CID PROBE DRAWS A BLANK ONSAINTHIA TRAIN DISASTER | 5

SPAT BETWEEN FOREST DEPARTMENT BOSSESHITS AFFORESTATION IN STATE | 4

TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, KOLKATA | MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012

Subhro Niyogi | TNN

Research shows children are morevulnerable to cellphone/tower ra-diation as their immune system is

not as well developed as adults. Pregnantwoman and foetuses are vulnerable be-cause radio frequency (RF) radiations con-tinuously react with the developing em-bryo and increasing cells. Microwave ra-diation can damage the placental barrier.

Studies confirm that cellphone radi-ation can drastically affect male fertili-ty, decreasing semen quality and spermcount. Studies have found 30% sperm de-crease in intensive mobile phone users,in addition to damage of sperms.

Cellphone frequencies can also leadto damaged DNA, leading to tumours andcancer. DNA damage in brain cells canaffect neurological functions and also pos-sibly lead to neurodegenerative diseases.

RF exposure from mobile phones andcellular phone base antennas can also af-fect patients carrying a pacemaker, im-

plantable cardiovascular defibrillators(ICDs) and impulse generators. The sig-nals generated by cellphones cause elec-tromagnetic interference with the deviceand interfere with its proper functioning.

Non-thermal effects of RF radiationaccumulate over time and the risks aremore pronounced after several years ofexposure. Prolonged or chronic exposuresis harmful even at low intensities.

Radiation from cell towers and mobilephones affects human skin. The radia-tion degrades the immune system andstimulates various allergic and inflam-matory responses, causing itch and pain.

The radiation emitted by cellphonescan damage delicate workings of the in-ner ear and long-term intensive cellphoneuse for more than four years and for peri-ods longer than 30 minutes in a day are ata higher risk of developing hearing loss.

Today, more and more people between18 and 25 years are suffering from hearingloss, which doctors say is due to excessiveuse of cellphones and other gadgets. Any-

one who spends two to three hours on thecellphone every day runs the risk of par-tial deafness over three to five years. Fre-quent cellphone use can also damage thevisual system and cause tumour of the eye.

Exposure to EMR reduces melatoninlevels in humans. Melatonin, a vital nat-

ural neuro-hormone is a powerful an-tioxidant, antidepressant and immune sys-tem enhancer that regulates our circadi-an rhythm. At night, melatonin levels rise.Studies with animals show a reduction inmelatonin levels following radiofrequen-cy radiation exposure from cell phones

and cell sites. Turning off the transmit-ters resulted in a significant increasedmelatonin levels within a few days.

Lack of melatonin leads to sleep dis-turbance, chronic fatigue, depression,cardiac, reproductive and neurologicaldiseases and mortality. Reduced mela-

tonin is also associated with increasedDNA damage and increased risk of can-cer, arthritis, seasonally affective disor-der (SAD), schizophrenia, increased eyestress, renal impairment, Alzheimer’sand Parkinson’s disease, miscarriage,sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),and increased risk of childhood leukemia.

Electromagnetic fields have been shownto affect the brain physiology. Use of cell-phones before bed delays and reduces sleep,and causes headaches, confusion and de-pression. The findings are especially alarm-ing for children and teenagers, causingmood and personality changes, depression,lack of concentration and poor academicperformance. Exposure to electromagnet-ic fields has shown to be in connection withAlzheimer’s disease, motor neuron diseaseand Parkinson’s disease.

Severe reactions include seizures,paralysis, psychosis and stroke. Heavy useof mobile phones can cause cancer. Use ofmobile phones for over 10 years give a con-sistent pattern of increased risk for braincancer (glioma and acoustic neuroma).Children and teenagers are five times morelikely to get brain cancer as their brain isnot fully developed. It is possible that to-day’s young people may suffer an ‘epi-demic’ of the disease in later life.

Besides increase in brain tumour andacoustic neuroma, there is an increasedrisk of several other types of cancers fol-lowing prolonged exposure to mobilephone/tower radiation, such as, salivarygland tumours, uveal melanoma, lym-phoma, facial nerve tumours, skin, blood,testicular and breast cancer. Interphonestudy in May 2010 has also found a ‘sig-nificantly increased risk’ of some braintumours for heavy users of mobile phonesover 20 minutes per day) for a period of10 years or more. This is later substanti-ated by International Agency for Researchin Cancer (IARC), part of WHO (WorldHealth Organization) in May 2011.

