Cell tower radiation and cancer clusters
By Dr K S Parthasarathy
PTI Feature
PF43/2013 dated March 23, 2013
Cell tower
radiation has a million times lower energy than x-rays and gamma rays which can
make structural changes in cells in the
human body.
As
cell towers started appearing in different parts of the country, public
started attributing all sorts of
symptoms and diseases to them. On January 4, this year a
leading news paper quoted
the District Health and Family Welfare Officer (DHO) of Dakshina Kannada as
saying that "enough number of cases of cancer and mental retardation have
been found among people residing within a 500-metre radius of cell phone
towers.” This observation is not scientifically supported.
Cell tower radiation has a million times
lower energy than x-rays and gamma rays which can make structural changes in cells in the human body. Human body
consists of cells; cells form tissues; several tissues join together to form
organs.
When energetic radiation such as x-rays
or gamma rays interact w gamma rays, they are able to make structural changes
in the cell. Large part of radiation
impinging on the body may go without any interaction. But some part of the
radiation may be absorbed by the cells. It may kill a few cells. Radiation
energy may partly damage them. Partly damaged cells may suffer loss of the
precisely set, multiplication and growth control mechanisms. These cells
may become anarchic with no rules at all or rules of their own! These rogue
cells multiply rapidly and proliferate
uncontrollably to cause cancer. Cell tower/phone radiations are non ionizing and are incapable of starting such disruptive action in the
cell because they lack energy.
Even after several
decades of study, researchers could not identify any mechanism to explain how
cell phone/tower radiation can cause cancer. If there is a mechanism, it will
be entirely new. Cell phone technology is new. If the interaction of radiation
may cause some diseases which have a
long latent period, it may take some time to manifest. This is the
reason why researchers want to continue the studies for longer periods of time.
The results obtained so
far are reassuring. In spite of the fact that cell phones have been used by
millions of people, no notable increase in cancer or other effects have been
recorded so far.
The latest scientific
review by the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) in its report titled
"Health Effects of electromagnetic radiation- RCE-20" published in April 2012 stated thus:
"In summary,
although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area,
there is no convincing evidence that RF field exposure below guideline levels
causes health effects in adults or children." The report can be accessed
from the web site of the HPA.
Every
physician must read it compulsorily.
Unfortunately, many physicians like lay public, get carried away by newspaper reports and other literature. These
are also freely available. A professor of electrical engineering from the
Indian Institute of technology, Bombay wrote one such document titled
"Report on cell tower radiation" and submitted it to the Department
of Telecommunication (DOT). Apart from several unsubstantiated comments and
wrong interpretation of concepts, the report contains news stories in a
subsection titled "Epidemiological studies from different countries".
One story
was from Australia.
Thus:"The
top floors of a Melbourne office building were closed down and 100 people were
evacuated after
a seventh worker in seven years was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The
Australian Health Research
Institute indicates that due to billions of times more in volume
electromagnetic
radiation
emitted by billions of mobile phones, internet, intranet and wireless communication data
transmission, almost one-third of world population (about 2 billion) may suffer
from Cell Phone
Cancer beside other major body disorders like heart ailments, impotency,
migraine,epilepsy
by 2020."
I
sent excerpts of the report to many specialists. "I was responsible for
carrying out the EMR measurements at the building. The final result was
that the incidence of cancer in that building was the same as the general
population." Mr, Chris Zombolas, the Managing Director of EMC
Technologies Pty Limited, an internationally recognized company, accredited by National Association of testing
Authorities (NATA), Australia, responded
to this writer
"I
believe that this is an alarmist report with many factual and technical
errors. The assertions are made without proper evidence from peer
reviewed publications.", Mr Zombolas added.
"What
is the reputation of the Australian Health Research Institute?" this writer asked
him. I also asked him whether he can give any reference or publication conceding
that the cancer incidence in the building which was evacuated was the
same as the national rate.
Mr
Zombolas asserted that he has never heard of The
Australian Health Research Institute. But he sent this writer a link which
claims that it is a hoax.
Stories on cancer clusters and other
diseases near cell phone towers are
spread by vested interests selling screens, shields etc against cell tower
radiation. News papers unwittingly help them by publishing such unsubstantiated
stories.
A typical example from the blog of
such a company: "Do
your family members feel nauseated or irritated at the simplest events? Is your
child unable to concentrate on his/her studies? Is your home near a mobile
phone tower? May be, it’s time to get your house inspected for radiation levels
and replace your cotton curtains with options that could block radiation."
The WHO is aware of scary stories on increased cancer incidence
near cell towers and noted thus in its Fact Sheet No 304:
“Media or anecdotal reports of cancer
clusters around mobile phone base stations have heightened public concern. It
should be noted that geographically, cancers are unevenly distributed among any
population. Given the widespread presence of base stations in the environment,
it is expected that possible cancer clusters will occur near base stations
merely by chance. Moreover, the reported cancers in these clusters are often a
collection of different types of cancer with no common characteristics and
hence unlikely to have a common cause.”
[ Dr K S Parthasarathy is a former Secretary, Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board]
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