NO PROCEEDINGS AGAINST VATICAN RADIO DIRECTORS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 20, 2002 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was a communique from the management of Vatican Radio regarding the latest hearing in the trial for the alleged electromagnetic contamination produced by the transmitting station of Santa Maria di Galeria, a few kilometers outside Rome.

The sentence issued by Rome's penal court has established that proceedings must not continue "for lack of jurisdiction" over the three directors of Vatican Radio accused over the alleged electromagnetic contamination of the transmitters.

As for the health concerns of the people who live near Santa Maria di Galeria, the note says: "it must in any case be recalled once again that no reliable study has shown the existence of health risks associated with transmissions from the Santa Maria di Galeria station, and that there is, consequently, no reason to be alarmed."

The communique goes on to affirm: "Not only has Vatican Radio always respected international recommendations on electromagnetic transmissions, but it also implemented within the agreed time (August 31, 2001) measures necessary for emissions from the Santa Maria di Galeria station to enter within the limits set by Italian law. Vatican Radio has thus fulfilled the commitments it assumed with the Italian government, in accordance with the agreement reached by the Italian-Holy See bilateral commission on May 18, 2001. Vatican Radio would like to make clear that, to this end, medium wave transmissions on 1530 kHz - which were held to be the chief cause of the problem and which, for that reason, had already been cut back - have been further reduced from 300 to just 100 kilowatts. This has had inevitably serious consequences on the reception of programmes, a problem only partly compensated by the transfer of some transmissions to the transmitting station of 'Montecarlo Radiodiffusion'."

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