But to many residents, the relevance of the large cellular phone towers and antennas sprouting up around the territory is frighteningly clear.

Some see them while driving to work, others, out their office windows and in their backyards.

And from those fearful of the towers, the question radiates: Are they a health and safety hazard?

Standing a basketball court length away from the cellular tower overshadowing St. George’s, Dr. Paolo Vecchia didn’t hesitate to refute the possibility of radioactive harm.

“Frankly speaking, there’s none — zero [possibility],” said Dr. Vecchia, who is the chairperson of the International Commission of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

The commission was established through the World Health Organisation in 1996 to spearhead electromagnetic field projects.

And it’s the Italian specialist’s job to share his knowledge of the topic with the public he said often attaches stigmas to the towers.

This week, he was in the territory speaking to Virgin Islands residents at a workshop and visiting sites with University of the West Indies engineers tasked with testing the facilities.

The workshop went late Monday night, as Dr. Vecchia spent more than an hour shuffling through slides, conducting a presentation weighted with arguments from internationally recognised scientific authorities.

Devices that produce electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, are nothing new, he explained. But since the advent of cell phone technology, and the subsequent popularity of the devices, fears have sprouted along with the towers necessary to support their use.

Televisions, radios and wireless Internet devices are examples of other popular electronics that rely on signals produced by towers.

Other electronic devices, like microwaves, also have cooked up widespread concern for their role in possibly producing carcinogens that could cause cancer.

All these devices produce electromagnetic non-ionizing radiation — just like the sun — in order to operate.

But, Dr. Vecchia said, there should be nothing to fear.

The chairman discussed the possibility of harm produced by mobile devices, and ultimately defended their safety.

When activated by the connection of an incoming phone call, the devices intercept a signal relayed from a cellular tower’s antenna.

While the tower often is capable of operating at 1,900 megahertz, Dr. Vecchia contends the waves produced by personal cellular devices fall well below WHO and ICNIRP standards used to measure health risks.

But sceptics who sat through his Tuesday presentation raised their hands with their doubts.

Carl Dawson questioned the applicability of the scientific studies Dr. Vecchia presented to the group of about 30 who attended the workshop at The Moorings.

“I don’t think you can play around with the lives of people,” Mr. Dawson said, adding that since the studies did not directly involve human testing, there is no certain proof that humans would not be affected.

While the chairman agreed that an absolute conclusion could not prove the argument that cell phones do not cause health problems, he assured the small crowd that hundreds of studies using advanced machinery, field and animal testing, and observational methods have brought him to his conclusion.

However, Mr. Dawson said, he would like to see proof, “to put our minds at ease.”

The full story appears in the Feb. 18, 2010 issue.