Last month one of our relative sought an opinion from me. He has been approached for setting up of a cell phone tower at roof top. The monthly rent to be paid to him is significant. I wish I could tell him what he wanted to hear - a "Yes". But I could not. Besides the structural integrity of the old building in which the tower will be raised there is the concern of associated health risk.
The health risk associated with cell phone use and cell phone towers, the points and counter points made, are often equated with the ones made on cigarette smoking few years back. And we know where we stand now. The industries who make money out of it kept saying, "There is no conclusive evidence to link the two." The report titled "Electromagnetic fields and public health : mobile phones" published by World Health Organization in May, 2010 says, "To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use." Such statements can be read in both ways. It always leaves a hint of doubt : There may be or there are 'adverse health effects' but not established as yet.
In a 2002 report published by Karen J Rogers titled "Health effects from cell phone tower radiation" cautions people. The author cites several references like [1]Microwave and Radio Frequency Radiation Exposure, San Francisco Medicine , Vol. 74, No 3, March 2001 [2]Mobiles Risk to children, Daily Mail (U.K.), May 11, 2000 etc. and and to quote a few paragraphs from page 1 of his report
Studies have shown that even at low levels of this radiation, there is evidence of damage to cell tissue and DNA, and it has been linked to brain tumors, cancer, suppressed immune function, depression, miscarriage, Alzheimer's disease, and numerous other serious illnesses. [1]
Children are at the greatest risk, due to their thinner skulls, and rapid rate of growth. Also at greater risk are the elderly, the frail, and pregnant women. Doctors from the United Kingdom have issued warnings urging children under 16 not to use cell phones, to reduce their exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation. [2]
Over 100 physicians and scientists at Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health have called cellular towers a radiation hazard. And, 33 delegate physicians from 7 countries have declared cell phone towers a “public health emergency.”
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in charge of setting the standards of exposure for the public, and claims that, based on scientific studies, the current levels are safe. But it is not a public health agency, and has been criticized as being “an arm of the industry”. Many who work for the FCC are either past, present or future employees of the very industries they are supposed to regulate. With an explosively emergent $40 billion dollar a year industry at stake, critics have stated “you can bet that their studies are going to show whatever they want them to show”.
Back home, Prof. Girish Kumar of IIT Bombay has been working with arduous tenacity to make people aware. He prepared a comprehensive "Report on Cell Tower Radiation" which is full of case studies and circulated widely. We received it in our mailbox some time back and this as well as the Rogers' report mentioned above are available in full at scribd. Prof. Kumar has explained it nicely with radiation beam pattern etc. and to quote from his report
NDTV published Prof. Kumar's view on June 26, 2010 which stated like this.
"Each antenna is transmitting with a gain of approximately 50, so we are looking at 4-5 kilowatts of power being transmitted by these antennas. Microwaves use only 500 watts of power and that too you cook food for just a few minutes. These towers are transmitting 24 hours so you are absorbing radiation 24 hours. The solution is that cell phone towers should transmit one tenth of the power they are currently transmitting,"
DNA publishes this on Jan. 30, 2010.
Dr RS Sharma of the Indian Council of Medical Research said that the government of India was among the countries that had adopted the worst standards of radiation levels.
Today we find some action at Govt. end. Times of India today carried the following as a front page news.
Radiation from mobile phones and towers poses serious health risks, including memory loss, lack of concentration, disturbance in the digestive system and sleep disturbances, according to an inter-ministerial committee formed by the ministry of communications and information technology to study the hazards posed by mobile phones.
The committee has also attributed disappearance of butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows from big cities to mobile phone-related radiation.
Member scientist, ICMR, R S Sharma said compared to Europeans, Indian cellphone users are more at risk for adverse affect of radiation due to the country’s hot tropical climate, low body mass index, and low fat content.
"In the case of a person using a cellphone, most of the heating occurs on the surface of the head, causing its temperature to increase by a fraction of a degree. The brain blood flow is capable of disposing this excess by increasing the local blood flow and increasing body temperature," states the report. It says that the non-thermal effects of cellphone use — attributed to the induced electromagnetic effects inside the body's biological cells — are more harmful.
"There is a 400% increase in the risk of brain cancer among teenagers using cell phones for long periods. The younger the child, the deeper is the penetration of electromagnetic radiation as children`s skulls are thinner.
Another government-funded study on radiation from mobile phones and towers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) found that the exposure to radiation from mobile towers and mobile phones could have an adverse impact on male fertility and pose health hazards by depleting the defence mechanism of cells.
Whether we consider cell phone as necessary evil or not, we may try to limit its use to the extent possible and develop a collective opinion so that common man who do not read all these reports, can avoid health hazard.
It is a collective responsibility for all of us who appreciate the underlying issues.
Links:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3773284/Health-Effects-from-Cell-Phone-Tower-Radiation
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44736879/Cell-Tower-Radiation-Report-sent-to-DOT-Department-of-Telecommunications
http://www.ndtv.com/article/sci-tech/is-cell-phone-radiation-a-health-hazard-33943
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_citizens-ensure-warnings-on-cell-radiation-are-taken-seriously-in-mumbai_1500686
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mobiles-pose-health-risk-says-govt-panel/articleshow/7415288.cms
The health risk associated with cell phone use and cell phone towers, the points and counter points made, are often equated with the ones made on cigarette smoking few years back. And we know where we stand now. The industries who make money out of it kept saying, "There is no conclusive evidence to link the two." The report titled "Electromagnetic fields and public health : mobile phones" published by World Health Organization in May, 2010 says, "To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use." Such statements can be read in both ways. It always leaves a hint of doubt : There may be or there are 'adverse health effects' but not established as yet.
