In 2001 a mobile phone mast was put up in the playground of the Manuel de Falla school in the town of Vega del Guadalquivir near Seville in Spain. Although in 2002 the town council forbade the installation of masts close to residential areas it has proved hard to get rid of already installed masts. Indeed, until recently there was noting to stop the children playing under and even climbing up this particular mast. Even worse, there are another two masts (for different networks) within 200 metres of the school.

Meanwhile, over the nine years since the masts were installed, one child has died (of no known causes), one child has cancer of the eye and another cancer of the thyroid while more than 100 people living, working or being educated within the immediate vicinity of the school have cancer while there is proliferation thyroid conditions in the local population.

Local residents have exhausted all normal means of protest and are now considering camping indefinitely in front of the heard offices of the Telefónica mobile phone network in Madrid.

For the full article

More articles on mobile phones and masts

First Published in January 2010

Back to top