Prague- The U.S. missile defence radar base possibly to be stationed some 90km southwest of Prague would not threaten people's health if the safety zone is respected, Czech military's chief sanitary officer, Petr Navratil, told journalists today.

"The possibility of the population's health being harmed can be excluded," Navratil said.

The safety zone has been preliminary set at 800 metres from the radar installations.

A team of Czech military experts presented their conclusions in a study on the radar issued today. The expert study will soon be available on the Internet, they said.

Czech opposition leader Jiri Paroubek (Social Democrats, CSSD) today indirectly challenged the new Czech expert report, saying he would prefer an analysis signed by renowned doctors from several universities to report by experts from the military health care faculty of the Czech Defence Ministry.

The mayors of municipalities neighbouring on the military area in which the radar system is likely to be constructed said they mistrust such reassuring statements.

"I don't believe it, we don't want here any Americans," Josef Vondrasek, Mayor of Tozmital pod Tremsinem, said in reaction.

A vast majority of the locals oppose the U.S. base, referenda held in these municipalities showed.

The American-Czech negotiations on the base are to continue until the end of the year. U.S. representatives want to hear the final position of the Czech government at the beginning of 2008.

Czech Deputy Defence Minister Tomas Pojar told CTK today that the next round of the U.S.-Czech talks will be held in early September when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security, John Rood, is to arrive in Prague.

Some local mayors say information from the Internet mostly admits negative influence of a radar on human health. According to them, a study issued by the U.S. Missile Defence Agency (MDA) presents different results from what Czech politicians and authorities tell them.

"We have no information either confirming or refuting that health could be harmed. We won't believe it until we receive an assessment report on the risks, signed by doctors and sanitary officers," Misov Mayor Pavel Hruby said.

Misov is the village nearest to the possible site of the base, being situated two kilometres from it.

Navratil pointed out that the elevation angle of the radar was important. He added the angle would be at least two degrees. "In a distance, the beam will be really relatively high," he said. "The radar of course is not interested in shining down on the villages, but it will not even shine horizontally," he added.

Ludek Pekarek from the National Reference Laboratory for Non-ionizing Radiation said the radar may cause a psychosomatic syndrome in some people.

Pekarek said that some people might feel nervous, suffer from sleep disorders and other problems.

The experts said locals should obtain as much information about the possible radar base as possible.

The USA plans to station elements of its missile defence shield in Central Europe - a radar system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland.

The Civic Democrats (ODS) of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek support the idea of the base, while the opposition Social Democrats demand that a referendum be held on it. Majority of Czechs are against the base.