Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Is India waiting for another Sweden case or perhaps more??

"Radiation from mobile phone towers is harmful or not", this debate may continue between the scientific community and telecom operators for next few years, but what one is missing in this is the number of cases which may be added within the next few years with constant exposure to electromagnetic radiations emitted.

Sweden, which was one of the first countries where the mobile technology was introduced (approx. 15 years ago) has observed a series of health effects in the past few years.

IN SWEDEN, RECENT SURVEY SHOWED AROUND 2.9 LAKH SWEDISH MEN AND WOMEN- OUT OF A POPULATION OF 9,000,000 PEOPLE ARE NOW ELECTROHYPERSENSITIVE AND REPORT A VARIETY OF SYMPTOMS WHEN BEING IN CONTACT WITH ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD (EMF)SOURCES.
*Reference: Bioinitiative Report (610 pages)http://www.next-up.or/pdf/BioInitiativeReportComplete.pdf - PAGE - 222

Symptoms include - allergic reactions, redness of skin, memory loss, sleep disruption, headache, nausea, tingling, altered reflexes, buzzing in the head, palpitations of the heart, visual disorders, cardiovascular problems, respiratory problems etc. Severe symptoms like leukemia, brain cancer, and acoustic neuroma (tumour in the ear) have also been reported.

In 2007, Dr. Lennart Hardell, from Örebro University in Sweden, reviewed published epidemiological papers and found that:Cell phone users had an increased risk of malignant gliomas (type of brain cancer), Link between cell phone use and a higher rate of acoustic neuromas (tumour in the ear) , Tumors are more likely to occur on the side of the head that the cell handset is used, One hour of cell phone use per day significantly increases tumor risk after ten years or more.
*Reference:Long-term use of cellular phones and brain tumours: increased risk associated with use for?10 years - http://oem.bmj.com/content/64/9/626.full.pdf

Why will India be worst hit?

• India has adopted the highest (worst) radiation exposure limits and even these limits are not being regulated properly.
• There are mobile towers everywhere - Residential roof tops, building sides, schools, hospitals unlike abroad. Currently about 4.5 lakh towers exit in India.
• Several roof top antennas are not even at a height of 2 meters where as other countries have them at a minimum safe distance of 30 meters.
• Has a population of over 1.15 billion with a total telecom subscriber base of 653.92 million.
• Mobiles are generally used for several hours and not limited to short essential calls unlike in other countries.
• Lack of awareness on the government’s part, among doctors, citizen’s ignorance and the willingness to accept the fact may result in addition of several other cases.
• Most of the telecom technology providers are foreign vendors, such as, Nokia, Siemen, Ericsson, etc. Why should they care for the health of Indians?

What is India really waiting for? Is it waiting for a complete vanish of bee/insect population which may insure a major food crisis or cancer cases emerging at a humongous rate and hospitals being lined with patients or may be worst - to see dead bodies on the streets?

Solutions have to be looked at now until its too late.

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Cell phone towers in cities health hazards?

Shalini , CNN-IBN Jun 07, 2010

New Delhi: Cell phone radiation studies are being done to see the health hazards of excessive use of cell phones and also of living near a cell phone tower. Can the radiation cause tumours, infertility or, neurological problems?



The jury's still not out on the long-term health hazards of cell phone radiation, and living near cell phone towers. But heeding international studies, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun its own research into the matter. They have roped in departments at the AIIMS like neurology, obstetrics and gynecology in their research.

Dr M V Katoch, Director General of the ICMR, says: "Excessive usage of cell phones or living close to a cell phone tower have been shown to have an adverse effect on women's reproductive and neurological health, according to data generated by studies in other countries. We want to examine if the same is true for the Indian population."

But even before the ICMR announced the study, CNN-IBN reporters looked into the high levels of electromagnetic radiation near cell phone towers. Professor Girish Kumar has invented a radiation meter that can detect the levels of radiation.

Prof. Kumar's meter clearly indicates that as we get closer to the cellphone towers, the radiation levels increase exponentially. Radiation exposure up to minus 30 db a day is the safety limit for us. But the meter reads -12 or -10 even at a distance of almost 50 meters away from the towers.

Vijaya Bhatt, a brain aneurysm patient, blames the cell phone tower near her house for her problem. She was forced to move out of her dream home two years ago because of the cell phone towers right above the rooftop of her building.She said, "It is clear that when I move away from the house I feel better, but when I come here I fall sick." Vijaya's story is disturbing. The truth is, as of now, no one can say for sure just what all these towers all over the cities are doing to us.

Study Shows Honeybee’s Face Threat From Cell Phone Radiation

Studies made in Kerala India have brought out evidence to support the theory of colony collapse disorder (CCD) among honeybees due to bioactive microwave radiation from cell phones and their relay towers.

Although the theory of mobile towers leading to CCD is yet to be proved anywhere in the world, experts say this is highly possible and the phenomenon could cause unimaginable food troubles to most Indian States, especially Kerala which is already food-scarce. The State has the highest density of mobile towers.

The phenomenon of (suspected) mobile tower-induced CCD and resultant crop loss were first noticed in the US several years ago, but this had spread to most European countries by 2007. Now, experiments by Sainuddeen Pattazhy, a researcher and dean in the department of zoology at SN College, Punalur, Kerala, have found that worker bees fail to return to their hives when their navigation skills are interfered by the mobile microwaves.

Sainuddeen had conducted his experiments by placing mobile phones near beehives (as some scientists in the West had done earlier). He found that these hives collapsed totally in five to 10 days with the worker bees failing to return to their homes, leaving the hives with the queens, eggs and immature bees. The vanished bees were never found, but the assumption was that they died singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

Reference:http://biomedme.com/general/study-shows-honeybees-face-threat-from-cell-phones-radiation_3825.html

Is cell phone radiation a health hazard?

NDTV: June 26, 2010



Mumbai has the highest density of cell phone towers in India, many of them erected on towers on top of residential buildings, schools and hospitals.

In the West, as a precautionary measure, towers are built at a height of 30 metres above the building where as in India it's just 2-3 metres.Radiation levels around cell phone towers in many countries are closely monitored by independent bodies but that is not the case in India.

Dr Girish Kumar has been studying the impact of EMR for the last 15 years."Each antenna is transmitting with a gain of approximately 50, so we are looking at 4-5 kilowatts of power being transmitted by these antennas. Microwaves use only 500 watts of power and that too you cook food for just a few minutes. These towers are transmitting 24 hours so you are absorbing radiation 24 hours. The solution is that cell phone towers should transmit one tenth of the power they are currently transmitting," said Dr Girish Kumar, Prof, Electrical Engineering, IIT Mumbai.

A 2008 report, "Health Hazards and Mobile Phones: An Indian perspective", published in the journal Association of Physicians pointed out that mobile phones may be responsible for a wide variety of health hazards.

Mobile phone risks -
• Tissue damage due to exposure to high Radio Frequency levels
• High daily usage could trigger brain tumours
• Fatigue, Nausea and Digestive disturbances
• EMR can affect functioning of pacemakers
*Source - Nov 2008, Journal of Association of Physicians of India

"Radiation of any kind is bad whether X Ray or Ultra Violet, so until we know what the studies show for sure we should not take a chance," said Captain UC Saxena, Retired GM, Air Safety, Air India.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/sci-tech/is-cell-phone-radiation-a-health-hazard-33943#close=1?cp