Press Release

PRESS RELEASE   - MEDIA CONFERRENCEJANUARY 28, 2014

VENUE BMC ANNEXE – FIRST FLOOR  : 1500 HRS

·       THANK YOU

-         VinodShelar for inviting me to the Media conference hosted by him.

-         BMC Corporators and Councillors of the BJP Shiv Sena combine for pushing the implementation of the Citizen friendly Mobile Tower Antennae Installation Policy finalised on September 11, 2013.

The New Policy will save the Mumbaikars from Health Hazards due EMF Radiation from Mobile Tower Antennae installed many times in Clusters at hand shake distances.

-         The Media : Print and Electronic for their unstinted support

For this social cause.

-         Last but not the least the Citizen Groups :Mumbaikars and from all over Maharashtra and other States for their support.

·         HEALTH

-         Health is the Fundamental Right of every Citizen of India and the BMC has done all in its might to ensure this Right is protected within the framework of Norms and Guidelines issued by Department of Telecommunications, and finalised a Policy to reduce radiation levels in Mumbai and thereby reduce the exponential increase in Health problems faced by Mumbaikars.

-         The Central Government Norms and Guidelines are an eyewash and dictated upon by the strong lobby of the Cellular Operators.

WE do NOT NEED such Public Relations which is harming the cause with inaccurate , incomplete information. We also will not tolerate being treated like a FOOTBALL by

Centre , State and Bureaucrats of DoT.  Hathike do daanthotehain ,ekdikhane k eek khaneke.

CITIZEN GROUPS  ,corporators and media cannot be fooled by bringing in retired WHO personnel who are consultants to Industry and have no authority to talk on behalf of WHO.

Take IMA Mumbai West one of the hundreds of IMA associated bodies to the main IMA at Delhi.  Juhiji ,SmitaAgarwal and myself met the IMA Mumbai West President Dr. S. K . Joshi and  Dr.Parthiv Patel , Secretary and questioned their opinions expressed at the Press Conferrence.  They mentioned that they sais there was no sufficient evidence to prove or disprove linkage of health hazards , cancer to Mobile Towers . They had not said :

“ Mobile Towers not a Cancer Risk “ or Cell Tower Radiation not harmful .” Were these figments of imagination of the Media Reporters ?( Letters written to them are available with us if required )

We have also followed it up with a Letter and meeting with the National President Elect 2013-14 of Indian Medical Association  Dr.Jitendra Patel and expressed our concern of the image of IMA being tarnished by such motivated outcries  by small associated bodies . He has promised to take corrective actions.

Dr.Vijayalaksmi – experiments in USA not based on ground realities in India and third world countries.

We have international  instances of PAID NEWS and FUNDED RESEARCH to  get media to propagate  industry friendly opinions. But there are honest researchers like Prof. Ross Adey and Dr. Henry Lai of USA who have stood by their research results even though  Prof. Adey’sResearch funding  withdrawn and Dr.Lai was approached three times to change findings to suit the Industry.

·         ELECTRO MAGNETIC  FIELD  RADIATION

Electro Magnetic Field Radiation is akin to milder Nuclear Radiation  but 24 x 7 at handshake distance is DEFINITELY dangerous to Human Health.

1.    EMF Radiation upper limits reduced to 10% of original ICNIRP* norms without any scientific basis.( Who is ICNIRP ? ) The Government  did not reduce the Power Output nor increase Distances of Antennae from neighbouring buildings.

The Minister ( C& IT ) said on September 1, 2012 that the Government has taken steps to reduce Radiation levels to 10% of existing levels. The Radiation levels continue even today to be at same levels as existing prior to September 1, 2012.

The Government reduced the Norms – Upper Limits which in any case were very veryhigh : 95% of the Antennae were below the revised upper limits so where was the sanctity in reduction ? An Eyewash !!

2.    Norms of Number Of Antennae and Safe Distances of September 1, 2012 were tweaked and the Stakeholders of Wealth - the Operators influenced the DoT to amend the original to make these redundant  when being implemented which was not the intention when introduced.

Here again these were fixed without any scientific basis. The then DoT Secretary is on record saying that he did not know the basis nor did his staff advise the basis. It was done on an ad hoc basis. Are the Citizens of India to be at the mercy of adhocism by the bureaucrats . Are our lives so cheap ? Why do the Multinational Operators not try this in developed countries.

 So this was Another Eye wash !

Citizens staying at 7 meters away from 5 Antennae  were informed that since the EMF readings which were high ( 186 mW/ sq meter ) according to many International Authorities but were below the Indian upper limit norm of 450 mW/ sq meter these Antennae will not be removed .

