A growing number of parents in Liberty, Missouri, are seeking school transfers and demanding more testing at Warren Hills Elementary, where multiple staff cancer diagnoses and a nearby cell tower have raised health concerns.
Laura Bauer reports for The Kansas City Star.
In short:
- Six teachers at Warren Hills Elementary have been diagnosed with breast cancer since 2020, prompting fears of a cancer cluster among parents and staff. One teacher has died, and another was recently diagnosed.
- The school sits 130 feet from a 120-foot cell phone tower, which parents worry is exposing students and staff to harmful radiation. Experts argue current federal radiation safety standards are outdated.
- Despite transfer requests citing health concerns, Liberty Public Schools has denied all six applications. Officials insist the site is safe based on local and state health assessments and ongoing environmental testing.
Key quote:
“No one is measuring the cumulative exposure your children and educators are getting from 30 or more hours a week.”
— Ellie Marks, founder of the California Brain Tumor Association, which focuses on preventing health effects from cell phone radiation
Why this matters:
The situation at Warren Hills Elementary reflects rising concern over cell towers near schools and potential long-term health effects from radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Federal exposure limits in the United States, unchanged since 1996, are based only on short-term heating effects and have been criticized by scientists. A recent review of the scientific literature identified 28 studies — out of 38 reviewed — linking cell tower radiation to effects such as radiofrequency sickness, cancer, and biochemical changes.
The U.S. is among the countries that allow the most RF radiation emitted into the environment from cell towers. Many other countries enforce stricter limits, especially near schools and homes. Though the U.S. lacks federal limits on tower placement near schools, some localities, including Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and Loudoun County, Virginia, have enacted school district bans, while others have established setback policies.
