VATICAN RADIO AND THE DEBATE OVER RADIATION EMISSIONS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 17, 2001 (VIS) - Vatican Radio program director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., in a communique released yesterday afternoon, responded to statements made by Italian Environment Minister Willer Bordon who had threatened to cut off electricity to the Santa Maria de Galeria center where Vatican Radio has its antennae because of the allegedly high electromagnetic pollution they are causing.

Minister Bordon's statement was another step in the debate that has been taking place recently between Italian authorities and Vatican Radio for the radiation allegedly emitted from the Santa Maria de Galeria center where a huge network of antennae transmits Vatican Radio programs to the entire world.

Yesterday, Minister Bordon said: "If in 15 days the broadcaster is not in conformity with the emission limits I will order the company giving power to (the radio station) to cut off the supply."

Yesterday afternoon Fr. Lombardi replied in a note: "The management of Vatican Radio is astonished at the statement and behavior of Minister Bordon, given that a bilateral commission between Italy and the Holy See exists and has been working for months with the precise purpose of facing together the problems relative to the Santa Maria in Galeria center. There is even a representative of the Ministry for Environment on this commission.

"Vatican Radio," he concluded, "has said that it is most open to collaboration, and we are convinced that this is the appropriate, correct and reasonable path along which we must proceed. An initiative such as Minister Bordon's does not help to create a climate of serenity which would contribute to seeking the most opportune solutions."

Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls, in an explanatory note today, added that "the Holy See takes to heart the health and serenity of all those who live in the vicinity of Vatican Radio's transmission center. As far as the electromagnetic fields go, Vatican Radio has always been oriented by the guidelines of the ICNIRP, that is, the authoritative International Commission for the Protection of Non-Ionized Radiation and did so long before Italy established norms in this regard. The indications of this commission were received with a unanimous vote by the Council of the European Union, with the sole exception of Italy, which, in 1998, established much more restrictive norms. The problem of emissions of the transmitting center arose following the Italian norms, which are different from the international standards to which the radio station has up to now followed."

"In the light of the international recommendations," Navarro-Valls said, "it must be stated that the accusations made against Vatican Radio of exercising an activity which is harmful to (a person's) health, have no basis in scientifically proven evidence."

He concluded: "Therefore, it is surprising that, while the Holy See has shown itself to be amenable to reaching an understanding, above all by starting on a joint measuring of the intensity of the electromagnetic fields produced by Vatican Radio activity at Santa Maria di Galeria, a member of the Italian government makes unacceptable declarations ... contrary to the spirit of negotiations."

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