Sanjib Kumar Roy
Port Blair, Dec 20: Mushrooming of cellular antennae in residential areas, and the potential health risks they pose by emitting radiation incessantly, have become a serious cause of concern for Islanders. Many expert reports have already confirmed that mobile towers are a grave threat to the human health.
A recent report publish by INTACH said that mobile towers are serious health hazard for residents living within 300 meter range of their beams. After giving one time permission, to erect them, the PBMC, Zilla Parishad or Administration take no further responsibility for the after effects inflicted on unknowing people. Nor can contracts once signed with the operator be terminated before the stipulated period without going to court.
According to reports, those living within 300 meter range, the dangerous perimeter, can suffer headaches, anxiety syndrome, dizziness, insomnia if you are lucky and cancer if you are not.
The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently issued a warning that radiation from Mobile towers and handsets is “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
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.
Mobile towers around schools and educational institutions also have been posing a grave threat to the children’s health. There are dozens of mobile towers in city and worrying fact is that they are close to some or the other school. For example RBV, Model School, Mohanpura School etc are very close to mobile towers.
A recent report on mobile tower radiation by the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai has brought to fore some startling revelations regarding the effects of radiation on human population in India. The report says kids are more vulnerable to the mobile tower radiations.
The report submitted by Prof Girish Kumar to the Department of Telecommunication New Delhi states that mobile phone tower radiation poses a “dangerous threat” to human, animal, bird and plant species in different states of India.
“Studies conducted in 2010 reveal that excessive use of mobile phones has doubled to quadrupled brain tumour risk,” the report by the IIT’s Electrical Engineering Department states.
“Children are at higher risk from exposures to carcinogens than adults and today very large population of children is using cell phones and also many of them sleep with the cell phones beneath their pillows every night without realizing the health hazards,” the report said.
Sadly the Administration is unable to constitute a team to study the possible ill effects of mobile phone radiation in these Islands.
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