‘Cell tower radiation killing birds, bees’ MoEF Panel Wants It Classified As Pollutant

‘Cell tower radiation killing birds, bees’ MoEF Panel Wants It Classified As Pollutant

Himanshu Kaushik TNN

Ahmedabad: An environment and forests’ ministry study has blamed electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from communication towers for the declining numbers of sparrows and bees. The study titled ‘A possible impact of communication tower on wildlife birds and bees’ said the radiation decreases egg production in the bees. A 10-member expert panel headed by Bombay Natural History Society director Dr Asad Rahmani was asked to study the radiation impact after the issue was raised in the Lok Sabha in August last year. “We have suggested that EMR should be recognized as a pollutant given its effect on wildlife and should be audited regularly,” said the Wildlife Institute of India’s Dr B C Choudhary, who was part of the panel The experts noted a Punjab University study that said embryos of 50 eggs of house sparrows were damaged after being exposed to mobile tower radiation for five to 30 minutes.
Sparrows exposed to the radiation suffered from reproductive and coordination problems. They also became aggressive. In the case of honey bees, the group observed that high radiation resulted in an unusual phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder characterized by sudden disappearance of a hive’s inhabitants, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers behind. The vanished bees were never found. Also, the navigational skills of the bees were affected by high-tension lines. The panel also took note of a recent study that showed that the worker bees stopped coming to the hives after 10 days and egg production in queen bees dropped drastically to 100 eggs per day compared to 350 eggs when a mobile phone with frequency of 900 MHz was kept for 10 Minutes in the beehives. It recommended a law to protect urban flora and fauna from EMR and said no new towers should come up within 1km radius of the existing ones. “New towers should be more than 80 feet and less than 199 feet tall,’’ it said and recommended independent monitoring of the EMR levels.
“Forest department should be consulted before installing towers near protected areas and zoos.”
‘Cell tower radiation killing birds, bees’

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/APD26302/PrintArt.asp?SkinFolder=TOI&artType=A... 25/10/2011

Even as Navi Mumbai's municipal body conducts a drive against illegal cell phone towers, Mumbai continues to reel under the radiation risk

Half of city's mobile towers are unauthorised: NMMC

September 16, 2011

Half of city's mobile towers are unauthorised: NMMC

[DNA : Daily News & Analysis (India)]

(DNA : Daily News & Analysis (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nearly half of the
cellphone towers in Navi Mumbai are unauthorised, a report from the Navi Mumbai
Municipal Corporation's town planning department shows.
As per the details made available by the town planning department of Navi Mumbai
Municipal Corporation (NMMC), out of the 749 cellphone towers erected across the city,
350 of them are unauthorised. Vashi has the most illegal towers, while Digha has the least.
The department of telecommunication had in 2006 suggested that operators should not
install towers in residential areas. According to rules, companies are given the option of
installing towers in forest regions. The next best space is open space that is not close to
residential areas. When these two options are not feasible, towers should be installed in
open areas after getting the consent of people living in nearby residential properties.
Cellphone antennas should be erected beyond a periphery of 100 m from schools and
hospitals. Civic body officials said that before allowing a company to erect a tower on
some building, they make sure that the structure (building) has the capacity to accomodate
the tower. However, residents are doubtful whether these norms are being followed and
for them the rising number of unauthorised towers has become a big worry.
A Vashi resident said that the corporation must act swiftly to remove illegal towers. "Norms
are being defied everywhere. They need to see where norms are being defied," the
resident said. These towers are a huge health hazard for people living near them, which is
why the civic body must remove the unauthorised towers."Despite complaints from local
people, the NMMC has said it will take another two to three months to crack down on
unauthorised cell antennas. "We have distributed list of illegal towers to ward officials. The
towers could not be removed as our officials were busy with Ganeshotsav. I don't have
details pertaining to unauthorised towers right now, but the entire work will be completed
within two to three months," deputy municipal commissioner (encroachment), Aziz Sheikh
said.