Multiple resonances leadsto localized heatingresulting in:

Boils

Drying up fluids aroundeyes, brain, joints, heart,abdomen

Common complaints:

Sleep disturbance

Headache

Lack of concentration

Forgetfulness

Depression

Fatigue

Dizziness

Heart palpitation

Visual disorders

Cardiovascular problems

Buzzing in the head

Altered reflexes

Risk to children:Children are more

vulnerable as:

Skulls are smaller andthinner. So, higherradiation absorption

Increased rate of celldivision: more susceptibleto genetic damage

Myelin sheath notdeveloped: electrical brainwave activity

Immune system not welldeveloped: Less effectiveagainst fighting cancergrowth

Ten housewives in Sher-e-Punjab Colony in Andheri(East) Mumbai have beendiagnosed with variousforms of cancer. They allreside within 91 metre ofcellphone tower

Birds avoid cellphonetowers because the highervolume and less weightleads to faster heating oftheir bodies

Four cell towers nearGurgaon-Delhi Toll plaza:Output of most fruit bearingtrees reduced by 95%

To be safe for 100 years,power density must beless than 100 microwatt/sq m

To be safe for 10 years,power density must beless than 1,000 microwatt/sq m

To be safe for 1 year,power density must beless than 10,000 microwatt/sq m

DO YOU SUFFERFROM THESE?

BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

Install more cell towers with lessertransmitted power. When powertransmitted is reduced, it will notrequire power hungry power amplifiershaving lower efficiency

Maximum cumulative power densitybe reduced with immediate effect to0.01 watt/sq m and then to 0.001 watt/sqm in 1-2 years

Transmitted power from each cell tower be immediately reduced to 1- 2 watt

Repeaters or signal enhancers orboosters may have to be installed wheresignal is weak. Power transmitted bythese not to exceed 0.1 watt

Self certification by the operators beimmediately abolished; third partycertification introduced

Radiation measurements must bemonitored 24×7 so that operators do notincrease the transmitted power duringpeak period

Strict penalties on operators thatviolate norms as it causes serious healthhazards to innocent people

Reduced transmitted power maycreate signal problem to people living near the edge of circle. Publicmade aware this is being done toprotect health

No ground-based and roof-basedtowers within 50 metre from schools orhospitals. Existing towers be relocatedwithin a year

Towers in residential areas be allowedonly in consultation with residentwelfare associations and not bilateralnegotiations between telecom firms andindividual property owners

Installation of base station antennas in lanes narrower than 7 metre be avoided in order to reducethe risk caused by earthquake and wind-related disasters

Antennas be mounted on or above 30metre from ground where power oftransmitting antenna is 10 watt orabove. Micro and Pico cell antennasmounted inside the building should notexceed 0.1 watt

Main beam of antenna not in directionof residential/office buildings or areaswhere there is large concentration ofpeople, animals, birds, trees

Round-the-clock monitoring of celltower radiation be done at variousplaces. (Radiation from cell tower varies considerably over a day. It ismaximum during peak hours andminimum at night)

Systematic epidemology studies

Notify hotlines or email-IDs wherepeople can call or write their healthproblems associated with cellphone/tower radiation

Install warning sign boards near cell towers to warn people of the danger of radiation

THE WAYAHEAD

Frequency of Electro-Hypersensitivity Symptoms Based On Distance to Cellphone Base Station

DID YOU KNOW?

TAKE CARE

A cellphone radiation detector shows high alert near Kalighat fire station

Subhro Niyogi | TNN

On the seventh floor office ofEverest Building onChowringhee, employees of Su-perintendent Co. of India havebeen frequently reporting sick

for the past three to four years. They suffernagging headaches, feel dizzy and are alwaystired. “Perhaps I am advancing in age,” won-dered senior engineer M K Datta. “Is it badvaastu?” asks surveyor Milan Adhikari aboutthe office located in the southern part of thehighrise offering a view of the city skylinein the south but through a maze of antennasfitted on a cellphone tower atop the roof ofthe adjoining five-storied office building.

Beyond Manicktala along APC Road, theSeth family (pic above) has been afflicted withsimilar ailments. Ever since they shifted fromthe first to fourth floor, they’ve been ill. Par-ents Madhulika and Prabhakar are particu-larly worried about 4-year-old Rajiv and 8-year-

old Sneha. The Class III PrattMemorial student complainsof headache every morning.“I feel drowsy in class andit’s difficult to concentrate,”said Sneha. Her brother, whostudies in kindergarten atSt James, is irritable. The

family physician diagnosed it as sleep defi-ciency. But the children are in bed by 9.30pmand in the stillness of night, the only soundaudible is the buzz from the roof, where thepower room feeds a cellphone tower.

What the staff on the seventh floor officein Everest Building or the family on the fourthfloor of 142 B, APC Road are unaware of is thehigh electromagnetic radiation around them.At both places, the electromagnetic radiationdetector (Detex-189) recorded radiation of over10,000 micro watt/sq m or 0.01 watt/sq m, alevel categorized extremely unsafe by Ger-many’s Bio Initiative Working Group 2007 thatcarried out extensive research on health ef-fects of electromagnetic microwaves.

