Italy's supreme Court has ordered Vatican Radio to
compensate a small town near Rome following claims that children there
were at a higher risk of cancer because of the broadcaster's
high-powered transmitters.
Reports emerged in 2001 that electro-magnetic
radiation produced by Vatican Radio's transmitters near Cesano was above
the legal limit.
The station cut the strength of its signals, but the
case went to court when a health authority released a study claiming
that children in the area were six times more likely to develop
leukaemia than youngsters elsewhere.
Rome's Court of Appeal will now decide how much Vatican Radio will have to pay in damages.
Codacons,
the national consumer association which backed residents' claims,
hailed the court's decision.
"Finally justice is done and the people of
Cesano will be able to have the compensation they deserve," said the
president of Codacons, Carlo Rienzi.
Vatican
Radio said it was disappointed by the ruling.
"This sentence comes at
the end of a long, stormy trial process which has seen the pontifical
broadcaster subject to unjust accusations," a spokesman told Ansa news
agency.
"There is no justified reason for concern for any part of the
population."
The Vatican also noted that medical
research had never managed to establish a firm link between
electromagnetic waves from radio masts and malignancies.
Some
experts believe high-powered radio transmitters might raise the risk of
cancer in children.
However, unlike ionising radiation, such as X-rays,
it is not clear how radio waves might damage cells in a way that causes
the disease.
Vatican Radio, which was set up in 1931, broadcasts to 61 countries in 47 languages.