UPDATE The Pittsfield, MA Board of Health is asking residents to document any symptoms they’re experiencing from a Verizon cell tower. iBerkshires reported that a survey would be conducted to better inform the Board of Health of what abutters are experiencing after approximately 20 people came forward with alleged tower-related health issues.
At last week’s Board meeting, member Bobbie Orsi said, “We’re never going to show a direct [cause], but it would be really interesting to know, is it five people or is it 40 people? And what are the common symptoms?”
According to Board member Kimberly Loring, historically, people were asked to contact the Health Department with reports related to the tower, and they were keeping track of the calls. She explained that the department had initially hoped that the state Department of Public Health would investigate it as a cluster, but the state was not interested in doing that.
Orsi is hopeful that documenting what’s going on in the neighborhood will serve as case data moving forward. “One of the biggest challenges is when you have something like a toxin that’s still under investigation, and I understand this from what we went through with the PCB thing eons ago, people think, not that you’re making it up, but, but there is that that you may not necessarily think that the impact is as real as it is,” Orsi added.
According to Pittsfield’s interim Director of Public Health Andy Cambi, he will attempt to coordinate a follow-up meeting with Verizon before the end of November to discuss removing the tower or relocating it. Verizon representatives said it would be “unlikely” for that to happen during previous discussions, reported iBerkshires.
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