By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor 28 May 2007 10:15
Published: 27 May 2007

Mobile phone companies and the Government's official regulator are keeping information about the siting of radiation-emitting masts secret, despite rising concern about effects they may have on health.

The companies have stopped disclosing the sites of newly erected masts in what critics describe as "a fit of pique". And Ofcom, the communications industry regulator has refused to release information because it is afraid this might make the firms even more secretive.

News of the cover-up came as Sir William Stewart, the Government's top health protection watchdog, publicly voiced concerns about the possible effects of the radiation from the masts and Wi-Fi installations, and called for a "timely" official review.

His comments on BBC's Panorama followed an exclusive report in The Independent on Sunday five weeks ago that Sir William was pressing for a formal investigation. A former government chief scientist - and now chairman of the Health Protection Agency - he has chaired two official inquiries, which raised questions about the safety of mobile phones.

The first, in 2000 concluded a "national database" should be set up containing "reliable and openly available information about the location" of all masts and mobile phone base stations.

The industry set up a database in the form of a map, now hosted by Ofcom. Critics complained that it was hard to use even though the Stewart Inquiry had said it "should be easy to identify all base stations within a defined geographical area".

Ofcom is now facing a Freedom of Information action to get it to disclose nationwide information in the site on request. As a result, it says: "The mobile network operators have decided not to provide any further information to Ofcom about sites they build or change."

Alasdair Philips, director of Powerwatch, an information service on the radiation says: "It beggars belief that the mobile phone companies should stop putting up the limited information that they have provided in the past. It looks like a fit of pique."