Hello…anyone listening?
Be careful the next time you say hello in your mobile phone. You might be exposing
yourself to the risk of cancer or brain cell damage or Alzheimer’s disease. Studies
world over, especially in the US (where hardly any cell phone company is based), have
revealed that radiation from mobile phones and their towers might result in a number of
serious ail-ments. Henry Lai, an expert in non-ionis-ing radiation at the University of
Washington, USA, has disclosed that even low-level microwave radiation splits the
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mole-cules in the brain cells, which may lead to
Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
| Tower of menace |
| Mumbai civil court
orders dismantling of a radiation-emitting cell phone tower In an unprecedented move, a
Mumbai civil court in India recently ordered a cellular phone service provider to
dismantle one of its networking antennae operating in a residential apart-ment. It was
being feared that the tower was causing risk because of its radiations. In September 2001,
Bharti Cellular Limited, one of the industry’s top service providers, approached the
governing body of a 20-storeyed residential building located in Cuffe Parade, South Mumbai
with the proposal to install two-feet high single stick antennae on the roof of the
building. But in March 2002, it converted the building into a hub station for the entire
South Mumbai, without even informing the residents. Trouble arose when the informed people residing on the building’s top
floors realised that they were being continuously exposed to the radio frequency waves. On
October 18, 2003, an 11th floor resident filed a case in the Bombay city civil court
against Bharti and the society’s chairperson and secretary. He contended that the
radio frequency waves from the tower were affecting his as well as his family
members’ health.
Following the court order, Deepak Jolly,
director, corporate communications, Bharti, asserted: "Telecom is an essential
service and we follow the best safety standards. The demand for removing the tower from
the building is being made on a very flimsy ground (his allusion is to the health
aspect)." But the court stuck its ground and went ahead with its ruling. It is
laudable that the court gave primacy to the health issue in its judgement. It
categorically stated that the likelihood of health implications, based on scientific
evidence, was reason enough for the matter to be taken up. This significant judgement
comes at a time when there are no regulations in India to deal with such issues. Laws
under the Consumer
Protection Act do cover the quality of
such products, but do not offer protection against their health hazards. |
Conventionally, radiations are consid-ered damaging to
cells only if they are strong enough to disintegrate them. Cell phone manufacturers
maintain that radiations of their products are too weak to produce these effects (see Box:
Tower of menace). A sneak preview of a US study, conducted in 1999, on 469 people
with brain cancer and 422 con-trols, showed that cell phones can dou-ble the risk of a
type of brain tumour.
Surprisingly, when the study was even-tually published (The
Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 294), it denied any such link! The
companies can publicly pooh pooh the concerns, but some of their discreet activities do
betray their worry. For example, a 1998 Nokia patent for a shield layer states:
"…a continuous localised exposure to radio frequency irradiation has been
suggested to weaken myelin sheets of cells and to eventually lead to an impairment of
hearing capability … irra-diation may stimulate extra growth among supportive cells
in the nerve sys-tem, which in the worst case, it has been suggested, could (lead) to
devel-opment of malignant tumours..."
On the question whether radio frequency waves are really
harmful to health, the World Health Organization says it is difficult to draw a definite
conclusion at this stage. All established health impacts of radiation exposure are related
only to heating and are called the ‘thermal’ effect. The International
Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation, Munich, Germany, has laid down guidelines pertaining
to the safety of radio frequency waves, which set limits based on thermal radiation.
Gerald Hyland, researcher at Warwick University, the UK,
says that such guidelines afford no safety and protection against the non-thermal
radiation. He further states, "This non-ionising electromagnetic pollution of
technological origin is particularly insidious, in that it escapes detection by the
senses… Yet the nature of the pollution is such that there is literally nowhere to
hide."
Cell phone manufacturers can reduce exposure by tweaking
the handset design. But this means bigger handsets that might not find favour with
consumers. Till more conclusive evidence on the adverse health impacts of cells comes up,
the best way out would be to let the consumers make an informed choice. The mobile phone
packs ought to carry a warning: Using mobile might be injurious to health or Use at your
own risk!
A shot in the arm
On September 28, 2004, California became the second state, after Iowa, in the US to ban
the use of mercury — a known neurotoxin — in vaccines. The law stating that
children below the age of three and expectant mothers would not be given vaccines
containing mercury will come into effect from July 2, 2006. Earlier in May 2004, the state
of Iowa had approved a similar bill. Generally, all vaccines contain compound thimerosal
that is added to increase their shelf life and check the growth of virus and bacteria.
This compound is about 40 per cent mercury by weight and has been used as a vaccine
preservative since the 1930s. Vaccines containing this chemical have been implicated in
the onset of autism — a brain disorder that begins during childhood and affects
developmental skills related to communication and creativity. Between 1987 and 1998, there
has been a 273 per cent increase in the incidence of autism in California alone. In a
study conducted by Columbia University, USA, in June 2004, mice injected with the chemical
showed autism-like behaviour.
 In 1999, in the
wake of concerns on the possible toxicity to children, the US Center for Disease Control
and Prevention had recommended that vaccine makers stop using thimerosal. But this
suggestion was largely ignored, as vaccines without mercury are twice as expensive as
those without it. In developing countries, the vaccines containing mercury still continue
to cripple children. In India, for instance, there has been no effort to ban mercury in
vaccines. "The situation here is worse than in the US, as the level of thimerosal in
the multi-dose vials being sold by multinationalcompanies in India is 10 times more than
what is allowed in the West," says a Delhi-based paediatrician. This is alarming,
considering that India is a mercury hot spot and adverse fallouts of the careless dumping
of this toxin are quite common.
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