walt




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>From   Tue Mar  8 18:23:12 2005
Message: 15
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 23:53:25 -0000
From: "Rich Peet <>" <>
Subject: Re: RF and bird pop. decline

The good news is that the USA is able and willing to repopulate both
the sparrow and starlings in whatever numbers they want.

The bad news is the population decrease is also directly related to
the import of american tobacco into Spain.  With a permafog set over
the cities of Spain in second hand smoke it is only a matter of time
that relation is drawn and the US tabacco companies held to the task
of re-populating Europe's cities of sparrows and starlings.  :)

On a real note having just come back from Spain I couldn't help but
notice the low numbers of birds overall compared to the US by any
standards.  I also saw 0 interest in feeder or habitat specifically
for birds but that may be because of my limited time and locations.

Rich Peet



--- In  Wild Sanctuary <>
wrote:
> The following came across my email desk this AM and I thought it
> might be of interest to some of the group.
>
> I have no opinion on this since I am not up to date on the
> publications but some of you may find it of note.
>
> Bernie Krause
>
> ***************************
>
> >  Alfonso Balmori Mart=EDnez  <>
> >
> >  The Independent
> >  Independent House
> >  191 Marsh Wall, London E 149 RS
> >
> >
> >  Valladolid, 6th May 2002
> >
> >
> >  Dear Sir:
> >
> >  My name is Alfonso Balmori and I am a biologist and
ornithologist from
> >  Valladolid (Spain).
> >
> >  I am writing to you in order to send you my hypothesis about the
decline
> >  of
> >  a couple of birds species, House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and
> >  Starling
> >  (Sturnus vulgaris), in lots of British cities.
> >
> >  The hypothesis has its origin in my tracking of birds in a park
in
> >  Valladolid (Spain) from 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2002. Even though
this
> >  study is
> >  not finished yet, it seems the preliminary results led to the
decline
> >  of
> >  several species as has happened in England.
> >  With the hypothesis I will present in the following, which has
not been
> >  published, I pretend to opt for the prize that you have
proposed, even
> >  in
> >  the non-scientific side: "will be considered for inclusion if the
> >  particular
> >  observation or theory proves to be the
> >  starting point for the final scientific explanation" (Michel
McCarthy
> >  16/5/2000 The Independent).
> >
> >  I have sent this letter by ordinary mail, could you please
confirm its
> >  receipt and its acceptance for the context of your journal.
> >
> >  Now I will provide the evidence to support my hypothesis.
> >
> >  With best wishes.
> >
> >
> >
> >  Alfonso Balmori Mart=EDnez
> >  C/ Navarra, 1   5=BAB
> >  47007 Valladolid
> >  Spain
> >  
> >
> >
> >  Evidence of a conection between Sparrow decline and the
introduction of
> >  Phone mast GSM (Global system for mobile communication)
> >
> >   Alfonso Balmori Mart=EDnez
> >
> >  "Disappearance of the Sparrow and the introduction of phone mast
GSM
> >  correlate closely in terms of time".
> >
> >  Evidence:
> >
> >  Since the second half of the nineties Base Stations for mobile
> >  telecommunication have been spreading across the urban centres.
These
> >  base
> >  stations have increased the electromagnetic
contamination "electrosmog"
> >  in
> >  the urban centres. The fundamental reason is that these devices
produce
> >  900
> >  and 1800 MHz pulsated waves that interfere in the nervous system
of
> >  living
> >  beings. There exist many scientific studies that warn about the
danger
> >  for
> >  health in human and living beings of this kind of electromagnetic
> >  radiation
> >  electromagn=E9tica (MRW: microwave radiation) (look for example=20
G.J.
> >  Hyland:
> >  "Physics and biology of mobile telephony": The Lancet, vol 356:
1-8.
> >  25/11/2000).
> >
> >   The circumstantial evidence of a connection between Sparrow
decline
> >  and
> >  the introduction of Telecommunication Mast and Base Stations is
strong.
> >  As
> >  the disappearance of the house Sparrow from the large cities
correlates
> >  with
> >  the introduction of phone masts, the possibility that such cell
masts
> >  (towers) are involved surely requires immediate investigation.
> >   The high frequency RF fields produced a response in many types
of
> >  neurons
> >  in the avian Central Nervous System.
> >   Besides, some studies warn about the effects of these
radiations on
> >  reproduction: Decreases in sperm counts and smaller tube
development in
> >  rat
> >  testes (Dasdag et al., 1999) and increases in embryonic
mortality of
> >  chickens, (Youbicier-Simo, et al., 1998).
> >   Why have British Sparrow populations indeed collapsed in big
cities
> >  but
> >  not in small towns?: The number of Telecommunication Masts in
big cities
> >  and
> >  the use of mobile phones, in general, is much greater than in
small
> >  towns.
> >  Big cities usually have more electromagnetic contamination, but
this
> >  differs
