RADIATION EXPOSURE – MOBILE TOWERS
* Swapna Jha
India is the world’s second largest mobile user market. The development in mobile telephony has resulted in installation of towers all around us. In an attempt to provide better connectivity, the operators mount the towers close to residential and office buildings. These towers emit harmful Electro Magnetic Frequency/Radiation (EMF/EMR) which entails a variety of health hazards. The population in close proximity to these towers is vulnerable to radiation exposure. EMRs are reported to produce long as well as short term biological effects, which are of great concern to human health especially in the light of increased use of such devices in our daily life. The imbalance in the pace of growth of mobile telephony vis a vis regulatory policies has resulted in a lacuna in the policy domain and its implementation mechanism.
Exposure to radiation from cell phone towers and cell phones and its harmful effects on human health has been a matter of great concern to the masses. When appeals to the executive did not yield results the judiciary was approached in the hope of getting some respite. A Public Interest Litigation requesting setting up of an independent body to regulate radiation from cell phone towers was filed with the Supreme Court in 2012. The petition requested the court to direct the government to ban installation of cell phone towers in highly populated areas, protected natural areas and spaces where endangered species lived as well as making environment impact assessments mandatory. The Court felt that at the initial stages the executive and legislature should be given a free reign and told the petitioner, “You have to give the executive and legislature a free hand at the initial stages. Later if they fail we can step in.”1
However, in July 2013, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with a Rajasthan High Court order directing the state government to remove mobile phone towers from near the schools, hospitals and densely populated localities. The bench of justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad noted “For the time being remove those towers from private and government schools. The order which benefits (the school children)... We will not interfere with it”.
In addition to the above, several cases have been filed in various high courts across the country requesting for removal of these towers from residential areas. In one of such cases, the court ordered the petitioner to prove conclusively that the harm caused was a result of radiation from the towers. It is not feasible for an individual to get such a study conducted; moreover ensuring the safety of citizens is the responsibility of the state.
Alarmed at the increasing number of towers, electronic and print media, residential welfare associations and number of independent activists raised concern and tried to bring the adverse effect caused by EMR to the notice of the authorities. Common Cause in September 2015 sent letters requesting the authorities to issue directions for immediate compliance with safety norms and steps suggested by the government Expert Committee on the ill effects of mobile towers.
The makers of the Constitution tried to ensure social and economic welfare of the citizens by way of two specific provisions in the form of fundamental rights and the directive principles of state policy. These principles have specifically been provided to establish social and economic democracy in the country. For example, Article 47 states “….The state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the use except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.”
Dr. Magda Havas, of Trent University, Canada and an expert in EMR effects, draws a very interesting parallel between cigarette smoking and use of cell phone. She says that both industries debunk
1. As reported in NDTV ( http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/cellphone-towers-supreme-court-refuses-to-intervene-503318 )
unfavourable study results and continue to promote their products despite awareness of the significant dangers to public health. Looking at the issue from the point of view of the high revenues collected by the governments by way of taxes, she points out that there is a conflict of interest because the governments tend to look the other way when harmful effects are brought up. Both industries use expensive, effective marketing strategies to target every segment of society, including children. She believes that there is a massive amount of scientific data proving beyond doubt the direct link between these products and lifethreatening damage to the human body and both the products are addictive in nature. More information may be accessed at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/04/cell-phones-are-thecigarettes-of-the-21st-century.aspx
Now it has been established that smoking kills. However, the tobacco industry’s continuous resistance to strong anti-tobacco laws citing distorted economic issues related to tobacco production and control as well as over emphasizing employment issues of workers associated with tobacco control led to delay of implementation of anti-tobacco laws. It was only in 1975 that the Act mandating statutory health warnings on all tobacco products was passed. Recently the rule which mandated that 60% of display area on cigarette packs be covered with pictorial health warning and 25% for textual health warning was put in cold storage due to this reason. The Committee on Subordinate Legislation on the concerned subject matter, in its interim report, referring to the adverse impact of this rule on the livelihood of people involved in the tobacco industry, and recommended that the notification be kept in abeyance. It was only after the intervention of the Court that the government in September 2015 re-notified the rule, which is scheduled to come into effect from April 1, 2016. It is evident that the beneficiary industry has been able to buy time and defer the implementation of the rule which would have benefitted the citizens and certainly lead to a loss of profit to the industry.
Right to life and liberty is a fundamental right guaranteed to the citizens under the Constitution of India. The increase in number of towers has resulted in increased exposure to radiation. The population within ten meters of these towers receives signals, which are several thousand times stronger causing potential harm to them. There is at present no law in place to protect the hapless citizens from radiation exposure. The state is under an obligation to ensure the safety of the citizens from the harmful effect of EMR.
