New study: direct link to 4,924 cancer deaths from cellular antennas radiation.

New study: direct link to 4,924 cancer deaths from cellular antennas radiation.
May 17, 2011

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by transmitting cell phone antennas is linked to the occurrence of some types of cancer, according to a study by Brazilian researchers.

The study established a direct link between cancer deaths in Belo Horizonte, the third largest city, with the antennae of the mobile telephone network, reported in Science Hoje site, the news portal of the Brazilian Society for Progress Science (Sociedad Brasileña para el Progreso de la Ciencia.)

The research was conducted by scientists at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil’s southeastern state whose capital is Belo Horizonte. The results give a warning in a country where, according to the latest data available, at least one person has a cell phone in 82 percent of the residences.
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) Belo Horizonte - Brazil
According to the engineer Adilza Condessa Dode, PhD, UFMG researcher and coordinator of the study, repeated exposure of cell phone users to the electromagnetic radiation transmitted by the device and the antennas is not as safe as indicated by other research.
According to the study, more than 80 percent of people who die in Belo Horizonte by specific types of cancer live less than 500 meters away from the 300 identified cell phone antennas in the city.
Scientists found between 1996 and 2006 died in Belo Horizonte a total of 4924 victims of cancer types that may be caused by electromagnetic radiation, such as tumors in the prostate, breast, lung, kidneys and liver.
After finding on the map nearly 300 points antennas of cellular phone networks in the city, the researcher found that 80 percent of those victims lived within 500 meters away from one of these premises.
According to estimates quoted by the researcher, the level of local radiation in excess of 300 GHz antennas considered maximum under Brazilian law of 2009.
“These levels are already high and dangerous to human health. In the closer you live on an antenna, the greater the contact with the electromagnetic field,” said Dode.
The researcher claims that the antennas of the devices themselves are also dangerous.
“The power emitted by the cell phone is continuous and exacerbated by the position of the antennas that are directed toward the user’s brain,” he said. The engineer said that the legislation setting emission limits for electromagnetic radiation is not based upon health criteria, but solely upon industrial, economic and technological criteria.
Dode cited countries such as Switzerland and Italy, with more restrictive laws, and suggested that each Brazilian municipality set limits as it deems appropriate.
“This is a precaution. I think we will succeed only with social mobilization and must wait for a change in the law,” he said.
Until the legislation does guarantee the health of the population, the engineer suggested that consumers just use the phones for emergency calls and to give more preference to text messaging rather than to speaking on their cell phones. Researcher Dode also recommended the use of a cellular headset to keep the unit away from the body, and to ban the use of mobiles by children and in places such as schools and hospitals. (Xinhua)

Link:http://www.next-up.org/pdf/Brazil_New_study_direct_link_to_4924_cancer_deaths_from_cellular_antennas_radiation_28_07_2011.pdf

Towering trouble for hospital

Midday 27 July 2011

Fearing radiation hazards, Santacruz hospital sends notice to neighbouring building, whose terrace is packed with mobile towers

The mushrooming of cellular antennae in residential areas, and the potential health risks they pose by emitting radiation incessantly, have come under the scanner again, this time from a hospital in Santacruz.

The BCJ Hospital and Asha Parekh Research Centre, contiguous with the Ratna Deep Cooperative Housing Society (CHS), has sent a notice to it, asking for the cell towers on its rooftop to be removed.


The hospital authorities believe that if the persistent radiation level is not controlled, it can imperil patients in critical care, whose immune systems are already weak.

N A Mulla, director of the hospital's administration, said, "Our hospital caters to low income group patients and their safety is our utmost priority. We will ask the societies concerned to shift the cell towers if they are found to be dangerous."

The facility's management sent the notice to the adjoining society on SV Road yesterday. The chairman of the society was not available for comment.

But Narendra Sharma, a member of the CHS, received the hospital's letter. "Some of the towers were installed 8-9 years ago by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited.

The rest are by other service providers. If found unsafe, I will request society members to remove them," Sharma said.

