The is no scientific evidence of adverse health effects of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) radiations from a mobile phone tower below the safe limits prescribed by International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO). The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology secretary and chairman of the telecom commission, JS Deepak said this while speaking at a public outreach and awareness programme organised under the aegis of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on EMF emissions and mobile towers here on Thursday. However, some municipal councillors and office bearers of residents welfare association expressed doubts citing contradictory statements and actions by officials while also asking why the local and departmental authorities had waited so long before clarifying the government’s position on the major issue of probable publc health impact of EMF radiations.
Addressing the gathering, Deepak referred to the vital role of mobile telephony and benefits of using it at individual, social and national level. “Whether India develops at a normal pace or leapfrogs to a position among most developed nations in coming decades, will inter-alia depend on how we embrace and harness wireless communication technologies. Telecom towers are critical installations on which the backbone of wireless communication rests and unfounded apprehensions about EMF emissions and mobile towers have the potential to affect our growth story. There is no scientific evidence of adverse health effect on humans of EMF radiations from a mobile tower which are below the prescribed and recommended safe limits. Department of Telecommunications has already prescribed stricter precautionary norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) which is ten times more stringent than the existing limits prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by WHO. Our EMF norms are much stricter than the norms followed by many developed nations, including the USA, UK and many European Union nations. The Government of India has also taken adequate steps to ensure that telecommunications service providers adhere strictly to the prescribed norms,” he said.
The DoT deputy director general Dr RM Chaturvedi informed that WHO has referred to about 25,000 global studies of the past 30 years, based on which an in-depth review of scientific literature has concluded that despite the feeling of some people that more research needs to be done, scientific knowledge in this area is now more extensive than for most chemicals. “Current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields. The EMF project established by WHO with involvement of over 50 national authorities and eight international organisations, has since 1996 been reviewing scientific information to provide scientifically sound and objective answers to public concerns about possible health hazards of low level electromagnetic fields. Despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health. Further, a committee, formed at the behest of the Allahabad High Court, comprising experts from five IITs, AIIMS (Delhi), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, lucknow has on the basis of scientific evidences, studies and reports available, ascertained that there is no conclusive evidence about the stated dangers of EMF radiation from mobile BTS tower,” he said.
Senior DDG of Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) unit Shivendra Bhatnagar explained the department’s EMF monitoring and enforcement mechanism. Any BTS site found violating the prescribed EMF norms will face action ranging from a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh per BTS per incidence to closing of BTS site in case of persistent violation, he said.
Further, Dr Suresh Attili from Grace Cancer Foundation and Dr TK Joshi, from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi stressed that scientific studies haven’t been able to conclude that EMF emissions from mobile towers poses public health hazard. Chief secretary Shatrughna Singh and MDDA vice chairman R Meenakshi Sundaram also spoke on the occasion.