Any radiation level between 100 and 1,000micro watt is of severe concern and that above1,000 micro watt is of extreme concern. Con-stant exposure to such levels will trigger healthissues in 2 to 3 years. “Radiation affects areasof the body where fluid movement is less, likeeyes, brain, joints, heart and abdomen. Lo-calized heating in the body causes boils, dry-ing up of fluids around eyes, brain, joints,heart and abdomen. There can be neuro-psy-chiatric problems like headache, memory loss,

nausea, dizziness, tremors, muscle spasms,numbness, altered reflexes, muscle and jointpaint, leg/foot pain, depression, and sleep dis-turbance,” says Chittaranjan National Can-cer Institute (CNCI) director Jaydip Biswas.

In Kolkata, most cell sites emit radiationof nearly 100 watts. The government arguesit has adopted the guideline of 9.2 watt/sq m

set by International Convention for Non-Ion-izing Radiation Protection as a safe limit.What it does not mention is that the norm isfor exposure to radiation for 6 minutes a day.

“Also, for every 6-minute exposure, thereis a 23-hour-54-minute cooling period. Whenexposure is for 24 hours, there is no time forthe body to cool. Plain logic says it will causeimmense harm,” pointed out IIT Bombay pro-fessor Girish Kumar, who has been studyingeffects of non-ionizing radiation for a decade.People living within 50 to 300 m of a cell tow-er antenna are more prone to ill effects of elec-tromagnetic radiation. With 5,000-odd anten-nas in the city, lakhs of people are at high risk.

Kumar, along with IIT-Kharagpur pro-fessors Sujoy K Guha and Sudarsan Neogi,had done a pilot study commissioned by thestate environment department. At six of theseven tower sites where readings were tak-en, the figure was over 10,000 micro watt.Though environment minister SudarshanGhosh Dastidar promised more action, nosteps have been taken thereafter.

Yet, case studies in Mumbai sent alarmbells ringing there. In Usha Kiran buildingon Carmichael Road, situated opposite Vi-jay Apartments that has cellphone towerson its terrace, six cancer cases were report-ed from 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th floors apart-ments that face the towers. The finding hasled to an outcry with landlords even refus-ing to renew contracts for cell towers.

The environment directorate in Chennaiand civic body in Patna have woken up to thethreat. Last week, a division bench of Ra-

jasthan high court issued a showcause no-tice to 13 cellular firms besides central andstate authorities on the issue of health haz-ards being caused by high frequency radia-tions emitted by mobile towers. The court or-der followed a PIL filed by a retired judge ofRajasthan HC, Justice I S Israni, and others.

Jadavpur University electronics depart-ment reader Sudhabindu Roy, who has donea PhD on the subject from IIT Bombay, saysthere is an urgent need to map microwaveradiation hazard in the city. “The govern-ment should also set up a non-ionizing ra-diation hazard board,” he suggests.

Already burdened with more patientsthan it can deal with, CNCI’s Biswas worriesthat when cancer cases from prolonged ex-posure to electromagnetic radiation beginto pour in three to four years from now, itmay assume catastrophic proportions.

“One can take precautions about mini-mizing cellphone use. But how does one tack-le electromagnetic radiation from cell sitesunless there is a strict monitoring of the cell-phone companies and norms are made morestringent, radiation levels are monitored and

the public becomes aware of the hazard?” saysBiswas. Cellphone towers sprout in the citywithout following any rules. Neither KMC,nor PCB or any other government departmentis aware of the number of cell sites in Kolkata.And there is no mechanism to monitor the in-tensity of radiation from the towers.

“With agencies paying Rs 50,000-100,000 amonth as rent for installing cell towers, peo-ple are easily tempted. Though TRAI limitsradiation to a level that it contends to be safe,it is often violated,” says Tapas Das, a cru-sader against violation by cellphone towers.

According to Kumar, standards adopted byvarious countries show that telecom cover-age is possible at much lower levels. “We mustreduce transmitted power at once. The cov-erage area will shrink, requiring companiesto put up more towers or install repeaters. Thecompanies are aware of the health risk, butare turning a blind eye because acknowledg-ing the problem will mean huge additional in-vestments,” the IIT Bombay professor said.

Sources in the telecom industry say turn-ing down the power will trigger coverage prob-lems. “Seamless coverage will be affected andcall drops will go up. Indoor reception will bepoor. All this has to be tackled by installingover 1,000 repeaters in a city like Kolkata witheach costing Rs 15-25 lakh,” a senior officialof a leading telecom firm argued.

The choice, hence, is between seamlesscoverage and longer life. “Human lives areat stake. Nothing will happen unless we allmake a noise. Only then can tougher normscome into place,” he said.

THE LETHAL

NETWORK

Children and teens more vulnerable to radiation

CDMA: 869 to 890 MHz

GSM900: 935 to 960 MHz

GSM1800: 1810 to 1880 MHz

3G: 2110 to 2170 MHz

Cell tower transmit frequencies consist of several bands

Staying Connected Has Its Price. We Are Paying With Our Lives

INSIGHT

Aranya Roy Chowdhury