PIL against mobile towers atop buildings

Deccan Chronicle, Chennai 19.10.08

PIL against mobile towers atop buildings

Oct. 18: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras high court, seeking a direction to the mobile telecom operators to stop erection of towers on building immediately and to remove the existing ones also.
The PIL filed by ‘Traffic’ Ramasamy is likely to come up for hearing on October 20. Ramasamy also sought a direction to the Union government to frame rules, regulations and guidelines to erect cell phone towers only in vacant lands taking into account proper structural standards, World Health Organization (WHO) tower radiation specifications, exposure limit to human beings.
Ramasamy submitted that various mobile operators have erected a large number of towers all over the state. All such towers were more than 20 feet high and made of iron and steel erected on rooftops and on the top floors of both public and private buildings.
These towers were not erected to withstand the forces of nature such as strong winds, lightning, earthquake, floods and heavy rain. If these towers collapse it would certainly take hundreds of lives on the congested roads in cities like Chennai, where traffic is heavy, he contended.
These towers contain electrically designed metals or alloys made of nickel, copper and aluminium. Such structures emit electromagnetic/microwave radiations through the instruments fixed on these towers. These radiations pose serious health hazards, including brain tumours, leukemia, cancer, impotence, nerve problems and so on.

Cellphone Radiation Norms Soon

TOI, Patna 18.06.08

Cellphone radiation norms soon

India has decided to implement international norms to reduce the risk of using mobile phones. Gadget manufacturers will now be required to test their products to ensure they emit lesser radio frequency energy than what the body should absorb.
New Delhi: The government has decided to implement asset of international guidelines to reduce the risk of using mobile phones. Catching up with several developed and developing countries, India will adopt the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.
The guidelines lay down the maximum level of radiation that telecom equipment – mobile phones as well as base stations – should be allowed to emit without causing a public health risk.
The government plans to enforce a compulsory self-certification scheme to implement the guidelines. Mobile phone manufacturers will be required to test their products and keep them below notified specific absorption rate – the measure of the maximum rate at which radio frequency energy should be absorbed by the body when exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic field. It is measured in watts per kilogram.
Mobile operators who have towers all over the country will carry out similar self-certification for the base stations they put up.
The Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which looks after technical issues for the department of telecommunication (DOT), has been made in charge of setting up the mechanism as well as the regulations. It will be in-charge of monitoring and through random testing of products in the market, will ensure that the self-certification system is working.
"Exposure beyond a certain level to these frequencies can be a health hazard s we are going to use the precautionary principle to implement these guidelines," an official said.
While there is still no scientific consensus over risks from cellphone radiation, there are two types of risks that emerge from exposure to radio frequencies – thermal (of body temperatures rising) and non-thermal impacts.