India's mobile tower radiation norms
absurd, says WHO
WHO expert says rules increased emission
hazard for phone users; tells govt to review norms
Sounak Mitra
| New Delhi
December 14, 2013 Last Updated at 00:58 IST
Read more on: Who | Dot | Mobile Tower | Telecom Tower | Electromagnetic
Frequency Radiation
The government’s order to reduce the power
of mobile towers’ radio frequency, to minimise harmful radiation, was
detrimental to humans, said an expert from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Reducing the power of the tower had
increased the emission hazard for mobile-phone users, said Michael Repacholi,
radiation expert and first coordinator of the radiation and environment health
unit of WHO.
“India’s decision to reduce the power of
the base stations will not minimise any risk. If you reduce the power of a base
station, your mobile handset transmits more frequency to stay connected to the
network. As the handset is closer to the body, it could cause some health
hazard.” The order had also made things costlier for telecom companies, as they
would have to put in more towers, he said.
Repacholi was in India last week and met
senior Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
officials and made a presentation on WHO’s recommendations on the
contentious electromagnetic frequency
radiation(EMF) issue. The global health body has been working on
global emission standards for telecom products.
The government had made it mandatory for
telcos to reduce the power of the radio frequency in towers to a tenth of what
was required under the global standards set by WHO. The move had been
questioned by telecom industry associations, which claimed this was
unnecessary.
Repacholi had told the government
hand-held mobile devices might cause health hazards, but not the base stations
of mobile towers. The estimated EMF radiation a mobile handset transmits is
1,000 times higher than that of a base station. He also said the attack on
towers was not justified because the radiation exposure from a base station was
about five times lower than from a television or a transistor.
“Nobody has ever questioned how much harm
a television or a radio set could cause public health,” he said.
Repacholi told Business Standard the
Indian government should consider these research-based details before forming a
policy. “It should also look at formulating a standard that is in sync
with global standards.” About 60 countries follow WHO-recommended standards for
EMF radiation. India is not on the list.
In September 2012, the DoT had reduced the
permissible radiation limits for tower firms, to 10 times lower than
recommended by WHO. It had also asked the operators to maintain a certain
distance from a building, depending on the number of antennae they want to
install.
“The government may be trying to play
safe, as there is pressure from activists and the matter relates to the concern
of citizens. But, no study, including the ones conducted by WHO, have proved
that EMF radiation from base stations at mobile towers ever caused any health
hazard anywhere in the world,” Repacholi said.
India has about 800 million mobile users
and a billion mobile handsets, connected through about 375,000 towers. In the
past few years, health activists and residents’ organisations have repeatedly
opposed establishment of telecom towers on rooftops and in densely populated
areas, claiming radiation from such installations caused serious health risks,
such as cancer.
Repacholi also warned DoT that the
stringent norms would affect the country’s movement towards the next level of
technology, such as 5G. “When India adopts 5G, it will have issues if it sticks
to the current EMF standards.”
Telecom operators have claimed the
government move would have an adverse impact on quality of service and
investments would dry up, especially when the market was not good.
Rajan Mathews, director-general of the
Cellular Operators Association of India, said: “The earlier standards were in
line with what WHO has recommended. Now the government has forced us to follow
more stringent norms. Obviously, this will impact the quality of services, as
the transmission power of towers have come down. What can we do?”
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