> >  between areas (vicinity of Masts) and because of this the
decline of
> >  these
> >  birds does not happen to the same degree in different parks or
> >  neighbourhoods or different cities. Small towns usually have the
> >  telecommunication masts located away from the urban centre
because this
> >  is
> >  sufficient to maintain the coverage. Because of this birds are
less
> >  affected
> >  in small towns and villages.
> >   Telecommunication Masts usually are installed in high places in
order
> >  to
> >  achieve more coverage for the signal. For this reason there is
lower
> >  density
> >  power in lower places. These waves impact to the species in
different
> >  ways
> >  depending on the breeding height, the height of singing,
feeding, nest
> >  location, kind of nest etc. This is the reason for the decline of
> >  species
> >  that frequent roofs, aerials, phone wires or those with higher
breeding
> >  height such us House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), Starlings
(Sturnus
> >  vulgaris) Magpies (Pica pica), but not those that live near the
ground
> >  and
> >  vegetation like Blackbirds (Turdus merula), Robins (Erithacus
> >  rubecula),
> >  Wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes), or those that breed in cavities
where
> >  they
> >  are more protected like the Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus), Great Tit
> >  (Parus
> >  major), Coal Tit (Parus ater). Apart from that, it is likely
that each
> >  specie will show different susceptibility to these radiations.
> >   In November 1999, in Scotland over one third of all Scottish
Local
> >  Planning Authorities adopted or publicly committed themselves in
to
> >  adopting
> >  precautionary policies as a direct result, by choosing to keep
> >  transmitter
> >  masts away from schools and residential areas.
> >  Two years later the demise of the House Sparrows appears to have
been
> >  reversed in Scotland (Paul Kelbie 10/11/2001, The Independent).
> >   It is most likely that the same will happen in Northern Ireland
very
> >  soon
> >  as there will be Planning controls on mobile phones masts, and
the new
> >  regulations will be stricter than any other region of the U.K.
(Marie
> >  Foy,
> >  11/4/2002, Belfast Telegraph). So we might expect an increase in
House
> >  Sparrows and Starlings in Northern Ireland in the next few years.
> >   The electromagnetic field is the perfect secret agent: you
cannot see
> >  it,
> >  you cannot smell it, you cannot hear it, you cannot feel it and
its
> >  effects
> >  are slow but relentless
> >
> >
> >  My investigation:
> >
> >  My study was carried out in the park of Campo Grande in the
centre of
> >  Valladolid during 996, 1997 and 1998, when there were just a few
> >  Telecommunication Masts in Valladolid, and the results have been
> >  compared
> >  with those for the current year 2002, when the city has been
covered in
> >  its
> >  totality. Now there are, at least, 5 Base Stations of three
> >  telecommunication operators in the vicinity of this park.
> >  There are several places in Valladolid where birds have
disappeared
> >  with
> >  levels of radiation between 2 and 10 V/m. In recent years, lots
of
> >  carrier
> >  pigeons got lost because of the electromagnetic fields coming
from the
> >  Telecommunication Masts and Base Stations.
> >
> >
> >  Provisional results
> >
> >   Birds tend to avoid places with high levels of electromagnetic
> >  contamination. Some  "silence areas" clearly exists where there
are no
> >  song
> >  males.
> >   11% of the species of breed have disappeared slowly from the
park (2
> >  of
> >  17)
> >   The number of song males of several species have decreased.
> >
> >  -----------------------------------------------------------------
----------
> >  November 27-02..............:
> >
> >  Hans-U. Jakob, 1.12.02; http://www.gigaherz.ch/555/ - excerpt
from the
> >  German text translated by EMF-Omega-News
> >
> >  London: at the Wednesday morning, November 27-02, on Radio BBC
was to
> >  hear that in England the bird experts, bird protection societies
and
> >  ornithologists strikes alarm, because in London within a year a
decline
> >  of the sparrow population around one-quarter were assessed.
Something
> >  that never existed before. The people are shocked and riddles
around.
> >
> >  For mobile radio-expert, that is meanwhile generally nothing
> >  mysterious.
> >  London belongs to the capitals of Europe with the thickest
> >  electropollution. Mobile radio-field strength of 4V/m are on
public
> >  places almost everywhere the standard. That is yet far beneath
the
> >  political limit values, however yet much further above the
biological
> >  limit values.
> >
> >  Confessed is that carrier pigeons, owls and tower falcon already
in
> >  1.4V/m stops with the upbringing of cubs. So one may not be
surprised,
> >  that even the toughest and adaptableest in the bird world, the
sparrows
> >  of London, abandon the brood business at 4V/m.
> >
> >  Just as are propagation damage known in the cattle from high-
frequent
> >  E-fields-strengths of 0.6V/m.



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