http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article3808249.ece
THE RECOMMENDATION: The mobile towers’ EMFexposure limit was recently lowered to 1/10th of the existing prescribed limit as a matter of abundant precaution. Photo: Nagara Gopal
For the past several years, there has been growing concern
about the health impact of radiation from mobile towers. In 2008, Government of
India adopted the Guidelines developed by the International Commission on
Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for Electromagnetic radiation from
mobile towers.The values chosen for the permissible Power Density are 4.5
W/Sqm for 900 MHz and 9 W/Sqm. for 1800 MHz.
Based on media reports and public concerns, the Government
set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) of specialists on August 24, 2010.
The Committee examined the environmental and health related concerns and
indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link
between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health;and the scientific
studies as yet have not been able to confirm a cause and effect relationship
between radio frequency radiation and health. The effect of emission from cell
phone towers is not known yet with certainty.
However, the IMC recommended lowering the mobile towers’ EMF
exposure limits to 1/10th of the existing prescribed limit as a matter of
abundant precaution. The Government accepted the recommendation and issued
directions making the new norms applicable from September 1, 2012.
Among the inputs submitted to the Department of Telecom was
a document "Report on Cell Tower Radiation" authored by Prof. Girish Kumar of the Department of
Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay.
The report listed symptoms and diseases allegedly caused by
electromagnetic radiation. The only items not included in it were jealousy and
baldness! The author mined part of the scary data from "papers"
of Arthur Firstenberg, the founder director of the "Cellular phone task
force" which is “dedicated to halting the expansion of wireless technology because it cannot be made safe". Firstenberg
filed and lost many suits against the spread of wireless technology.
Wikipedia, noted his claim that electromagnetic fields from
his neighbour's cell phone are destroying his health and that he sued his
neighbour seeking damages $ 530,000 for refusing to turn off her cell phone and
other electronic devices!Firstenberg is a symbol of the collective
schizophrenia against RF radiation.
Prof. Kumar uncritically accepted the Bio-initiative
Report 2007(BIR), a booklet well known for its lack of balance.
ADVOCACY
DOCUMENT
The Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR),
a technical committee of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS)
of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) noted that BIR
is an advocacy document. BIR itself conceded that it was written “to document
the reasons why current public exposure standards for non-ionizing
electromagnetic radiation are no longer good enough to protect public health.”
Fourteen individuals under the direction of a 4-person
organizing committee wrote BIR. “Most of its 21 sections are authored by single
individuals or (in a few cases) pairs or trios of authors; the section ‘Key
Scientific Evidence and Public Health Policy Recommendations’ was written by a
pair of individuals and appears to reflect their views only,” COMAR clarified in
a paper in Health Physics Journal. “There is no indication of
how the members of the committee were chosen or how balance was provided in the
group of contributors, a majority of whom have public records of criticism of
existing exposure standards and guidelines.”
COMAR added that since appearing on the Internet in 2007,
the BIR has received much media attention but, more recently, has been severely
criticized by health organizations and scientific groups such as EMF-NET, a
coordinating committee of the European Commission 6th Frame Work Programme, The
Netherlands’ Health Council and Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects
Research
BIR report was slammed by these agencies thus: “written in
an alarmist and emotive language and the arguments have no scientific support
from well-conducted EMF research;” “There is a lack of balance in the report; no mention is
made in fact of reports that do not concur with authors’ statements and
conclusions. It is “not an objective and balanced reflection of the current
state of scientific knowledge;” and “As it stands it merely provides a set of
views that are not consistent with the consensus of science.”
In May 2010, The INTERPHONE Study concluded that overall, no
increase in risk of brain tumours was observed with the use ofmobile phones.
“There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma at the highest exposure
levels, but biases and error prevent a causal interpretation. The possible
effects of long-term heavy use of mobile phones require further
investigation", the authors added
The INTERPHONE study supported by WHO is the largest
case–control study of mobile phones and
brain tumours conducted to date, including the largest numbers of users with at
least 10 years of exposure and the greatest cumulative hours of use of any
study. Thirteen countries including UK, Sweden, France and Germany
collaborated.
"Interphone study in 2010 mentions that excessive use
of mobile phones has doubled to quadrupled brain tumor risk. However,
they claim that for an average user, increase in cancer cases is not significant,"
the Prof. Kumar’s report says. By this assertion, the report is misinterpreting
the lucid conclusion provided by the study
Prof. Kumar argued that the allowable power level must be
brought down in India. "A number of adverse health effects have been documented
at levels below the FCC guidelines,
which include altered white blood cells in children; childhood leukemia;
impaired motor function, reaction time, and memory; headaches, dizziness,
fatigue, weakness, and insomnia etc", the report said, possibly based on
the much criticized Bio-initiative Report 2007.
Prof. Kumar had cherry-picked many references to
substantiate such claims. International agencies such as the WHO and national
agencies have not accepted such preposterous claims.
A newspaper reported that in a building in Mumbai four cases
of cancer were linked to radiation from a mobile phone tower. Based on this,
Prof. Kumar estimated the power level at the building to be about 0.1 W/ m and
claimed that the tower was the cause of cancer in “several” people in 2-3
years’ time!
He also measured a power level of 7,068 microwatt/m in the
home of a cancer patient who allegedly developed cancer within an year of
installation of a mobile phone tower, and links the cancer to radiation from
the tower!
Arriving at a conclusion based on studying one or two
individuals is not how epidemiological studies are conducted.
K.S. PARTHASARATHY
Former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
ksparth@yahoo.co.uk
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