Though this has been a matter of public concern for long, the government has failed to act suo moto. Eventually, the increasing distress of citizens forced the government to think on the lines of evolving alternative means to deploy mobile telecom network in line with international best practices. An IMC of the Ministries of Commerce & IT was set up in August 2010, to look into the ill effects of EMR from base stations and mobile phones.
The IMC examined the environmental and health related concerns and adjudicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health. It also opined that the current scientific studies had not been able to confirm a cause and effect relationship between EMR and health. According to this report, the effect of emission from cell phones was not known with certainty. Significantly, the report did not categorically state that these radiations had no ill effect.
Pursuant to the IMC recommendations, a Committee was constituted in Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to deliberate on issues relating to uniform guidelines on setting up of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers, structural safety for towers on roof-tops, identification of location in master plan for installation of mobile towers and solutions for the future expansion of telecom network in the country.
In its report submitted in May 2012, the Committee recommended that installation of towers within school and hospital premises be avoided, compliance to the prevailing radiation limits be ensured, suitable
means to prohibit access of public to BTS be adopted and traditional BTS be augmented with micro, pico and femto cellular solutions for better and ubiquitous mobile coverage.
The Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change to study the possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife, including birds and bees, was given the following mandate:
“Comprehensive study of ill effects of mobile towers on animals, birds and insects, assess the likely impacts of the growth in the number of mobile towers and suggest possible mitigatory measures, formulate guidelines for regulating the large-scale installation of mobile towers in the country and identify areas for conducting further detailed research.”
After considering all aspects, the Expert Committee recommended that EMF be recognised as a pollutant/regular auditing of EMF should be conducted in urban localities/educational/hospital /industrial/ residential/recreational premises and around the protected areas and ecologically sensitive areas; introduction of a law for protection of urban flora/fauna in urban areas; use of clear signs to depict dangers of cell phone tower and radiation emitted from it including visual daytime markers in areas of high diurnal raptor or waterfowl movements; steps to avoid bird hits; independent monitoring of radiation levels, including overall health of the community and nature surrounding the towers; easy procedure for removal of existing problematic mobile towers particularly in and around protected area or urban parks and centres having wildlife; controlled installation of mobile towers near wildlife protected areas to ensure conservation of wildlife; consultation with public and forest department on case basis be made mandatory before installation of towers and no new towers within a radius of one kilometre of existing towers.
Subsequently, the Standing Committee on Information Technology (2013-14) considered the subject of “norms for setting up of telecom towers, its harmful effects and setting up of security standards in expansion of telecom facilities”. This Committee presented its 53rd report on the subject on February 12, 2014 with the following observations:
• In the absence of any regulatory framework, telecom towers have proliferated across the country in a haphazard manner, especially in urban areas.
• For want of a uniform national policy, state governments and local authorities have adopted their own criteria to grant permission for installation of telecom towers.
• The issue of jurisdiction of DoT vs. local authorities or state governments in the setting up of telecom towers to be re-examined by the central government and a national policy on jurisdiction of DoT vs local authorities be evolved.
• The DoT guidelines on grant of clearances for the installation of telecom towers being advisory in nature, did not address the issue of removal of illegal telecom towers, nor were they binding on existing towers.
The following observations/recommendations were made by the Committee:
Since safety aspects of telecom towers had been given scant attention by the central and state governments, it recommended imposition of a penalty for breach of the safety norms as a deterrent measure.
• The sharing of towers was suggested as it could help in restricting their numbers, reducing service costs and expanding telecom coverage.
• Considering the seriousness of health concerns raised by some stakeholders, the Committee recommended that the government conduct a scientific study on the issue through a reputed government organisation.
It suggested more stringent radiation norms for areas like schools, hospitals, playgrounds, etc.
• That the government frame a comprehensive policy on setting up of telecom towers in densely populated, urban residential areas.
• DoT to explore the option of utilising low power radiating technologies in urban areas.
• DoT to work towards the development of a centralised monitoring system.
• That DoT finalises and implements the safety standards for mobile handsets at the earliest.
• Existing grievance redressal mechanism of DoT was inadequate and urgent efforts were needed to extend it to all major cities. The Committee strongly recommended the formation of state and district level telecom committees to effectively address public grievances.
• Despite the security risk posed by imported telecom equipment, the DoT had not conducted any study on this subject.
• DoT should establish a telecom testing and security certification centre in the country at the earliest.
The Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests presented its 266th report on E Waste and E Radiation to the Rajya Sabha in July 2015. The Committee recommended that the DoT should consider framing suitable regulations and guidelines regarding the location and inspection of mobile towers. The Committee also suggested that comprehensive scientific studies be undertaken to conclusively establish the level of risk and adverse health effects of EMR of cell towers. The Committee observed that Indians were more vulnerable to radiation risk as compared to Europeans due to the difference in body mass index and fat content. It also wanted the recommendations of the expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests be implemented so that the harmful effects of EMR may be minimised. With regards to the supervision by telecom enforcement resource and monitoring (TERM) cells to ensure compliance of BTS guidelines, the committee has recommended that apart from self-certification, random checking and inspection reports should be made public.
