Telecom tower radiation ‘not hazardous to health’

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 30

JS Deepak, Union Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Technology, has dispelled fears that telecommunication towers are create health hazards for people.

Deepak addressed a public outreach and awareness programme organised under the aegis of the Department of Telecommunications on Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Emissions and Mobile Towers in Dehradun today. He said telecom towers were critical installations that were the backbone of wireless communication in the country. He admitted that unfounded apprehensions that telecom towers radiations were a health hazard could derail the country’s growth story.

“Electromagnetic emission from mobile towers are much below the safety limits prescribed by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection and recommended by the World Health Organization. There is no scientific evidence of telecom towers causing adverse health effects,” Deepak said.

Shivendra Bhatnagar, Senior Deputy Director General, Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) unit, explained the strict monitoring and enforcement mechanism put in place by the Department of Telecommunications for EMF related compliance. He said a committee formed at the behest of the Allahabad High Court comprising experts from IITs, AIIMS, Delhi, Indian Council of Medical Research and the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, had also on the basis of scientific evidences, studies and reports available, found that there was no conclusive evidence about the stated dangers of EMF radiation from mobile towers.

Another speaker Dr TK Joshi from Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, said scientific studies had not been able to conclude that EMF emissions from mobile towers could cause health hazards. “Till date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health,” he added.

Dr Suresh Attili from Grace Cancer Foundation said electromagnetic emission norms were much stricter in India than followed by many developed nations, including the USA, the UK and most parts of the European Union.

Several senior officers from the Central Government, Uttarakhand government, eminent persons and public representatives attended the programme.