No. Birds cannot die due to mobile tower radiation. Period. There is not any evidence that birds are dying due to mobile tower radiation and there’s no need for any evidence because it is simply not true.
Visible Light frequency is perhaps 1000 times more than the mobile tower radiation, and so is energy. But birds do live under the sun. Even tube lights, bulbs and led lamps in our home are more harmful than the mobile tower radiation.

However, there are some adverse impacts on birds due to mobile tower radiation and there has been done research on it. For example, it is proven fact that migratory birds are misguided due to such mobile tower radiation, and it can be drastic affect.

So, there is not direct effect of EMR on birds that causes death but indirectly due to some other effects their population decreases by increasing mobile tower radiation. For example, insects like fly and others who are source of food for birds don’t reside near base stations, not even in summer. So, obviously this place is not suitable for them. So, naturally such areas are not habitual fir them and so they don’t live there. But, the point is EMR don’t cause death for birds directly.

EDIT:

So, As Mentioned - you may not die but there ARE LOTS OF SIDE EFFECTS OF RADIATION WE ARE LIVING IN INDIA.

Watch for detailed Analysis by Professor at IIT Bombay:

Mobile tower has two type of antennas, one is used for communicating with mobiles which is of bar shaped and other is for communication between two towers which is of round shape.

The one which is used to communicate with mobile dosent harm its just myth.

But the one which is used for tower to tower communications is a high frequency microwave antenna. Microwave means not that powerful as our kitchen microwave but >10~20ghz

These microwaves operate at line of sight which these antennas radiation happens above 30mtrz and goes beyond 100mtrs from ground level and these radiation happens with a width of some mtrs called frenel zone above 30mtr

These radiation is harmful but not that harmful that it kills bees and birds

For not all birds but It may cause irritation to some bird spicies because of the high frequency

Eleanor R. Adair conducted microwave health research by exposing herself, animals and humans to microwave levels that made them feel warm or even start to sweat and feel quite uncomfortable. She found no adverse health effects other than heat.

As a telecom engineer I have seen birds laying nests on telecom towers like crows, pigeons, eagles

If it is that harmful they would never lay nests on towers.

Hope this makes a sense to believe that radiation not harmful

If we care about birds and other spicies. The only thing we should concern about is we should maintain greenery balance. Plant more trees. Build lakes.

Find more about microwaves at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave

Birds are known to be sensitive to magnetic radiation. Increasing number of cell phone towers in cities apparently are bringing down bird population. The microwaves (300 MHz to 300 GHz) emitted by cell phone towers and handsets has been found to be responsible for damaging eggs and embryos of sparrows.

yes. They emit radio and microwave radiation.
You must understand that, in this context, “radiation” refers to all electromagnetic radiation, which basically means “light” , or photons,in all frequencies.
Another common definition of “radiation” refers to “ionizing radiation”, which specifically means “energetic particles produced by nuclear reaction”. This is the radiation people mean when they say “Stay away from Chernobyl because of the radiation”. This refers to highly energetic particles produced by nuclear reactions, which can damage living cells.
Sorry, that’s the best I can do without a society that can provide basic science at the preschool level.

Thanks for the A2A, Phani. The simple straight forward answer to your question is that electromagnetic radiation has little or nothing to do with the disappearance of birds that everyone is talking about. Unfortunately, it does seem as if there are fewer birds now than there once were. Once upon a time to look up at the sky in any big city, like Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad or Lucknow was like looking at the Epiphany. The skies would be filled with birds of every description from huge vultures followed by the kites and the eagles and then all of the smaller birds right down to crows and sparrows. The funny thing about this scenario was that this eclectic collection of birds was not still. They would be continually dropping towards the earth and then rising back again on the thermals so that it looked like a ladder with all of these birds travelling up and down in the sky. Hence my earlier reference to the Epiphany. I was quite young then, in School , just back from staying abroad. I remember how strongly I was touched by the likeness, one could almost imagine that they were angels and not birds that were up there in the sky, reinforced perhaps by the huge wing span of many of the birds.

