Last month, a nine-member team of government experts headed to a U.S. military base on the Marshall Islands to explore the possible health effects of a radar on the Kwajalein Atoll. If all goes according to government plans, the U.S. will move this radar to the Czech Republic to become part of its European missile-defense shield. Upon their return, these experts assured the public that the planned radar base — to be erected on the Brdy military grounds, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Prague — will not pose any known health risks to the local population.But, as the Defense Ministry puts the finishing touches on a detailed report of the experts’ findings, which officials expect to publicize later this month, local scientist and nongovernmental organizations continue to voice their criticism over the methodology with which the government is analyzing information about the radar base’s possible health effects.
“[The government] is deliberately adjusting the controlled information in the midst of a propaganda war with the public,” says Karel DolejšÃ, spokesman for the local branch of global watchdog organization Greenpeace. DolejšÃÂ’s statement is a reaction to an Oct.10 Defense Ministry presentation of the preliminary findings from the Marshall Islands expedition, intended to mollify local fears that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the radar will have a negative impact on the health of those living in its vicinity.
During this presentation, ministry experts capped the radarÂ’s maximum energy output at 170 kilowatts, which is well below the Czech legal limit.
| details of the argument over numbers at the link |