Fifteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society

Abstract

The negative vision of the public in general related to some technologies based on ionizing and non-ionizing “radiation” is well known. In the case of non-ionizing radiation, the public concern was originated from the huge and rapid appearing of thousands of antennas from the mobile phone base stations, (BST), everywhere in the residential areas. In Belo Horizonte, due to the mountainous geography of the city, there is 1300 BST´s. Formerly, the installation of each BST was previously discussed during the public meetings. Due to strong opposition demonstrated by the public and the difficulties to manage the time and the pressure of the companies responsible for telecommunication service, they were canceled. In this work, we describe and discuss the public perception and concerns about the concept of “radiation” in the urban area of the 4M people of the City of Belo Horizonte/Brazil and the governmental strategies, which has been used to deal with. In parallel with my research activities involving the use of nuclear research reactor, since 2001 I have been involved in the evaluation and a survey of public perception of the impacts of non-ionizing radiation, (NIR), technologies, especially those issued by radio stations base (BST) in the City of Belo Horizonte/Brazil. In this work, several activities have been developed: NIR field measurements, media communication, preparation of explanatory teaching materials, public communication and others.