On a more macabre note, the parsi community can no longer put their dead in the Tower of Silence because there are not enough vultures remaining. One of the main reasons for this sudden decline in the number of birds is the proliferation of drugs that increase the yield of milk in cows, such as diclofenac, which apparently , once it gets into the food chain has the side effect of thinning the egg shells so that birds can’t procreate. Although, this is just a theory, it has been substantiated by studies and definitely does apply to the big carrion birds like vultures.

Cell phone towers transmit two signals. One is a microwave line of sight to communicate to the central office. The other is the cell transmitter which talks to all of the phones nearby (about 2 miles or less).

The microwave signal is highly directional with little leakage off the main lobe so it is going to be safe being at the lower area of the tower. Don’t remain directly in front of the dish.

The cell transmitter is usually limited in power - 10-60 watts - compared to FM broadcast antennas of 100 kilowatts. It is also sent in a toroidal pattern which means that the signal directly underneath will be quite weaker than off to the side.

Finally, it is very similar to the cell transmitter in your cell phone which is about 1-2 watts. As the effect of radiation decreases with the square of distance, a 100 W cell transmitter 100 feet away is almost nothing compared to using the cell phone of 1 W transmit power 2 inches away from your head.

The 1 W cell phone 2 inches away from your head will dose you with 3600 times the electric field of the 100 W antenna 100 feet away. Even as much as 10 times less if you take the radiation pattern of the cell tower into account.

If you are worried about cell phone radiation affecting your health the more prudent thing would be to live under the cell tower but don't use your phone.

Using your phone for 1 minute a day will expose you to more cumulative volt-seconds of electric field than the cell tower 24/7.

No.
It has never been demonstrated that there is any harmful effect from low power RF.

Another way to look at it is:
MRI machines are considered safe for an unlimited amount of use/exposure. In an MRI machine you are exposed to magnetic fields of up to 7 teslas, and literally hundreds of watts of RF. If you scale this to what a cell phone tower exposes you to if you were on top of the tower in direct contact with the antenna cover, you would need about 317 to amount to one minute in an MRI machine. (This number is calculated by using a number of very rough estimates and assumptions about the type of antenna involved and the number of transmitters connected to it, but I am sure you get the point.) Another point is that with your head against the plastic cover of a cellular antenna at a cell tower, the energy density is LOWER than the exposure you receive from using a cell phone, as with a cell phone you are much closer to the radiator (antenna), and the antenna is much smaller, so the power is concentrated in a much tighter area.

Yet another way to look at it is:
All of the energy is accounted for. We (scientists in the field) know EXACTLY how RF works. If the frequency is too low to cause ionization, and the power too low to cause enough ohmic heating, and the voltage is too low to exceed the action potential, there is no electrolysis. This accounts for 100% of the emissions. This literally means that there is zero power unaccounted for that can do anything. Another way of saying the same thing is *IF* there was some unknown way that the radiation from a cell phone could do something to you, there is no power that could be contributed to doing so, because everything else is accounted for.

The cell phone tower emits and receives in the same frequency band as your phone. Why? Because it is communicating with your phone.

Since you likely put your phone up to your ear or leave it in your pocket near your heart or private parts, my first concern would be whether my brain, heart, or reproductive organs were at risk.

Evidently not. After 25 years of consumer cellphone use, no significant organ disease has been associated with the phones.

One thing that could happen is that if bird eggs were placed right in the antenna pattern and close enough (no more than a few inches) the fertilized eggs could absorb enough radiowaves to get warmer than the environment, and this could trigger some unusual development of the eggs. It would be caused by heat.

Is mobile tower radiation really harmful for birds and human beings?