In a 2002 report published by Karen J Rogers titled "Health effects from cell phone tower radiation" cautions people. The author cites several references like [1]Microwave and Radio Frequency Radiation Exposure, San Francisco Medicine , Vol. 74, No 3, March 2001 [2]Mobiles Risk to children, Daily Mail (U.K.), May 11, 2000 etc. and and to quote a few paragraphs from page 1 of his report
Studies have shown that even at low levels of this radiation, there is evidence of damage to cell tissue and DNA, and it has been linked to brain tumors, cancer, suppressed immune function, depression, miscarriage, Alzheimer's disease, and numerous other serious illnesses. [1]
Children are at the greatest risk, due to their thinner skulls, and rapid rate of growth. Also at greater risk are the elderly, the frail, and pregnant women. Doctors from the United Kingdom have issued warnings urging children under 16 not to use cell phones, to reduce their exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation. [2]
Over 100 physicians and scientists at Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health have called cellular towers a radiation hazard. And, 33 delegate physicians from 7 countries have declared cell phone towers a “public health emergency.”
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in charge of setting the standards of exposure for the public, and claims that, based on scientific studies, the current levels are safe. But it is not a public health agency, and has been criticized as being “an arm of the industry”. Many who work for the FCC are either past, present or future employees of the very industries they are supposed to regulate. With an explosively emergent $40 billion dollar a year industry at stake, critics have stated “you can bet that their studies are going to show whatever they want them to show”.
Back home, Prof. Girish Kumar of IIT Bombay has been working with arduous tenacity to make people aware. He prepared a comprehensive "Report on Cell Tower Radiation" which is full of case studies and circulated widely. We received it in our mailbox some time back and this as well as the Rogers' report mentioned above are available in full at scribd. Prof. Kumar has explained it nicely with radiation beam pattern etc. and to quote from his report
Through the help of the above typical radiation pattern, let’s analyze the news reported in Mid-day, Mumbai dated Jan. 3, 2010, which stated -“Mumbai's swanky Usha Kiran building says the four cancer cases there could be linked to mobile towers installed on the facing Vijay Apartments”. The picture taken from the Usha Kiran building of the several antennas installed onthe seventh floor of Vijay Apartments is shown in Fig. 2. People living in the 6th, 7th and 8th floor in the opposite building will get maximum radiation as they are in the main beam direction. People living on the other floors will receive lesser radiation as beam maxima is reduced considerably as can be observed from vertical radiation pattern. In the horizontal direction again, people living in the front side of the antenna will receive much higher radiation compared to people living in the back side of antenna.
"Each antenna is transmitting with a gain of approximately 50, so we are looking at 4-5 kilowatts of power being transmitted by these antennas. Microwaves use only 500 watts of power and that too you cook food for just a few minutes. These towers are transmitting 24 hours so you are absorbing radiation 24 hours. The solution is that cell phone towers should transmit one tenth of the power they are currently transmitting,"
DNA publishes this on Jan. 30, 2010.
Dr RS Sharma of the Indian Council of Medical Research said that the government of India was among the countries that had adopted the worst standards of radiation levels.
Today we find some action at Govt. end. Times of India today carried the following as a front page news.
Radiation from mobile phones and towers poses serious health risks, including memory loss, lack of concentration, disturbance in the digestive system and sleep disturbances, according to an inter-ministerial committee formed by the ministry of communications and information technology to study the hazards posed by mobile phones.
The committee has also attributed disappearance of butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows from big cities to mobile phone-related radiation.
Member scientist, ICMR, R S Sharma said compared to Europeans, Indian cellphone users are more at risk for adverse affect of radiation due to the country’s hot tropical climate, low body mass index, and low fat content.
"In the case of a person using a cellphone, most of the heating occurs on the surface of the head, causing its temperature to increase by a fraction of a degree. The brain blood flow is capable of disposing this excess by increasing the local blood flow and increasing body temperature," states the report. It says that the non-thermal effects of cellphone use — attributed to the induced electromagnetic effects inside the body's biological cells — are more harmful.
"There is a 400% increase in the risk of brain cancer among teenagers using cell phones for long periods. The younger the child, the deeper is the penetration of electromagnetic radiation as children`s skulls are thinner.
Another government-funded study on radiation from mobile phones and towers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) found that the exposure to radiation from mobile towers and mobile phones could have an adverse impact on male fertility and pose health hazards by depleting the defence mechanism of cells.
Whether we consider cell phone as necessary evil or not, we may try to limit its use to the extent possible and develop a collective opinion so that common man who do not read all these reports, can avoid health hazard.
It is a collective responsibility for all of us who appreciate the underlying issues.
Links:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3773284/Health-Effects-from-Cell-Phone-Tower-Radiation
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44736879/Cell-Tower-Radiation-Report-sent-to-DOT-Department-of-Telecommunications
http://www.ndtv.com/article/sci-tech/is-cell-phone-radiation-a-health-hazard-33943
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_citizens-ensure-warnings-on-cell-radiation-are-taken-seriously-in-mumbai_1500686
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mobiles-pose-health-risk-says-govt-panel/articleshow/7415288.cms
1 comment:
The radiations emitted from mobile phone are more dangerous than radiations reaching to user from the cell phone tower, because the intensity of the radiations drop below the danger limit when it reaches a user who is usually hundreds of meters away from the cell tower, but as the mobile phone is usually very very close to our body most of the time and the intensity of radiations reaching us from it is very high compared to the radiations from cell tower,,, so be careful and start protecting yourself from the mobile phone radiations, know more at http://www.waveban.in
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