ILL EFFECTS OF MOBILE TOWER RADIATIONS

Sanesh PillayRithu RavikumarSharon Mathew

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Contents

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Introduction

• India is the second largest mobile phone user in the world

• 554.8 million mobile users• More than 54% of the total mobile users are in

rural areas

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Technological Insights• Pollution created by electromagnetic fields (EMF) is called

‘electro-smog’ and is a silent killer

• India is the second largest subscriber of mobile communication.

• There are 16 companies providing mobile services to the Indian market

• There are around 890 million wireless connections and more than 5 lakh mobile towers across the country to meet the communication demand.

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• A mobile phone transmits around 2 Watts of power in the frequency range of 824 - 849 MHz

• The transmission frequency range of cell tower antennas are generally 869 - 894 MHz

• In case of a 3G technology, the base station antenna transmits in the rage of 2000-2160 MHz.

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• Majority of these towers are mounted near the residential properties and office buildings to provide good coverage.

• These towers transmit signal throughout the day and hence the people living around a few meters of the tower gets stronger signals than actually required for communication, which can be harmful

• News : HC notice to Centre on 70 year-old woman's plea on mobile tower seeking Rs.50 lakh as compensation from authorities for allowing a cellular operator to install a mobile tower on the terrace of her house which caused health hazards to her young daughter

Zeenews April 22, 2013

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Biological effects on Human Being

• Opening of Brain Blood Barrier and leakage of albumin from blood vessels in inappropriate location of the brain

• Neuro-degenerative diseases - Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease

• DNA damage - When DNA damaged is greater than DNA repaired, there is possibility of retaining mutations and initiating cancer

• Irreversible infertility

• Risk to children – Increased radiation absorption because the skull is thin and small– More susceptible to cell damage due to increased rate of multiplication– Less effective against fighting growth as the immune system is not well developed

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• Risk to pregnant woman for spontaneous abortion, congenital malformation in fetus and depression and degeneration of nervous system in children

• Calcium ion release from cell membrane leading to pain and neurological symptoms

• Effect on skin – Rashes, redness of skin, crawling ,biting and stinging sensation

• Interference with life line electronic gadgets like pacemakers

• Damage of visual system

• Increase in cancer risk

• Sleep disorders

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“Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50m of your home or

workplace is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours and carries the

same cancer risk as living surrounded by lead, DDT, chloroform and petrol

exhaust”

Hindustan Times, July 15 2012

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Due to exponential loss of intensity during propagation of EMR, the radiation from your cell phone is immensely higher in intensity, as far as you are concerned, than the radiation from the tower. In fact, the farther away the tower and the weaker the signal, the harder your cell phone works to put out the signal, thereby increasing your exposure to radiation. Having a cell phone tower nearer to you is a good thing!

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Effects on Bees

• Studies show that there has been a sharp decline in bee population leading to damage to apiculture industry and also increase in global warming

• Bees have been getting sick and disoriented, and whole hives are being deserted

• Colony Collapse Disorder or Vanishing Bee Syndrome.

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Effects on Birds• Birds, when exposed to low frequency EM radiations, they disorient

and fly in different directions

• Microwaves can interfere with their sensors and misguide them while navigating and preying

• A large number of birds like pigeons, sparrows, swans are getting lost due to interference from the mobile phone towers

• Birds near mobile phone base stations do not breed well

• A few scientists claim that radiations can be responsible for the persistence of Bird Flu that has been killing chickens and other fowl and is officially attributed to a common virus with the designation H5N1

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Effects on Trees

• When trees are exposed to radiation emitted by mobile base station antennas, the leaves discolor and gradually die

• Leaves initially develop a metallic luster appearance

• Discoloration of the leaves resulted in the disappearance of the outer cell layer of the leaves

• Metallic luster was then followed by desiccation and death of a portion of the leaf.

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Experiment

Source: International Journal of Forestry Research, February 2010

The researchers discovered that the tree seedlings growing inside the radio frequency-shielded cages were much larger and healthier than those in both the mock-shielded cages and in the unshielded controls. The authors report that the background levels of radio frequency radiation may be adversely affecting leaf and shoot growth and inhibiting fall production of anthocyanin (these are the pigments associated with leaf senescence in trembling aspen seedlings). These results suggest that exposure to the RF radiation generated by our wireless technology may be an underlying factor in the recent rapid decline of aspen populations.

16Business Line Sept 1, 2012

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Government Initiatives• Government plans to install devices for round-the-clock monitoring of radiation

levels emanating from telecom towers

• Area monitoring devices measures EMF radiation and sends the measured radiation value to the display board for displaying the radiation level for people to see the readings

• At present there are around 7.4 lakh mobile antenna system and 6 lakh mobile towers installed across country

• Radiation norms have provision to impose penalty of up to Rs.5 lakh in case any mobile antenna is found emitting radiation beyond permissible limits.

• The government had made it mandatory for telcos to reduce the power of the radio frequency in towers to a tenth of what was required under the global standards set by WHOZeebiz.com, Sept 3 2013; Business Standard, Dec 14 2013

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Preventive Measures• By using a cell phone with a lower SAR (specific absorption rate) i.e., how

much radiation is absorbed by the human body when the handset is being used at maximum power

• SAR values are useful, but they are bound to increase as cell phones become more powerful and add new features and applications

• Keep distance from cell phone

• Try to text more and talk less

• When your cell phone has a weak signal, it has to work harder to transmit and receive, and that equals higher bursts of radiation. So find a strong signal and stay put

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How to protect environment