Campaigners against cell-phone towers are on completely the wrong wavelength, according to one amateur researcher.

Banker Adam Gauntlett has signalled his disgust at radiation fears voiced by pressure group CARE.

Mr. Gauntlett, from the Bank of Bermuda's corporate action unit, contacted top scientists from around the world to check out CARE's claims.

The group, Communities Against Radiation Emissions, has lobbied against Bermuda's 38th cell-phone mast, at Faraway in Warwick.

They believe the Island can be served by three or four high towers which will not emit radiation feared to cause cancer.

Mr. Gauntlett wrote to The Royal Gazette claiming he contacted the scientists quoted by CARE to support their claims.

And he said the scientists refuted suggestions that the cell-phone towers might cause cancer in Bermuda.

He also claimed: The Environmental Protectional Agency have not disputed Bermuda's emissions standards, set by the US Federal Communications Commission; Dr. William Leiss, quoted by CARE, does not believe towers have "serious harmful effects''; British scientist Sir Richard Doll has never called for a radiation study in the UK; and Austria's radiation limits are not 10 times stricter than Bermuda's...they simply have weaker radiation from towers.

Mr. Gauntlett, who refused an invitation from CARE to address one of their meetings, accused the group of making personal attacks in Letters to the Editor.

He told The Royal Gazette : "It was mainly curiosity which drove me towards this subject.

"But I found that many of the scientists cited by CARE have expressed their opinions and not backed them up with original research of their own.'' CARE spokeswoman Monica Rowe claimed Mr. Gauntlett had distorted the group's statements, as it fought for the health and safety of Bermuda's public.

She added: "He has addressed some of the issues with invalid rebuttals and has left the remainder of our case still standing intact... "We have invented nothing nor distorted anything. We can back everything we have said with documentation.

"The distortion of our statements by Mr. Gauntlett is most clearly demonstrated when he says CARE have made personal attacks.

"We continue to take the high road. We are not perfect, nor are our sources, but we are not a bunch of liars as inferred by Mr. Gauntlett's unauthenticated `not true' statements and we have no hidden agenda.'' HEALTH HTH