Electro magnetic field radiation from mobile phone towers are not hazardous , opines TRAI experts

The radiation emitted from electro-magnetic fields of mobile towers do not appear to have adverse health effect neither on adults, nor on children and in India, emission levels are kept at 1/10th of the global standards recommended by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and  recognized by WHO.

Further, the new EMF penalty norms that has been set by the Department of Telecom (DoT) as on Nov 2013 levies a penalty of Rs 10 lakhs per tower site per telecom service provider if they fail to comply with the set standards.

This was stated at an interactive session on Effects on EMF Radiation on Human Health organized by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), here on Monday.

Suresh Kumar Gupta, Principal Advisor, TRAI, stated that TRAI and DoT has implemented stringent emission norms that ensure no adverse effects on human health from mobile tower emissions.

He also stated that TRAI has recommended merger of acquisitions and spectrum sharing to provide quality service to the continuously expanding figures of almost one billion mobile subscribers in the country. This is because the need for more and more towers and quality infrastructure is increasing exponentially in the present age of high demand for data and mobile internet service.   

Agneshwar Sen, Advisor ( B & CS), TRAI,  gave a presentation on the subject and emphasized on the fact that dearth of adequate number of mobile towers was one of the reasons for deteoriating quality of mobile services in the country.

He further stated, a number of judgments delivered by High Courts at Gujarat, Kerala, Allahabad, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh has ruled that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that EMF radiation emitted from mobile towers have adverse effects on health. Thus, they cannot potentially harm humans.

Supriyo Dutta and Atanu Ghosh of DoT’s TERM (Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring) Cell clarified that TERM Cell is mandated to test the level of EMF radiations of 10 % of the total number of Base Stations and Roof top towers per year.

In West Bengal Circle, such a violation was observed only at Prakesh Nagar in Siliguri which was rectified by increasing the height of tower. 

A number of state government officials, city municipal bodies, resident welfare associations, NGOs, consumer fora, builders, academicians and telecom service providers also participated in the interactive session on effects of EMF Radiation.