5 Aug : No specific study has been conducted on the ill effects of mobile towers installed in residential areas of NCR. However, a committee, setup under the Director General, Indian council of Medical Research (ICMR) to study the effects of radiations from mobile phone towers and related aspects, concluded that “overall there is not enough evidence to show direct health hazards of Radio Frequency exposure from mobile Base Stations”. Various studies have also been conducted by World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Fact Sheet No. 304 of May 2006 of WHO states that “Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.”
Further, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued instructions to all the Access Service Providers to conform to the limits of radiation as prescribed by ICNIRP from time to time. Latest detailed instructions have been issued vide DoT letter no. 800-15/2010-VAS dated 8.4.2010, which inter-alia states that :
All Base Station Transceivers (BTSs) should be self certified as meeting the radiation norms. Self certification is to be submitted to respective Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) Cells of DoT by 15.11.2010.
All new BTS sites should start radiating only after self certificate has been submitted to relevant TERM Cells.
The TERM Cell will test upto 10 per cent of new BTS sites randomly at its discretion. Additionally, BTS sites against which there are public complaints shall also be tested by TERM Cell.
If a site fails to meet the Electro Magnetic Radiation criterion, a penalty of Rs.5 lakh shall be levied per BTS per service provider. Service providers must meet the criterion within one month of the report of TERM Cell in such cases, after which site will be shut down.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Shri Sachin Pilot in Rajya Sabha today.