Monday, April 16, 2012

Minutes of ASSOCHAM meeting "“Ensuring Public Health and Safety in the Mobile Industry” in New Delhi on Feb. 7-8, 2012 by Prof. Girish Kumar

MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT ASSOCHAM, INDIA on Feb 7-8, 2012 by Prof. Girish Kumar

On 7th-8th Feb 2012 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) held a workshop and a conference on “Ensuring Public Health and Safety in the Mobile Industry” in Delhi where - Dr. Paolo Vecchia - Chairman ICNIRP, Dr. CK Chou, Chairman IEEE Electromagnetic Safety, Dr. Vijayalaxmi - University of Texas, Prof Kenneth Foster - University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Niels Kuster - IT'IS Foundation, Dr. Jack Rowley - Director Research & Sustainability, GSMA etc were invited. Prof. Girish Kumar from IIT Bombay was also invited however "due to limitation in time" as mentioned by the host speaker his session which was at the end of all the above speakers on 8th Feb was cancelled.

Here are his comments, which he would have liked to make but could not, and are not part of the workshop and conference.

Minutes of ASSOCHAM meeting "“Ensuring Public Health and Safety in the Mobile Industry” in New De...

MOBILE TOWER RADIATION HAZARDS - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What are the Health Hazards faced with Mobile Towers Radiations?

Sleep Disturbance, Headaches, Memory Loss, Lack of Concentration, Fatigue, Joint Pains, Vision Distortion, Miscarriage, Heart Problems, Brain Tumour, Leukaemia, Cancer, etc.

Also, it affects birds, animals, fruit yield of the trees, and environment.

2. Do we have any Medical Reports to prove these?

Overuse of cell phones leads to hearing loss and ear tumour, and this has been reported by several doctors in India. On May 31, 2011, WHO reported, “The electromagnetic fields produced by mobile phones are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

There are several epidemiological studies done in various countries, such as, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Israel, etc. where they have reported increase in cancer cases in 5 to 10 years, where radiation level was more than 1 mW/m2. Cancer is the last stage and before that people living close to mobile phone towers have reported sleep disturbance, headaches, memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, joint pains, vision distortion, miscarriage, heart problems, etc. There are cluster of cancer cases in India also, which occurred after a few years of installation of mobile towers, and where radiation levels were around 10 mW/m2.

One of the links with peer reviewed publications on EMF effect on human and environment with epidemiological and experimental studies. http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/

Link to a new statement from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine:
http://www.facebook.com/l/LAQEeBjKhAQFX9ofuyhZi2_RzaXSLVuozVog6HsiiXM_6ng/aaemonline.org/emf_rf_position.html

3. What are the Indian Standards of EMF radiation levels permitted?

India follows ICNIRP Guidelines of safe radiation density of 4500 milliwatt/m2 for GSM900 and 9200 milliwatt/m2 for GSM1800. However, ICNIRP guidelines clearly state that these are for short term exposure, averaged over 6 minutes and not for long term exposure. Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) Report recommended adopting 1/10th of ICNIRP guidelines in Jan. 2011.

4. What is the highest reading of EMF radiation level recorded so far?

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has reported highest measured reading of power density as 450 mW/m2 and most of their readings are within 1 to 100 mW / m2. That’s why they always claim that they are within the safe limits. However, from health point of view, safe limit for 24 hours exposure should be less than 0.1 mW / m2.

5. What are the EMF radiation level standards prevailing in other countries.


Safe Limits adopted in various countries for GSM900 are given below:


6. How far is far from Mobile Towers / Base Station so that there is no health hazard faced by humans?

Radiation level at a place depends upon power transmitted, radiation pattern of the antenna, and distance from the transmitting towers. From health point of view, for 24 hours exposure and assuming human life span of 70 years, safe radiation density is less than 0.1 mW/m2, which includes apartments, schools, hospitals, offices and playgrounds. Safe radiation density can be 10mW/m2, where people spend few minutes a day. Currently in India, base stations transmit 20W/carrier, so in the main beam, a distance of less than 300m is not safe. If the power transmitted is reduced by 100 times, then safe distance will reduce by 10 times.

7. Why should mobile phone towers not be close to Hospitals, Schools and Residences where pregnant ladies and Senior Residents reside? At what distance they should be?

Children and pregnant ladies are more sensitive to radiation, and hence they should not be exposed to high radiation for longer time. Senior residents and patients have week immune system and hence they are more susceptible to high radiation. Please see Point 6 for more details.

