A couple of years back,
when I was at my native village in Bihar, I was surprised to know from my
co-villagers that of late the region had been losing some birds like crows,
sparrows and ‘neelkanth’. When I
enquired about the likely reason, they emphatically mentioned that the syndrome
was caused after the mobile towers were installed. Subsequently I learnt from
other sources that the people living close to such towers were getting exposed
to carcinogenic complications. As a history student, I cannot boast of the knowledge of the involved biological technicalities. However, the issue
kept on haunting me since then till I attended a talk by an internationally
acclaimed expert on the topic.
Under the auspices of
the Synergy Environics Ltd, New Delhi, this talk was organized in the local
India International Centre auditorium on Sept.15, 2014 evening with its
Managing Director, Shri Ajay Poddar in the chair. The speaker was Dr. Dariusz
Leszczynski, an expert on biological/health effects of mobile phone radiation
and one of the experts of the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC) involved in classification of cell phone radiation carcinogenicity. He
is also an Adjunct Prof. Of University of Helsinki, Finland. The topic of his
speech was “Cell Tower and Moble Radiations – Perceptions, Threats and
Solutions”. At the outset Shri Poddar introduced the speaker to the august
gathering consisting of knowledgeable persons of the discipline as well as
several executives of mobile operating agencies.
In his scholarly talk, Dr. Dariusz said that
every week, there are media reports in India on the issue of Electromagnetic
Radiations from mobile Transmission Towers and Mobile Phones being harmful to
human health and constant exposure to them causing Cancer etc. We also come
across articles presenting a completely different side of the story, which say
that there is no conclusive evidence on any harm to health from these
radiations. This creates a lot of confusion in the minds of people as they
don’t know what to believe. So much more clarity is required on this front, he
added.
He further mentioned
that due to the mounting concern about the possibility of adverse health
effects resulting from exposure the wireless communication devices like cell
phones and towers in the world, a Working group of 31 scientists and experts
from 14 countries was formed in 2011 and they met in France to assess the
potential health hazards due to such radiations. In May 2011, based on the data
and studies presented by them , the IARC, a part of the World Health
Organisation (WHO} classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly
carcinogenic to humans, based on increased risk of glioma, a malignant type of
brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.
The speaker, who has
been working in this field since 1996 revealed that there have been two more
such authentic researches which concluded that the information collected were
not conclusive. However, there are several indications to ascertain risk
factors. He said that health meant both physical and mental wellness and the
heat from such communication radiation was generating risk factors. Sh. Arvind
Sawant, MP/RS/Shivsena who came to release a sticker to be pasted on mobiles
like the warning on cigarette packets, informed that he knew a family of three
sisters in Maharashtra, who caught cancer after they allowed a relay tower to
be installed on their house.
Based on the above
slightly jargonic account, I am quoting some dos and donts for the common users
so that they can observe necessary
precaution. As the speaker himself said that our society has gone too far with
the moble and so any return is unimaginable. So precautions are the best
option. According to him, for some money, we should not permit towers to be
built on our buildings. Vicinity to them
has added dangers. In Europe, such towers are permitted in areas beyond human
habitation. We were surprised to know that mobile’s radiation is more harming
than the cell towers due to distance. Therefore, we should, as far as possible
keep the instrument away from the body. At no cost school children be permitted
to carry the mobile in their pockets as their physique being comparatively more
tender, they are prone to be the worse victim. He also advised that besides the
name being laptop, the user should observe restraint and keep it on a table
avoiding more body touches. He gave a clarion call to the society to be careful
with their mobiles.
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