THE West Green Citizens’ Association is to be congratulated for reinforcing confidence in the democratic process which led to the St James Parish Council’s rejection of Digicel’s application to erect a 45-metre cell tower in their community.

Readers may recall that the citizens’ bid to resist the installation of the tower by the communications giant started in September when Ms Vilma Clarke, president of the association, engaged our sister title the Observer West with their concerns.

Through diligent research, devoid of emotionalism, the citizens went about the business of researching the implications of the erection of the tower for their health, producing literature reflecting the opinions of over 100 physicians and scientists at the Harvard and Boston University schools of public health that cell phone towers constitute a radiation hazard.

They then presented this, along with a petition, to the St James Parish Council urging against the installation.

Several months and meetings later, the Observer West was able to report in its latest edition that the application had been rejected. According to Montego Bay Mayor Charles Sinclair, who chairs the St James Parish Council, Digicel’s application was refused based on the citizens’ concerns as well as the view that the proposed location was unsuitable.

We are happy that the St James Parish Council heeded the concerns of the residents.

For as we understand it, the jury is still out on the issue of just how harmful the radiation emitted by cell towers really is. There are persuasive studies from the international scientific community which support both sides of the debate. And it is unlikely that the true impact of these sites will be known immediately.

Notwithstanding, telecommunications providers are insisting — unsurprisingly — that they are safe.

Our National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the same organisation which gave the go-ahead for the Royale Rest cemetery to be constructed on top of the water table in Burnt Ground Hanover, has also returned its verdict in radiation matters, giving the go-ahead for the construction of such cell tower sites all over the island.

Yet, the fact is that there is more to be gained in the long run by constructing these towers on commercial sites, which, in the case of West Green, are available, as opposed to the backyards of residents who are opposed to them.

For if the residents are right and the cell towers are really hazardous, much damage would have already been done, needlessly at that. If they are wrong and the cell towers are harmless, well, so much the merrier.

In the meantime, it is our hope that other communities will take a page out of West Green’s book as far as the expression of their constitutional right to freedom of expression is concerned.

For regardless of the outcome, the civilised way forward must start with constructive dialogue within the context of the established channels of communication.