8. Are there any International standards for :


Height at which the Towers should be installed – 30 m

Distance at which the Towers should be installed from Residences, Hospitals, Schools – 50 m

Power Transmission by the Towers – 1 to 2W in the dense urban area

9. The Cell Phone Service providers are very strong financially and have strong political contacts. They conduct Seminars in 5 Star Hotels, invite foreign delegates, and distribute printed leaflets manipulated at times. The Civil Society does not have all this. How to put our point forward? We need technical studies literature to support.


There are plenty of technical literatures reporting health hazards to human, birds, animals, plants, trees, etc. We need to raise funds, which can be utilized for creating awareness and fund epidemiological studies.

10. Unless we are able to create public awareness, nothing is going to happen as telcos lobby is very strong. How do we go about it to create mass awareness through TV and media? How do we engage NGOs and Political parties especially opposition parties to raise relevant questions in the Parliament and also create public awareness.

We have to create public awareness through digital media, i.e., facebook, twitter, blog, email, SMS, etc. We can also request cricketers and bollywood people to join the campaign, as reporters like to cover them. Also, involve school and college children; let us not underestimate youth of our country.

11. Can we get copies of rules and regulations for the radiation norms in the countries like Switzerland, Russia, Australia and Italy which countries seem to have adopted norms which are safe enough for all living beings?

We can get copies of rules and regulations of the radiation norms adopted in the other countries through internet.

Cell Tower Microwave Radiation Presentation by Magda Havas

Cell Tower Microwave Radiation Presentation by Magda Havas

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Radiation from Mobile Towers in your Locality??

Concerned Person from Chennai (Name kept Anonymous)

"I must mention, where I stay, within 300 m, there are two cell phone towers, one of which is mounted on top of a one-story building housing a gym on the first floor"..." There are people living in the adjacent apartment of three-floors. On preliminary enquiring, I found that there was a cancer death in one of the tenants (old lady) on the second floor, (need to get more details); an aged person stricken with cancer on the third floor; another family on the third floor absolutely does not interact with anyone, avoidance behaviour (?); on the first floor, heart attack, sudden rise in blood sugar, joint pains, sleep disturbance. This is information collected on casual enquiry. The other cell phone tower is on top of a
one-story building, having many shops on the ground floor and facing many two-story apartments on the opposite side. There was a cancer death reported in one of the apartments there as well. There are many antennae mounted on this tower and some face the third floor of the apartment where I live (we live on the first floor). I have been staying here for 15 years, the towers have come up in the last 10 years, I need to check the exact date. I have made an observation of the trees, which show a very dull appearance"..

Concerned Person from Kolkata (Mr. Kisalay Mitra writes in his Blog - http://eco-friendly-ctn.blogspot.in/2012/04/radiation-solution-from-mobile-towers.html)

"I am very much concern to share the experience with others what I am facing high level of Radiations in my Residential building in my bed rooms emitted ( 24x7) from my adjacent cell tower installed 8 meters away from my building in another building's roof top , I am facing sleep disturbance, headache, lack of concentration, forgetful memory, joint pain -all these symptoms are happening in my family members, recently two of my close neighbors located very close to cell tower died in short gap in last January & Feb '12 due to sudden cardiac arrest & acute prostrate blockage"..

And there are many more from several other places, societies, cities and states who are complaining of similar health effects.

NOTE: Not everyone is exposed to similar amounts of radiation. People who are living in the main beam of an antenna or very near will be exposed to higher levels than others. This is one of the reasons why health effects are not uniformly seen among everyone in a building/locality.

Friday, April 6, 2012

REPLY TO - Comments on Prof Girish Kumar’s presentation on Cell Tower Radiation at ASSOCHAM

5th April 2012

Reply to - Comments on Prof Girish Kumar’s presentation on Cell Tower Radiation at the ASSOCHAM EMF Workshop 7th Feb 2012, New Delhi

On 7th-8th Feb 2012 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) held a workshop and a conference on “Ensuring Public Health and Safety in the Mobile Industry” in Delhi. Prof. Girish Kumar from IIT Bombay gave a presentation on Cell Tower/Cell Phone Radiation Hazards and Solutions. On March 27, 2012, a Round Table Conference on EMF Radiation was held in Delhi which was chaired by Mr. Kapil Sibal, DOT Minister. ASSOCHAM members had submitted comments on Prof. Girish Kumar's presentation at the Round Table Conference.

His reply to the comments are attached herewith. It is 72 pages long. Please find time to go through it and see the last page of his final recommendations for safe radiation norms.

REPLY TO - Comments on Prof Girish Kumar’s presentation on Cell Tower Radiation at ASSOCHAM

The report can also be viewed at: REPLY TO - Comments on Prof Girish Kumar’s presentation on Cell Tower Radiation at ASSOCHAM - www.scribd.com/doc/88233924

Please share it with your known people to create awareness.