Even the World Health Organization (WHO) (2011) after reviewing the studies published during the period 2000-2011 classified the radio frequency electromagnetic radiations/field emitted from wireless phone under group 2 B-carcinogen category. Recently, in May 2011, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified electromagnetic fields from mobile phones and other sources as “possibly carcinogenic to human” and advised the public to adopt safety measures to reduce exposures, like use of hand-free devices or texting.
The largest retrospective case-control study to date on adults, Interphone, coordinated by the IARC, was designed to determine whether there are links between use of mobile phones and head and neck cancers in adults. The international pooled analysis of data gathered from participating countries found no increased risk of glioma or meningioma in case of more than ten years users of mobile phone. There was some indications of an increased risk of glioma for those who reported the highest 10% of cumulative hours of cell phone use. The researchers concluded that biases and errors limit the strength of these conclusions and prevent a causal interpretation. Based largely on these data, IARC has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B); a category used when a causal association is considered credible, but when chance, bias or confounding cannot be ruled out with reasonable confidence.
The committees mentioned above have made recommendations regarding static continuous testing/ measuring centres, self-certification, creation of a national data base, use of low power micro cell transmitters and long term research on the health aspects of EMF radiation exposure. In the light of the IARC’s finding, these recommendations should be implemented without further delay.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has submitted its short report on national activities on electromagnetic frequency for 2015 to the WHO.2 The report by Gandhi and Komal says that in people residing within 200 meters of cell phone towers in comparison to control group there is an increase in various kinds of health symptoms (i.e. headaches, blurred vision, skin and cardiovascular problems, dizziness, depression, nausea, memory loss, tinnitus, loss of appetite, feeling of discomfort and bowel disturbance)3. Similar adverse observations have been made in the report submitted for 2014 by ICMR.
The intensity of EMF is strongest at the source and becomes weaker gradually as distance increases. Thus distance and duration of exposure to radiation play a vital role in the harmful impact of radiation. There is an urgent need to refine the Indian standard on safe limits of exposure to EMR, keeping in view the available literature on impacts on various life forms. As the costs of mobile phone technology have fallen, their use has increased dramatically and the overall levels of exposure of the population as a whole have therefore increased drastically. However, there is at present no continuous monitoring system in place to check whether the EMF radiation level from telecom towers is being kept within the prescribed limits. The TERM Cells) of) the DoT) are required to conduct) test audit up) to) 10%) of) the) BTS) sites at random) based on) the) self-certification furnished by the service providers. The objectivity of such random tests is in question on account of the fact that the instrument for these tests is provided by none other than the service providers. In any case, failure to adhere to the prescribed norms by the service providers is only punishable with fine. However, in case it is established that these radiations are indeed responsible for causing deadly diseases, it would hardly be possible to compensate for the human suffering already inflicted.
Considering the high population density, difference in body mass index and fat content of an Indian and a European and the local specific absorption norms or values reported to be in the range of 1 watt/kg, we should adopt stringent standards for our country more in tune with the standards set by the Federal Communications Commission. While the scientific debate on this issue maybe inconclusive, the government and its private partners need to demonstrate complete absence of risk due to radiation exposure.
Undoubtedly, telecom is an important tool for economic growth as well as human connectivity. The objective of the National Telecom Policy is to deliver world class infrastructure at affordable prices. One must also admit that imposing constraints that hamper the development of infrastructure leading to poor connectivity would be bad for the interest of the industry or the consumers. Thus, in the light of the above mentioned facts it is imperative for the operators to install towers at convenient places within their service areas in order to maintain quality services. However, unless it is conclusively proved that these radiations have no ill effect, a precautionary approach with stricter norms should be adopted to minimize the exposure levels, without compromising on optimum performance of the networks.
The readers may like to read more on this topic in the following articles:
Adult and Childhood Leukemia near a High-Power Radio Station in Rome, Italy (http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/ content/155/12/1096.full)
Brain tumor mortality risk among men with electrical and electronics jobs: a case-control study.(http:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3474455)
Radiation Exposure, Socioeconomic Status, and Brain Tumor Risk in the US Air Force: A Nested CaseControl Study J. Kevin Grayson (http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/143/5/480.full.pdf&embedded=true)
Cell Phone Dangers for Pregnant Women (http://www.spiritofhealthkc.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/ 03/PREGNANCY8-Cell-Phone-Dangers-for-Pregnant-Women.pdf&embedded=true)
2. http://www.who.int/peh-emf/project/mapnatreps/INDIA_NIR_activities_2015.pdf&embedded=true
3. Gandhi and Komal. Residential proximity to mobile phone base stations and non -specific health symptoms – A cause for concern? Current Trends in Technology and Science, 3: 337-342; 2014.
*Swapna Jha is a Senior Legal Consultant in Common Cause
