Fifteen women are at the centre of a major radiation scare, possibly developing breast cancer years after sharing the same classroom.

The former Prospect Secondary classmates are said to have caught the disease because their school was in the shadow of several cellular towers.

Now some of Government's most senior medical officers are investigating to see if their conditions could be linked to the towers at Prospect.

The masts are for TV and radio broadcasting, cellular communications and two-way radios for Police.

A cluster of rare cancer cases has already been discovered among several British Policemen who lived in the Prospect barracks while serving Bermuda in the 1960s.

Concern is now mounting that 130 more officers, mostly British, may be in danger after living in the barracks between 1962 and 1967.

The Prospect schoolmates are also believed to have started developing the disease during their teenage years in the 1960s.

Now Dr. Brenda Davidson, coordinating the investigation into the cancer cases, has sent environmental health officers to Police headquarters to learn more about the cellular towers.

And she appealed for the cancer sufferers to come forward after their cases came to light at a meeting held by the anti-tower group CARE (Community Against Radiation Emissions) last week.

The group, led by Steve Thompson, are lobbying against proposals to build a cellular tower in Southampton.

They fear the planned mast, to be erected by Bermuda Digital Communications, could endanger Bermuda's children and subject them to cancerous radiation.

Dr. Davidson told The Royal Gazette last night that she had been told 15 students at Prospect Secondary -- which closed in 1985 -- had now developed breast cancer.

She added: "At this stage we can't say very much about it and we don't know if there is a link or not.

"We have heard this allegation that there is this cluster of cases and we are now going back over a series of hospital records and checking statistics.

"We do not have enough information to substantiate anything yet. But we have extended our existing inquiry at Prospect, which focused on the Police, to include the history of the towers there.

"It seems the majority of them were built in the last decade but there would have been some there before. The tough part is getting information about them.

"We are taking it seriously but we don't want to scaremonger. The world incidence of breast cancer has increased over the last 20 to 30 years and the reason for that is unclear.

"But it is not thought to be the result of electro-magnetic emissions. Right now, we need people to come forward.

"We don't even have the names of these 15 women but hopefully they will be in touch with us as the result of publicity.'' Dr. John Cann, Chief Medical Officer, confirmed the investigation was underway to see if there was a link between cancer and cellular towers.

Ex-pupils fear cancer link and look closely at the situation,'' he said. "I'm not aware of this sort of linkage but we're trying to get the facts.'' Most of the Police officers whose cases are being examined suffered from different forms of throat cancer.

One was George Rushe, who died late last year at the age of 54. One of his former colleagues, advertising executive Dusty Hind, has also suffered from throat cancer.

Carol Hill, a teacher at Prospect Secondary School for Girls from 1959 to 1985, said: "I knew thousands of girls who came through that school.

"I sincerely hope it can be proved that there is no link here. It's a shocking piece of news.'' CARE launches appeal to Cabinet: Page 3