There are 21 flats in this small society and several GSM antennae have been installed on the building's roof.

'Check sprouting towers'
The hospital's objections come in the backdrop of a report submitted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the state health department and the Urban Development Department (UDD) on radiation risks.

The DoT, concerned with the progressively growing number of such antennae accompanied by the increasing subscriber base of cellphone operators, had appointed a committee of ministers to look into the issue.

At last count, there were around 4,000 cell towers across the city, transmitting radio frequencies round the clock.

The Health Department received the report and has forwarded it to the UDD, which is yet to take any action on the situation in the city. "The report of the DoT-appointed inter-ministerial committee is with the UDD.

The decision is pending. Since the matter of allowing structures on terrace is under the purview of the UDD, revised rules and regulations are expected," said an official from the health department.

The report (which MiD DAY accessed) recommends limiting the installation of cell tower antennae in the vicinity of schools, hospitals and playground. It goes on to propose a comprehensive study on the radiation effects.

But experts are convinced of the damage it causes to the human body (see box)

Currently antennae and structures are built on terraces by obtaining permissions from the BMC's Building Proposal Department.

But following DoT's report, UDD is expected to revise the norms of allowing antennae atop housing societies soon.

Money matters
A primary concern with installing the towers on housing societies is the economics involved.

Lured by big kickbacks from service providers, residential buildings are allowing cellular service providers to install the antennae in exchange for hefty rental charges, risking the lives of inhabitants and neighbours, experts said.

On an average, any small society can accommodate 3-6 providers at one base station, easily making up to Rs 10-20 lakh a year.

Mobile service providers hire an independent agency to install and maintain GSM antennae on buildings. They identify potential sites to install radio base stations.

The establishment that hosts the antennae gets a rent of Rs 2-5 lakh a year, depending on the agreement, the locality and subscriber base in the vicinity.

Ratna Deep Society's Sharma didn't disclose the amount the society receives from providers, but did mention that it is meager.

Radiation risks
Professor Girish Kumar, an IIT-Bombay professor researching the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation for 30 years, said, "The microwave radiation effect can be classified as thermal and non-thermal.


Symptoms of thermal effect include fatigue, cataract, and reduced mental concentration. Effects of non-thermal are sadly ignored, since the current exposure safety standards are solely based on the thermal effect."

Installation
Since independent agencies install antennae for several service providers, a housing society gets rent from each service provider independently.

The installing agency takes care of everything including the power arrangements, civil and structural works.

Following the advance payment, a long-term agreement is signed with the society and access to that portion of the terrace is restricted.

Officials speak
Officials have been vague when it comes to addressing the situation.

"The study of radiation from cellular antennae and mobile handsets is still going on and we haven't reached any conclusion on its ill-effects," said a TRAI advisor.

Dr D S Dakhure, director, Medical Services of Maharshtra, said, "Is there any such tower on any government hospital? Anyway, I am busy with the Monsoon Session of the Assembly."

The Other Side
"MTNL installs and maintains antennae for GSM cellular services in the city. The maximum limit of radiation is 20 watts and is never exceeded.

All the antennae are safe and a report on the radiation level is submitted to the DoT regularly," said a spokesperson for MTNL, which has several cell antennae in the city.

Indus Towers Limited, a leading installation company, has set up over 10,000 towers across the nation. One of its officials said, "The towers installed by Indus Towers are very much safe."

Hotspots
Housing societies in areas like Malabar Hill and Colaba in the island city, and Ghatkopar and Andheri in the suburbs can fetch the highest amount of revenue through tower installation deals with cellular service providers

Link: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/jul/270711-Santacruz-BCJ-hospital-mobile-towers-Ratna-Deep-CHS.htm

Prof. Olle Johansson on the Dangers of Smart Meters

Olle Johansson - Warning of the Dangers of Smart Meters

by Paris08, Friday, July 15, 2011, 11:16 (20 hours, 55 minutes ago)

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Department of Neuroscience
Experimental Dermatology Unit
Stockholm, July 9, 2011

Cc Susan Brinchman, Director, Center for Electrosmog Prevention, P.O. Box 655, La Mesa, CA 91944-0655, USA

To: The California Public Utilities Commission,

I understand that you at present are concerned about the fast deployment of smart meters on homes in California, without adequate sharing of information with the public.

