There are an estimated1.3 millionbase station antennas installed on towers and rooftops worldwide. As more and more of these are installed to increase coverage and to power new applications the ocean of electropollution to which we are exposed will only continue to thicken. Cell towers and antennas are popping up everywhere. In the United States there are now more than 1,947,000 towers and antennas currently online. Towers are the structures on which antennas are placed and multiple antennas may be attached to a single tower. The antenna is the actual emitter of the radio signal. Antennas are placed not only on towers but also on fires stations, churches, schools, cemeteries, and even in our national parks. Did you know there's a cell tower near Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park? And to make them esthetically pleasing to the environment antenna towers are often disguised. It's not uncommon to see cell phone towers in the southwest that look like palm trees, for example. These towers and antennas are often hidden, too, in places like church steeples or placed on rooftops where they can't be seen. Can't sleep well in a hotel at night? There may be an antenna tower hidden on the roof.

As explained earlier, each cell phone tower emits its signal in a circular pattern that would look much like a flower petal if it were visible. In other words, the pattern spreads itself 360 degrees around the tower in a circle. This "circle" around the tower is called a "cell" and this is where the term "cell" in cell phone gets its name. When under the umbrella of the "cell" good reception is maintained. When out of this cell area the reception is poor. Cell phone towers, then, are positioned throughout the countryside in such a way that these "cells" overlap one another so that, ideally, one is never out of coverage anywhere.

Cell Phone Towers Placed On Schools, Fire Stations, and Church Steeples

Just why would a cell phone tower be placed on a church, school or fire station? Money. Cell phone companies pay organizations handsomely to install cell tower equipment on these properties. This eliminates the need for the cell phone company to lease or purchase land or buildings to erect their own towers. They can simply rent existing structures from someone else. This "rent money" can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars a month. What school district or church couldn't use a few extra dollars to benefit a tight budget? But does the income outweigh the potential risk? The studies say absolutely not.

Two-time Nobel Prize nominee, Dr. Gerald Hyland, a physicist, had this to say about cell phone towers."Existing safety guidelines for cell phone towers are completely inadequate. Quite justifiably, the public remains skeptical of attempts by government and industry to reassure them that all is well, particularly given the unethical way in which they often operate symbiotically so as to promote their own vested interests."

Learn more about Cell Phone Radiation and EMF Protection .