This issue has been on the news for a few days now, but it has sadly not garnered enough attention from folks not directly affected by it. I called up a few friends who live in the area, and a couple of contacts I have in political parties on either side of the divide in this scandal.

What’s stirking, is the overt use of excessive force against moms, dads and kids who live in the area. I wish we’d see such shows of force against armed thugs, wife killers or child molesters. Unfortunately, it seems the authorities only have muscles when it’s against innocent, unarmed taxpayers.

Do High Tension Power Cables Cause Cancer?

The short answer is, there is no evidence they do. Most studies and papers have found no correlation with cancer cases and high tension power cables EMFs in the vicinity. The studies that do are few, and are often disputed by other scientists. An exhaustive 339 page report by the WHO deducted:

“There is little experimental or theoretical evidence that mutations could be directly caused by ELF [extremely low frequency] magnetic fields…. There is little evidence that ELF electric or magnetic fields can cause malignant transformation of cells in culture.”
(source)

Of course, further studies over longer periods of time might find otherwise, but with everything done so far, and all the controversy, there is no evidence to support these claims.

However, this does not mean the residents’ demands are unfounded and should not be heeded, and for several reasons.

Sound Pollution

Growing up, my apartment building in Awkar was just over 50 meters away from a high tension power cable tower. The electric hum of it was a nightmare, that years of trying to get used to it wouldn’t help erase that monotone, ominous hum of a tower that could be at best described as an eye sore.

It’s people’s right to not live under constant 24/7 noise, especially when you purposefully leave the city to avoid that kind of noise, up in Mansurieh and Ain Saadeh and surrounding areas of lower Metn.

Property Value Plummets

Despite no evidence to support the claim that these EMFs cause cancer, many people believe it is true. This means that houses and businesses close to EMF sources like the high tension power cables, will immediately plummet in value. And even if it didn’t cause cancer, who would wanna live under the constant hum of these cables and towers, and ruin their neighborhoods with ugly monstrosities with viable alternatives?

There Are Alternatives

The cables can be passed underground, which has been done in several places, such as between Baabda and Dahieh, and in Tripoli in the North. The excuse given was that they can’t do that in empty lands, which is not true, because a big part of the cables linking Dahieh and Baabda are passed underground in empty plots of land full of underbrush and trees. The excuse is also that it would cost more to place the cables underground.

Those with the high tension power cables, said that residents will be compensated for their homes if they wanna move elsewhere. This renders the argument that using the underground option is too costly, as false. It’d cost way more to pay out residents from their homes, than to pass the cables underground, given in some places where the cable is passing, the price per square meter can be 1700USD/sqm at least.

Elections Fever

In 2009 and 2012, when this issue flared up as well, many of the members of parliament advocating for it now, were staunchly against the high tension cables back then. An FPM comes to mind, and even though he was a fierce opponent of the plan before the FPM came to power, he is now supporting this project, which incidentally is a project run by a ministry controlled by his political party.

It’s important to note that the rush to force this down taxpayers’ throats, is going hand in hand with the scandalous “power ships” that the same political party is trying to shove down those same taxpayers’ throats, which will see billions of dollars of Lebanese taxpayer money go to temporary, environmentally unfriendly and shortsighted plans to get more electricity “soon”.

A perceived breakthrough in the humiliating power shortage Lebanon still faces almost a quarter of a century after the end of the Lebanese Civil War ended, would definitely help them in the upcoming elections, but how can one get power from those powerships without those new high tension cables?

This would explain the next section:

Excessive Use of Force

It’s weird that entire battalions of soldiers, along with dozens of riot police, and armored personnel carriers are needed to do what’s supposed to be just an infrastructure project. This shows how extremely hell-bent some politicians are on this, regardless of what taxpayers think, especially with elections looming. It’s also sad that the FPM and LF politicians flip-flopped so quick when they got cabinet ministries, who were with the residents just a few years ago, but not condone this unacceptable show of force and bullying, and outright lying on TV screens while keeping their silence when the issue is raised on the table of the council of ministers.

To Sum Up

The government should be ashamed of itself for using such excessive force against unarmed, peaceful taxpayers. Find a solution, don’t use brute force, intimidation and threats. That’s how you lose elections, not win them.

Good luck to the residents of Ain Saade and Mansurieh and the surrounding areas, we are all supporting you against the corrupt politicians trying to use our armed forces against us.