vatican city's radio station recently stopped using short-wave transmitters following a settlement with the Italian government. It was said that electro-magnetic radiations from the station's transmitters were causing cancer. Vatican city is an independent enclave inside the capital Rome. The government has also directed the station to transfer medium-wave broadcasting transmitters outside Italy by the end of August 2001.

Residents of Santa Maria di Galeria, where the transmitters are located, say that their area has more cases of leukemia and cancerous tumours than anywhere else in Italy. The radiations were three and six times more than the maximum prescribed limit, despite the station reducing the power of its transmitters considerably.