Shockwaves – a campaign by the Express & Echo into mobile phone mast safety has found support in the Government, with a promise to carry out research into childhood leukaemia and phone masts.

Fears have been raised in Crediton, near Exeter, after a seven-year-old cancer sufferer was found to be living close to a 15ft tower.

The industry has just brought out the next generation of mobile phones, and calls for an investigation into the biological effects of phone masts are becoming louder.

Campaigners, whose work is being highlighted in the Echo, claim that radiation transmitted by the mast causes cancers, a claim denied by Orange, the company which owns the mast in Crediton.

Earlier this year, pressure from the campaigners and the press forced a top Government advisor on mast safety to admit that he couldn’t tell whether masts were safe or not.

Questions have been asked in parliament, and a £150,000 case study programme will be carried out by Imperial College, London.

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