navimumbai@dnaindia.netCredit:DNA Correspondent(c) 2011
@ 2011 DILIGENT MEDIA CORPORATION LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Health threat to mobile users: JNU study

Mobile tower radiations affect chromosomes, DNA: Expert

TRAI’s green telecom efforts not sufficient, say experts

TRAI’s green telecom efforts not sufficient, say experts
March 23, 2011 07:11 PM |
Moneylife Digital Team


The telecom industry is receiving incentives and subsidies as part of
the efforts to reduce the carbon footprint, but it is not doing enough in
the major areas
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last month published a
consultation paper on "Green Telecommunications" addressing various
aspects like carbon footprints for the telecommunications industry. But,
industry experts are questioning the incentives and subsidies provided to
the sector to push the green agenda.
Professor Girish Kumar, of IIT Bombay, who has been undertaking research
on the harmful effects of electro-magnetic radiation (EMR), asks: "Why does
industry want incentives for green telecom? Is it not our duty as Indians to
not pollute our own country? Should we not care for our people and
environment?"
The paper says there are 3.1 lakh towers and about 60% of the power
requirement is met through diesel generators and the rest is fulfilled by
power from the grid. But Mr Kumar insists that there are more than 4.5 lakh
towers in the country as of 2011 and that due to shortage of power nearly
59% of the requirement is met through diesel generators and this causes
pollution.
He also pointed out that telecom operators enjoy unnecessary subsidy on
diesel. He explained that telecom operators get Rs7 per litre subsidy on
diesel. Since their consumption of diesel is 2 billion litres every year, they
get a subsidy of Rs1,400 crore per year.
Mr Kumar suggested that the numbers of diesel generators can be reduced
if power requirement is curbed by optimising telecom systems. The
transmitted power from cell towers must be reduced from 100W to 2W,
which will also help to control radiation.
Mr Kumar said, "The government should adopt immediate policy measure to
reduce the transmitted power to a maximum 1W to 2W, so the energy
requirement will be substantially reduced. Due to low energy requirement,
there will be no need for cooling of the high-power amplifier, and thereby airconditioning
would also not be required in most of the cases and then this
reduced power requirement can be provided through solar or other
renewable energy."
Mr Kumar also raised the issue of the operators' demand for self-regulation
of the industry. Telecom operators present for the discussion on the
consultation paper had said that the government should try to regulate
everything and operators must be allowed to self-certify that they are
meeting all norms.
Mr Kumar said operators should not be allowed self-certification and that the
government should introduce stringent policies and third-party monitoring of
radiation levels and air pollution levels near cell towers. "Heavy penalties
should be slapped in case of any violation as it is directly related to the
health of people, birds, animals and the environment," he said.

Activist Jehangir Gai, said, "There should be an independent and competent
third party regulation." Mr Gai explained, "Assuming that the telecom
companies say that there are no health hazards, then of course there are
some. Even if there is no conclusive study proving the health hazards due to
cell towers, necessary precautions should be taken. It is always better to be
on the safer side."
Moneylife has reported on the health hazards arising out of cells towers and
the negligence on the part of the government to look into the issue. (Read
'Cell towers violate health and safety norms' , and 'DoT group proposes low
radiation levels for cell towers' )
Mr Kumar said it is not enough for service providers to move indoor base
transceiver stations (BTS) to outdoor BTS, switch off a few transmitters, and
to adopt an automatic frequency plan and air cooling instead of airconditioner
to reduce carbon footprint.
He also recommended that telecom service operators emphasise on
research and development to develop solutions, and that the government
should come up with rules for 90% of telecom-related products to be
manufactured in India, which would also help create millions of jobs in the
country. (Also read,'Industry does not want to spend on more cell towers
that will lower radiation'. )

http://moneylife.in/article/trais-green-telecom-efforts-not-sufficient-say-experts/15011... 20/10/2011