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Home My Public Portal About2022.10.12 Pittsfield Board of HealthPITTSFIELD BOARD OF HEALTH Roberta Orsi, MS, RN, CCP, Chairperson Kimberly Loring, PMHNP-BC -Steve Smith, MA -Brad Gordon, JD -Jeffrey A. Leppo, MD April 11, 2022 Pittsfield Cellular Telephone Company d/b/a Verizon Wireless 99 East River Drive East Hartford, CT 06108 Att: Attorney Ellen W. Freyman Farley White South Street, LLC Att: Roger W. Altreuter, Manager 155 Federal Street, 18th Floor Boston, MA 02110 Pittsfield Cellular Telephone Company d/b/a Verizon Wireless Mark J. Esposito, Esq. Shatz, Schwartz & Fentin, P.C. 1441 Main Street, Suite 1100 Springfield, MA O 1103 EMERGENCY ORDER REQUIRING THAT PITTSFIELD CELLULAR TELEPHONE COMPANY, D/B/A VERIZON WIRELESS, AND FARLEY WHITE SOUTH STREET, LLC, SHOW CAUSE WHY THE PITTSFIELD BOARD OF HEAL m SHOULD NOT ISSUE A CEASE AND DESIST ORDER ABATING A NUISANCE AT 877 SOUTH STREET ARISING FROM THE OPERATION OF A VERIZON WIRELESS CELL TOWER THEREON AND CONSTITUTING IMMEDIATE ORDER OF DISCONTINUANCE AND ABATEMENT IF NO HEARING IS REQUESTED Pursuantto, inter alia, MGL 111 ss 122-125, 127-1271, 130, 143-144, 146-150, and State Sanitary Code 410. 750, 410.831-832, 410.850-.960, the Board of Health deems the following actions necessary to protect the public health in the City of Pittsfield, State of Massachusetts. Whereas, Verizon Wireless has constructed and operates a wireless telecommunications facility, a cell tower (the "facility"), located at 877 South Street, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on property Verizon Wireless leases from owner Farley White South Street LLC. The Verizon Wireless facility was activated in August, 2020, and has been operating continuously since that date. Whereas, soon after the facility was activated and began transmitting, the City started to receive reports of illness and negative health symptoms from residents living nearby the facility, and in pmticular, from residents living in the so-called "Shacktown" neighborhood. The negative health symptoms the affected residents have reported include complaints of headaches, sleep problems, heatt palpitations, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, nausea, skin rashes, and memory and cognitive problems, among other medical complaints. Whereas, as further documented below, the neurological and dermatological symptoms experienced by the residents are consistent with those described in the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature as being associated with exposure to pulsed and modulated Radio Frequency ("RF") radiation, including RF from cell towers. Whereas, those symptoms are sometimes referenced in the scientific and medical literature as electromagnetic sensitivity, also known as Electro-Hypersensitivity ("EHS"), Microwave Sickness, or Radiation Sickness. All these names describe a syndrome where the afflicted develop one or more Verizon Wireless required to remove cell tower Continuous exposure to the wireless radiation being transmitted from that wireless facility is causing illnesses and forcing residents to leave their homes. • • recognized symptoms as a result of pulsed and modulated RF radiation ("RFR"). EHS is a spectrum condition. For some, the symptoms can become debilitating, and severely affect their ability to function. Whereas, the federal government has officially recognized this syndrome in various ways. For example, in 2002, the "Access Board," an independent federal agency responsible for publishing Accessibility Guidelines used by the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), recognized that "electromagnetic sensitivities may be considered disabilities under the ADA."1 The Access Board contracted for the publication of the National Institute of Building Sciences 2005 report, which concludes that radiofrequency/electromagnetic frequency (RF/EMF) radiation is an "access barrier," and can render buildings "inaccessible" to those with electromagnetic sensitivity. The report recommends accessibility guidelines.2 For ADA Title I purposes, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy has issued guidelines for accommodations; these guidelines emphasize exposure avoidance and list as a resource, the EMF Medical Conference 2021 which trains medical doctors on the issue of electromagnetic radiation and health. 3 4 Whereas, The Centers for Disease Control's 2022 Classification of Diseases Codes Clinical Modification and Procedural Classification System implements the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). The "diagnosis code" for Radiation Sickness" is "T66."5 The "injury" code for "Exposure to Other Nonionizing Radiation" is "W90."6 These codes cover electro-sensitivity along with other RF exposure-related injuries and maladies. Whereas, the Health Board does not administer disability laws, but the foregoing authority strongly confirms that RF/EMF -even if emitted at levels within the FCC emissions guidelines -can be injurious to health or cause common injury to that significant portion of the public who are electromagnetic sensitive. Stated differently, pulsed and modulated RF can constitute a "public nuisance" or a "cause of sickness," and can constitute a trade which may result in a nuisance or be dangerous to the public health for purposes ofG.L. ch. 111 ss 122-125, 127B, 127C, 143-150, and 152. Whereas, the federal government's recognition that pulsed RF can directly cause harm to at least certain individuals or create an access barrier means that for the purposes of Massachusetts law, RF/EMF may effectively render certain dwellings Unfit for Hwnan Habitation or constitute a Condition Which May Endanger or Materially Impair the Health or Safety and Well-Being of an Occupant as defined in State Sanitary Code 410.020 and 4I0.750(P). Whereas, Verizon Wireless 877 South Street wireless facility is not itself a dwelling unit, but the Sanitary Code and other Massachusetts law allow the Health Board to act as necessary to ensure that 1 U.S. Access Board. (n.d). Indoor Environmellfal Quality. U.S. Access Board-Introduction. Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://www.access-board.gov/research/building/indoor-environmental-guality/. 2 IEQ Indoor Environmental Quality Proiect <IEO). (n.d.). National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). https://www.access-board.gov/files/research/IEO-Report.pdf. 3 U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy Accommodations W ebpage; Job Accommodation Network: Accommodation and Compliance: Electrical Sensitivity and Accommodation and Compliance Series: Employees with Electrical Sensitivity Publication Downloads. 4 EMF -Medical Conference 2021 Continuing Medical Education for physicians and health professionals. Several experts who presented to the Board and provided information also presented at the EMF Medical conference including Sharon Goldberg MD, Magda Havas PhD, Paul Heroux, PhD, Cindy Russsell MD, Sheena Symington, B.Sc., M.A., Cecelia Doucette, and Theodora Scarato, MSW. 5 2022 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code T66: Radiation sickness. unspecified. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https:/ /www.icdIOdata.com/ICD l OCM/Codes/SOO-T88/T66-T78/T66-/T66. 6 W90-ICD-JO Code for Exposure to other nonionizing radiation-Non-billable. (n.d.). ICD-10 Data and Code Lookup. Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://icd!Ocoded.com/cm/W90/. 2