even with cellphone use

8/12/2019 Even With Cellphone Use

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“Even with cellphone use, benign swelling in the brain and head, hearing disorders,headaches and anxiety neurosis are well established,” said Dr Sameer Kaul, cancer

surgeon, I ndraprastha Apoll o Hospital , New Delhi .

The impact is higher in children, who have smaller and thinner skulls.

The industry, predictably, is in denial. "We have extensive factual, scientific research and

papers to show that there is no conclusive evidence that EMF, at the levels prescribed by the

International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (an international

commission for radiation protection) causes any risk to the health and well -being of

individuals," said Rajan S. Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of

India, an apex body of telecom operators.

People who have developed health problems are not buying that. "If towers are so safe, why

bother to have laws and limits at all," said AK Anand, who is unsuccessfully trying to get

cellphone towers moved from his Vikas Puri H block neighbourhood for five years.

Towering trouble

Are the radio-frequency waves emitted from cellphone towers killing us slowly? Being

exposed to a mobile tower located within 50-metres is like being in a microwave oven for 24

hours, say experts, and carries the same cancer risk as living surrounded by lead, DDT,

chloroform and petrol exhaust .



The Kasliwals and fifty other families in the upscale C-scheme neighbourhood in Jaipur live

under the shadow of death. Seven people in the neighbourhood have been diagnosed with

cancer since cellphone towers were installed here in 2003. Since then, illnesses, both minor

and major, have become a part of their lives.

Two of the three Kasliwal brothers were recently diagnosed with cancer. "First, our dog died

of cancer. Last year, both my younger brother and I were diagnosed with brain cancer. It was

only when the doctor asked whether we were exposed to some kind of radiation that it

occurred to us that the cell-phone towers next to our home were to blame," said Sanjay

Kasliwal, who is a part of a large joint-family living in C-scheme.

After treatment at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in the US, Pramod Kasliwal has been

admitted to Medanta Medicity at Gurgaon. He is critical. "These towers were put up illegally

and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has no records for granting any permission for

installation of cell phone towers," says Kasliwal.



Killer waves

The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says

radiation from cellphone handsets and towers is "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and may

cause glioma, a type of brain cancer. Towers are more dangerous than handsets because they

emit greater-intensity radiation 24X7.

"The area of concern is base-stations and their antennas, which provide the link to and from

cellphones. This is because, in contrast to handsets, it (RF) is emitted continuously and is

more powerful at close quarters...," said an inter-ministerial committee of experts on

electromagnetic radiation exposure from cellphone towers in 2009.

Despite that, the response from government is predictable. "There is no scientific study to

prove that anyone has got any health problem due to telecom towers in India. The WHO has

prescribed norms on emission of radiation by Telecom Towers. Our norms are much below

the WHO norms," said R Chandrasekhar, secretary, department of telecommunications

(DoT). "The government has set up a committee under the department of science and

technology to look into the issues. The matter is continuously under review."

But the norms adopted in India in 2009 are already outdated, say experts. "In 2009, India

adopted the radiation norms specified by ICNIRP, which are now outdated as they were only

intended to protect people against short-term gross heating effects and not against

‘biological’ effects such as cancers and genetic damage from long-term exposure," says Dr

Girish Kumar, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a

report on Cell Tower Radiation to the secretary, DoT, in December 2010.

"Also, these safety standards are based on 6 minutes/day exposure, without accounting for

people who live close to cell towers 24x7. The norms allow EMF of 4,500 mw/sq2," he adds.

Following the Girish Kumar report, the Inter-Ministerial Committee January 2011 report

made recommendations to reduce the exposure to 450 mw/m2. "However, even that hasn’t

been implemented yet," laments Kumar.

By the end of 2010, India had 5.4 lakh cell phone towers, of which Delhi alone has 5, 364,

including legal and illegal ones.

even with cellphone use

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