I work as an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute; we are world-famous for our Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which we many times have awarded to your fellow countrymen and –women. I also uphold a professorship at the Royal Institute of Technology; it being closely tied to the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry. For many years I have been studying health effects of wireless gadgets, such as Smart Meters.

Wireless communication is now being implemented in our daily life in a very fast way. At the same time, it is becoming more and more obvious that the exposure to electromagnetic fields may result in highly unwanted health effects. This has been demonstrated in a very large number of studies and includes cellular DNA-damage (which may lead to an initiation of cancer as well as mutations that carry down generations), disruptions and alterations of cellular functions like increases in intracellular stimulatory pathways and calcium handling, disruption of tissue structures like the blood-brain barrier (which may allow toxins to enter the brain), impact on vessel and immune functions, and loss of fertility. It should be noted that we are not the only species at jeopardy, practically all animals and plants may be at stake.

Because the effects are reproducibly observed and links to pathology can not be excluded, the precautionary principle should be in force in the implementation of this new technology within the society. Therefore, policy makers immediately should strictly control exposure by defining biologically-based maximal exposure guidelines also taking into account long-term, non-thermal effects, and including especially vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, the ill, the genetically and/or immunologically challenged, children and fetuses, and persons with the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity (which in Sweden is a fully recognized functional impairment, and therefore receives an annual governmental disability subsidy).

Prompted by all this, a group of international experts recently published a very important paper, The Seletun Scientific Statement (2011). Among its points are:

* 1) Low-intensity (non-thermal) bioeffects and adverse health effects are demonstrated at levels significantly below existing exposure standards.
* 2) ICNIRP/WHO and IEEE/FCC public safety limits are inadequate and obsolete with respect to prolonged, low-intensity exposures.
* 3) New, biologically-based public exposure standards are urgently needed to protect public health world-wide.
* 4) EMR exposures should be reduced now rather than waiting for proof of harm before acting. It is not in the public interest to wait.
* 5) There is a need for mandatory pre-market assessments of emissions and risks before deployment of new wireless technologies. There should be convincing evidence that products do not cause health harm before marketing.
* 6) The use of telephone lines (land-lines) or fiber optic cables for SmartGrid type energy conservation infrastructure is recommended. Utilities should choose options that do not create new, community-wide exposures from wireless components of SmartGrid-type projects. Future health risks from prolonged or repetitive wireless exposures of SmartGrid-type systems may be avoided by using fiber-optic cable. Energy conservation is endorsed but not at the risk of exposing millions of families in their homes to a new, involuntary source of wireless radiofrequency radiation, the effect of which on their health not yet known

Many smart meters are close to beds, ... These wireless systems are never off, and the exposure is not voluntary. ...

The recent determination of the World Health Organization (WHO) to include radiofrequency radiation on the 2B list of carcinogens also applies to devices such as smart meters. Already September 4, 2008, the European Parliament voted 522 to 16 to recommend tighter safety standards for cell phones ...

With my very best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Olle Johansson, Assoc. Prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit,
Department of Neuroscience,
Karolinska Institute,
171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
&
Professor,
The Royal Institute of Technology,
100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

To read the complete letter go to:
http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/letter-johansson-smart-meters/

Juhi Chawla worried about radiation from mobile towers on govt guesthouse

Mumbai, July 02, 2011 - Hindustan Times


Link to article: http://www.hindustantimes.com/tabloid-news/mumbai/Actor-worried-about-radiation-from-mobile-towers-on-govt-guesthouse/Article1-716321.aspx

Mumbai, July 03, 2011 - Hindustan Times



Link to article: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/mumbai/Actor-s-house-vulnerable-to-radiation/Article1-716663.aspx

‘Actor’s house vulnerable to radiation’ - Hindustan Times