Mobile towers safe, says DoT

SHILLONG: Shrugging off ill effects of radiation generated by mobile towers on vegetation and other life forms as untruths, an official of the Telecom Enforcement, Resource & Monitoring (TERM) Cell of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) claimed that mobile towers are all but harmful.
“Adequate measures are taken to ensure that the vicinity (where the mobile towers are installed) is safe for habitation. The DoT gives clearance to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) who have to follow a list of guidelines accordingly. Violation of the norms leads to cancellation of clearances,” the official told The Shillong Times on the sidelines of a district level awareness programme on electromagnetic field (EMF) emissions from telecom towers here on Thursday.
The official added that TERM will facilitate radiation checks if approached by any aggrieved party.
“If we think of it scientifically, not only mobile towers but even LED bulbs emit radiation,” the official pointed out.
The official admitted that the TSPs face a lot of resistance when it comes to installation of mobile towers owing to apprehensions that radiation from the towers may cause cancer.
The programme, which focussed on the importance of mobile connectivity and attempted to allay fears of ill effects of radiation emitted by mobile towers, was attended by Robotic Surgical  Oncologist at Apollo Hospital, Dr Chinnababu Sunkavalli and Deputy Director General (DDG), Telecom Enforcement, Resource & Monitoring (TERM), NE-1, P.K. Sikdar, among others.
Addressing the gathering Dr Sunkavalli said despite extensive research, there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health.
An actual site testing was also carried out to measure EMF emissions from mobile towers in Shillong in the second session.
It was found that mobile towers were transmitting well within permissible limits and in most cases much lower than the prescribed limits in India.
The average radiation from towers monitored in two locations on Shillong Club premises and it was found well within the limits set by the DoT.
In a press communiqué, DoT stated that it has already prescribed strict precautionary norms for exposure limit for the radio frequency base (base station emissions) which is ten times more stringent than the existing limits prescribed International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection and recommended by World Health Organisation.