There is danger and death lurking in Indian metros! If recent reports of the Tehelka magazine are to be believed almost four- fifth of Delhi’s population is living amidst the dangerously potent electromagnetic radiations (EMR) emitted from cell phone towers placed carelessly across residential areas of the city.

The Delhi Disaster

A public interest survey on radiation was initiated by Tehelka for the first time in India’s capital of Delhi, to investigate how telecom towers were jeopardizing citizens’ lives by violating health norms. The study was commissioned by the ‘Tehelka’ newspaper and was executed by Cogent, a Delhi-based company that works on radiation safety solutions.

100 spots from across Delhi were selected for the study in the first half of May 2010.The results were very disturbing,  the highlights of which are  listed below -

• About four-fifths of Delhi’s population lives in unsafe radiation zones, with the radiation levels ranging from “borderline” to “unsafe” and “extreme anomaly.

• Forty of the 100 spots surveyed have ‘extreme anomaly’ levels of radiation. In these high- risk zones, the EMR is seven times the safe limit. They include Connaught Place, Khan Market, Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi Police headquarters, ISKCON temple and Modern School in Vasant Vihar.

• Thirty-one spots were found to be  ‘unsafe’ zones while  nine were ‘borderline’. The latter includes AIIMS and PM’s residence.

• Merely 20 spots were  considered safe and these zones included the residences of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit.

• Only a fifth of Delhi lives and works in a safe or non-hazardous  zone and that happens to be the  VVIP zone.

• The October Commonwealth Games, which will last well over 12 days, could be the most ‘risky’ in terms of radiation exposure.

Mayhem in Mumbai

The telecom disaster seems to have struck Mumbai too.

In 2004, a Reliance cell tower was constructed on the terrace of the Panchratna Apartments, Ulhasnagar in Mumbai. Since 2005 there have been four cases of cancer in the apartment complex with several other residents complaining of fatigue, migraine and sleeplessness. The apartment society is paid Rs.30,000 per month and for this reason they do not want to remove the cell tower despite complaints from the residents.

Another example is the presence of a huge telecom tower near Dharavi, the biggest slum in Asia. There are several such cell towers, which spew EMR, strewn carelessly across many residential areas in Mumbai --without a thought for the health hazard that they could be causing!!

A Delhi –model study conducted in Mumbai reveals that the majority of Mumbai is living in unsafe zones and there are likely to be several ‘cancer clusters’ around the city similar to that seen at the Pancharatna apartments, thanks to EMR- emitting cell towers.

Death Knell- What went wrong?

According to the Tehelka report, the levels of the non-nuclear kind   of radiation in Delhi is likely to have gone beyond safe parameters and this has happened because the authorities allowed illegal cell towers to sprout all over the metro without any regularization.

Indians have started using cell phones with a vengeance only since the past decade. And the general public are largely ignorant of, or indifferent to, telecom hazards mainly because radiation cannot be seen or felt, unlike other types of pollution such as those of the air, water and sound.

Pilot studies indicate that the radiations emanating from telecom towers have a deleterious effect on people living within 300 meter radius of the towers. If reports are further proven with irrefutable evidences, EMR will replace lifestyle diseases as the number one killer.

Cell Phone Hazards

In India, the mobile phone is a devise used ubiquitously among people of all class and ranks. It is being used by the fish- monger and the intellectual, the very young and also by the very old.

We have already seen that the mobile phone towers are a health hazard. But we may be overlooking the fact that the mobile phones that we use could be a cause of cancer. There has been some research that has been done on this subject  which has already revealed enough to warrant user- concern.

Dr Ronald Herberman, Director of the University of Pittsburg Cancer Institute, USA, has recently cautioned against the excessive use of mobile phones, by children in particular. 

Mobile phones (and personal items of communications, such as laptops) are low-power radio devices that transmit and receive signals, through base station networks, in the radio frequency (RF) range of   900 and/or 1800 Megahertz.

Mobile phones have a radio transmitter which generates an RF energy of one to two watts which is radiated through the antenna inside the phone. Now if the phone is held too close to the head while talking a considerable amount of this energy is absorbed by the brain.

Effects of RF & EM Radiation

According to the International Commission for Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) the sole established effect of RF radiation (which is a kind of electromagnetic radiation) exposure is a rise in tissue temperature but if the measure of this is small, it can be regulated by the inherent thermoregulatory mechanisms in humans.

If the temperature rise is high the following has been observed in rat models and in human subjects –

• Tissue damage
• Penetration of blood-brain barrier
• Erratic neuro-muscular functions
• Fatigue
• Low power of concentration
• Lens opacity /cataract
• Low sperm count

Doctors are increasingly suggesting that constant exposure to high frequency EMFs can cause fatigue, hypertension, headaches, irritability, insomnia, digestive disorders, low blood pressure, muscle twitching, neurological and cardiovascular problems, male infertility and cancer.

Research Reveals

•A study conducted by doctors in Southern German city of Naila to evaluate the health hazards of mobile phone radiation has revealed that people living in proximity to transmitter antennas had an increased risk of cancer

• A comprehensive Swedish study established 240 % risk of brain tumour in case of intense mobile phone use, which is 2000 hours of use or 1 hr. per day for about a decade or more.

• A study by another group of Swedish researchers has established a link between long-term use of mobile phone in children and childhood leukemia

• A recent pilot study on 20 rats by researchers in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, has found that mobile phone radiation is damaging to the DNA and causes low sperm count.

• An epidemiology study conducted by the  Tel Aviv Univ. showed 50% increased risk for parotid gland tumors.

• The American Society of Reproductive Medicine found that the quality of semen was compromised significantly. Research has also revealed decrease in  sperm count, motility, viability and semen volume among perpetual mobile phone users.

• Studies reveal that pregnant women are at an increased risk from EMFs.

• Research conducted in the Human Genetic Department of Guru Nanak Univ has revealed that there is an increase in  DNA and Chromosomal damage on exposure to Radio Frequency (RF) signals generated by cell phone leading to  physiological, neurological, cognitive and behavioral changes. They are even implicated in carcinogenesis.