SHILLONG: The concerned citizens from Mumbai under the leadership of actress Juhi Chawla, who are creating awareness among citizens about the health hazards due to Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation from mobile tower antennae and phones, have refuted the stand of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that EMF emissions from telecom towers are not injurious to health.
Delivering the key-note address at a recent DoT-sponsored awareness programme on EMF emissions and telecom towers in Guwahati, the secretary of the DoT, J. Deepak, had said the fear aired about telecom towers being unsafe for human health was not based on any scientific evidence.
However, refuting the stand of the official, the Mumbai group in a statement issued here said on May 31, 2011, WHO and IARC had classified EMF radiation as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
“Bio initiative reports of 2007 and 2012 have given references to 3,500 studies and WHO IARC committee of 2011 had 31 prominent scientists from 14 countries before classifying EMF radiation as possibly carcinogenic to humans,” the statement said.
“The current evidence does not show that EMF radiation is 100 per cent safe for humans and does not have 100 per cent proof of no-health risk,” the group said while adding that Swiss Re and Lloyd’s of London had told their associates not to insure pay claims for diseases caused by EMF radiation.
“The DoT itself mentions to the parliamentary standing committee that India’s radiation norms are 10 times higher than Russia, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Lithuania,” the statement said. The growth of mobile technology globally is with better low power radiating antenna and better technology like under the ground optical fibre cables.
“It is the high power transmitted by antennae that emits high radiation which affects the health of citizens staying in close proximity to the antennae,” the statement said.
Tariff in India has been low due to many service providers in the market and tough competition among them. But the scenario is changing and small competitors are being taken over by large corporations resulting in an oligopolistic competition which will result in higher tariff in the near future. Losses of a few service providers were reported recently. In this context, India does not have the same technology as France where radiation from antennae is much lower in that country.
Actual radiation levels for 97 per cent antennae are 20 milliwatts per sqm though norms are between 4,500 and 10,000 milliwatts per sqm.
“DoT should ask operators to install better technology — underground optical fibre technology and low power transmitting antennae to address the concerns of the people,” the statement added.
