Testimony to the Montgomery County School Board by Theodora Scarato MSW

Cell towers do not belong on school property. Our children deserve safe learning environments. Research finds that children are more vulnerable to cell tower radiation because they absorb this radiation deeper into their still developing brains and bodies, and school boards nationwide from LA to Loudoun County, as well as entire countries, have banned cell towers at schools.

Now, when I asked T-Mobile for the Wheaton High School cell tower radiation measurements, they said it was proprietary. When I asked MCPS, they told me it would cost $500.

This is the cell tower at Wheaton High School. 

Fairfax County Schools post all the recent cell tower radiation measurements online, and my Freedom of Information requests reveal that at several schools, the levels have significantly increased over the last decade since the towers were erected.

A 2022 review on cell tower health effects published in found the majority of studies found effects including cancer, and a just published analysis in Environmental Health by a 28-year former NIH scientist, Dr. Melnik, and Dr. Moscowitz of UC Berkeley found, using EPA methodology, FCC limits needed to be reduced by at least 200 times to maintain an acceptable cancer risk based on the US government $30 million National Toxicology Program study, and by 4,200 times based on the Ramzini Institute studies.

Now, compliance with US FCC limits does not ensure safety. These limits are unchanged and unscientifically reviewed since 1996. They only protect against short-term effects, not long-term effects like cancer. Other countries have limits which are 10 to 100 times more stringent, meaning lower- allowing less radiation-  than what is permitted in the United States. 

Hundreds of scientists caution that exposure should be reduced. Numerous examples here. 

It is time to overhaul MCPS cell tower policies in order to ensure transparency and safety for students, teachers, and staff. 

Thank you.

Theodora Scarato is Director of the Wireless and EMF Program at Environmental Health Sciences. Decades ago, she worked in Montgomery County Public Schools as a social worker directing an intensive therapy program in a special education school serving middle school and high school students. Scarato has co-authored several scientific papers and serves as a Special Expert to the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF). Scarato was a lead in a landmark federal case against the FCC in which the court mandated the agency explain how its 1996 cell tower radiation exposure guidelines were adequate. Her latest publication in Frontiers in Public Health entitled “U.S. policy on wireless technologies and public health protection: regulatory gaps and proposed reforms” documents the history of wireless regulation in the US, the regulatory gaps, loopholes, decades of regulatory capture and her  freedom of information requests that found  the federal government is withholding, critical, consumer information.

What Parents and Communities Can Do About School Cell Towers

• Advocate for Protective School Policies: Work with school boards to pass policies prohibiting cell towers and wireless infrastructure on school property.
• Educate Decision Makers: Share scientific research and public health information with school officials, elected leaders, PTAs, and community members about children’s unique vulnerability to RF radiation exposure. Check out our factsheets here. 
• Request Transparency: Ask for RF radiation measurements, lease agreements, and public meetings with the entire school community plus neighborhoods  before towers are approved.

If you want to learn more about how communities stop cell towers at schools, Environmental Health Sciences has developed a Cell Tower Toolkit with information, research, and advocacy resources available here.