Why don’t the executives of Operators stay at these radiation levels and with 7 meters away from 5 Antennae?

3.    Citizen Groups say the Government should not compare the Norms but the Actual Levels of Radiation and Technology being used in other Developed countries.

Even when India was at 4500 milliwatts / square meter actuals were much below 450 milliwatts per square meter .

4.    Recent Developments

FRANCE : ( Le Point.fr 15 October 2013 at 0629 )

Now here are some very recent  news from France:  ( Jan 23, 2014 )

French Assembly adopted a law text that prohibits wifi in schools for children under

6 years and publicity for I-pads to children younger than 14.

     INDIAN CITIZENS ALSO WANT THAT GOVERNMENT REDUCE

          THE RADIATION LEVELS TO ONE MILLIWATT PER SQUARE

          METER AS IS BEING INSISTED ALL OVER THE WORLD.

          REDUCE COMBINED POWER OUTPUT OF ANTENNAE PER SITE

          TO 2 WATTS ( EXPERIMENTS OF DR.VIJAYALAKSHMI )

          INDIAN CITIZENS SHOULD NOT BE A SCAPEGOAT OF

          MULTINATIONALS DUMPING OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY ,

          AND STACK WAY PROFITS AS IS INDICATIVE OF RECENTLY

PUBLISHED THIRD QUARTER RESULTS.

AMERICA :

American Academy of Environment Medicine  has written to

 FCC Federal Communications Commission  , Washington on

August 30, 2013 – to base guidelinesof RF exposure on

measurements of non- thermal effects and lower the RF

exposure to  protect the health of the public .

American Academy of Environment Medicine  also mentions :    

“ By the mid 1990’s, it became clear that patients were

adversely affected by electro magnetic fields and becoming

more electrically sensitive.

            In the last five years with the advent of wireless devices,

there has  been a massive increase in radio frequency

exposure from wireless devices as  well as reports of

hypersensitivity and diseases related to electromagnetic field

and RF exposure .

Multiple studies correlate RF exposure with diseases such as

cancer, neurological disease , reproduction disorders ,immune

dysfunction,and electromagnetic hypersensitivity.“

EUROPE  -  Brussels, October 3 ,2013

          Representatives of citizen groups from  Seven countries of the

 European Union met in Brussels  today to lay the groundwork

for future popular initiative to help European modify

parameters on electromagnetic radiation. These organizations ,

fromSpain , France , Belgium , Sweden, Italy , the Netherlands

and Portugal, argue, based on scientific reports  that waves

released by various mobile devices are harmful to  health.

In addition , the groups warn of the risks of spread of diseases

related to exposure to electromagnetic fields and demand

recognition of electrohypersensitivity as a biological disease .

Belgium bans use of Mobile Phones for children below age of 7

years.

The Government should adopt the Precautionary Principle as adopted in Europe. They should reveal the highest readings of EMF Radiation levels ( also how many such readings found out of how many measured – sample size ) . They were to reduce the Radiation Levels to 10% of then existing Radiation Levels not ICNIRP NORMS .

Some of the salient points of the  Citizen friendly BMC Policy are :

1.    Only One Tower per Site.

2.    Maximum of Two Antennae per Tower

3.    At least 70%  of individual members/tenants/occupants of the

Building/ Apartments/ condominium/co-operative Housing

Societies  to give consent  before installing of Antennae or renewing of the

contract/Agreement.

4.    N.O.C. (No objection certificate) within three months of the announcement of the “Revised policy " and every year in writing is MANDATORY from the Top Floor Occupants/ Tenants / Residents to install the Mobire Tower Antennae on the Terrace of the Building.

5.    There will be ban on installation of Mobile Tower Antennae on top of and within 100 meters  of Educational lnstitutionsNurseries, Schools and colleges), Hospitals, the towers will not be allowed on children correction homes (Balsudhargriha), Vrudhashram and hostels / orphanage buildings for children.

The Operators will have to meet these conditions besides others within 3 months  of the Policy being passed.

NO MONITORING

What is the use of Regulations if there is no Monitoring ?

How will the Government monitor more than 5 lakh Mobile Towers and many more Antennae Radiation ?

The only way is by having Stricter Norms as suggested by BMC and reducing Radiation by Reducing Power Transmission to 10% of present level , Reducing number of Towers Antennae per site, ( please refer France – Le Point.fr ) and reduce Health Hazards by increasing distances between Antennae and Citizens irrespective of Radiation levels being within Indian Norms which by themselves are questionable and tailor made for Operators by DoT.