Lookout Mountain residents who live closer to or can see the broadcast towers have higher radiofrequency levels in their homes that people who live farther away, according to a published Colorado State University study.
A second CSU study, which has not been published, found radiofrequency radiation on Lookout Mountain did not decrease one immune system hormone, but did increase some types of immune system white-blood cells.
The results, said Jim Burch, one of the studies’ authors, “have to be interpreted with some caution” and are still being evaluated.
Debate about possible health effects from living near the Lookout Mountain towers has been raised frequently during the seven years that a consortium of Denver TV stations have sought to replace three towers and build a 730-foot-high tower.
“The people up there want some kind of definitive answer about that, and unfortunately, the results don’t provide that,” Burch said Wednesday.
The results “raise more questions, but that’s the nature of science,” Burch said. “We get what we get.”
Opponents and proponents of the tower rezoning pointed to aspects of the studies to support their cases.
Residents have “biological effects from increased broadcast radiation exposure,” said Deb Carney, attorney for the main opponent group, Canyon Area Residents for the Environment.
Carney said the published study confirms that those living near the towers are subjected to high radiation levels.
Marv Rockford, spokesman for the TV consortium, said the results are “a corroboration of what we have said all along – that we are far, far, far below the levels (of radiofrequency radiation) regulated by the federal government … and there is no evidence of an impact on health.”
What impact the studies, which were conducted in 2002 and 2003 under National Institutes of Health grants, could have on the tower rezoning is not clear.
After repeated challenges in court, the Jefferson County commissioners were told by District Court Judge Brooke Jackson in May to make a decision. The county board has not indicated when it will do so.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
