Cell Phones Towers and their Impact on Our Health

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has just recently conducted a survey with the help of Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) in the major cities of Pakistan to examine the omission of power level from the transmitters and receivers of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) which are installed by cellular companies. The results has unveiled that power level of radio waves of all BTS towers under observation was significantly below the prescribed danger limits and is according to the policy directives and guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO), Ministry of IT & Telecom (MoITT) and International Commission on Non- Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Towers Likewise, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which is a part of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology India, has published a report just a couple of days ago which claims the same point like PTA and has stated that radiation emitted from cell towers in India are not harmful and are much lower than the recommendations of the International Commission. The is certainly the brighter side of the story and interestingly, such assertions are not only limited to Pakistan and India only, but literally all over the world, the cell tower operators and the stakeholders of the industry claim the same statements every now and then. But, unluckily, the other side of this story is a bit difficult to embrace. You might not be aware of the private researches regarding the cellular towers, but must have heard of the various studies that declared the radiations of Microwave ovens dangerous as they negatively impacts human health and are not particularly safe for the children and the people suffering from some kind of diseases. Unfortunately, the cell phone towers also emit the same type of radiations as that of the microwave ovens, though the intensity might be lesser but still they are slowly and gradually leaving a bad impact on health. On this issue, the web is crowded with information clearly claiming that the radiations emitted from the cell phones and cell phones towers are hazardous to health. Confirming the above statement, the Chairman of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Keith Black shared his point of view by saying: “What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones.” Apart from that, a member of Indian Thermal Analysis Society, Dr. Girish claims that the radiations emitted by the BTS towers cause serious biological effects like cancer, brain tumour, and dizziness while people living within 50-300 meter radius of cell phone towers are more exposed to the adverse effects of these radiations. He has also claimed that “Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50m of your home or workplace is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours.” Moreover, these towers are not only dangerous for human health but also pose a great threat to the plants, wildlife and especially birds and bees according to The Department of Interior charges, United States. Not onlly these towers but a cell phone itself is a menace for our health as said by The National Association for Children and Safe Technology (NACST), which carried out “The Interphone Study” and found that the regular use of mobile phone for about one and half hour per day over ten years increases 40% risk of gliomas (type of brain tumor) among the people. Precautionary Measures: In this situation, when we are engulfed with thousands and thousands of cell phones and cellular towers, we usually have no or fewer choice in the matter. But this does not mean that we should stop living near these towers. Rather some precautionary measures are required to be taken to ensure safety and reduce the effect of cell phones and cell towers. Firstly, you are required to determine how close the nearest cell phone tower is from your residence or office, if it is around 50-300 meter, its time for you to take the following measures. Cover the side of your home/office that faces the telecom towers with the aluminum sheet. Change the normal glasses of your windows with the reflective glass. Make sure to paint your house with elements containing aluminum or other metal though very few companies manufacture such paints. Request the telecom companies or PTA to reduce the power transmission from the tower installed near residential areas and especially schools and hospitals. Avoid using your cell phone in places where you get a poor signal as cell phones are constantly communicating with these towers, and weaker signals increase the amount of radiations. By taking these steps, you can minimize the effects of the radiations emitted from the cell towers. CONCLUSION: Cell phone towers have made the communications must faster and easier and Pakistan, being a developing country started to embrace this mobile revolution nearly a decade ago when cell phones and cell towers started to penetrate widely. But probably it will take further decade or so to make the people realize the slow but consistent hazards of this technology which has become an essential part of our daily routine. As a part of precaution, people should try to avoid calls from cell phone over 15 minutes and use texting as an alternative to talking. Most importantly, one should avoid handing over cell phone to the children as they absorb nearly ten times more radiation than the adults. Since this mode of communication has become a part of our contemporary culture, therefore it is easy to ignore the negative consequences that may have on our health. Therefore, the governments along with the cartels that are powerful enough, throw away the researches claiming that these towers are not dangerous to health in order to keep the masses dormant and probably many of us will not find time to consider the serious ramifications of putting up those cell phone towers until its too late.