Mobile tower radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by the antennas installed on mobile phone towers. This radiation can have various effects on living organisms, especially birds and human beings, who are exposed to it for long periods of time. Some of the effects are:

- Physical and physiological changes: Mobile tower radiation can cause changes in the body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, brain activity, and hormone levels of humans and birds. These changes can lead to stress, fatigue, insomnia, headache, memory loss, reduced immunity, and increased risk of cancer .

- Damage to plants and trees: Mobile tower radiation can affect the growth, development, and reproduction of plants and trees. It can reduce the germination, biomass, root length, and seedling vigor of some plants. It can also increase the enzyme activity and nodule formation of some plants. It can cause damage to the leaves, branches, and bark of some trees .

- Impact on bird behavior and population: Mobile tower radiation can interfere with the navigation, communication, foraging, and alertness of birds. It can also affect their egg-hatching and breeding success. It can reduce the diversity and abundance of bird species in areas with high radiation levels. It can increase the mortality rate of birds due to collisions with towers or predators .

Therefore, mobile tower radiation is indeed harmful for birds and human beings, as well as other living things in the environment. It is important to monitor and regulate the exposure levels of this radiation to protect the health and welfare of all living beings.

“Do bird eggs get deformed because of cell phone tower radiation?”

No. Cell phone tower “radiation” is just radio waves. FM was more powerful back when it was screaming rock music through the air.

There is MUCH more radiation from the Sun.

Do any research you like. In particular, you might want to compare the case rates and the death rates from cancer to the proliferation of cellphones in the last twenty years. You will see that the cancer rate remains pretty much flat and the amount of cell phone usage has gone up a hundredfold. A total lack of correlation is a total lack of causation in my book.

Cell phone “radiation” simply isn’t harmful. Period. You get WAY more EM radiation from your microwave, your TV, your computer, the Sun, and the power lines overhead, and all of that is also pretty much harmless.

Mobile phones have been in use for over 40 years and before that we have been bathed in much radio and TV transmissions, as well as solar energy and heat from the Earth. This is all the same type of energy and causes heating to the body it is absorbed into. Solar wavelengths include ionising radiation in the UV band and this has been linked to cancer as these higher energy rays can break apart the chemical bonds in our DNA. Frequencies below this have not been linked to cancer unless extremely high power for long term exposure, basically slowly cooking the subject (usually a rat or other lab animal) where it cannot cool off or the entire body is exposed. Our brains and muscles will create more heat that a mobile phone signal, and provided we can cool off it isn’t a problem, most people do not experience any noticeable heating from using a phone, although sometimes your ear might get hot use it, it is just because its normally used to be in free air, you can get the same effect wearing ear defenders for working in noisey environments. A person can easily generate 100W of heat just by being alive, a mobile phone emits less than 3W normally, and its a spherical pattern, so the 3W is spread out in all directions.

This is an EU document which gives an overview and references a number of studies.

If radio frequency transmissions caused ill health it would be easy to demonstrate it by comparing the population of cancers to the field strength say for TV transmitters, some of which transmit MWs of power. There has been no link ever found.

These studies have been used for a precautionary principle to create a limit to the amount of energy absorbtion and resulting temperature rise we should receive from RF transmitters like mobile phones. Every new model of phone or other transmitter that comes on the market is tested for this limit.

Absolutely. If they didn’t they wouldn’t work. Radio waves are a form of radiation.

In fact the device you’re reading this on is giving off radiation. (assuming you’re not using an auditory device for a screen reader).

The fact is, radiation comes in a number of forms, some are dangerous, some aren’t. For example, visual light (what you need to read this screen) is basically harmless. But fairly close to this frequency band is Ultraviolet radiation which can give you sunburns and possibly skin cancer.

A certain range of microwave radiation frequencies will heat up things containing water, but are non-ionizing. So standing in front of one will literally warm you up (and if long enough and powerful enough cook you) but won’t cause cancer.

On the other hand, the banana you eat, does give off beta radiation, which can be dangerous. Fortunately, you probably need to eat and handle pounds of it every day for years before it’s a real issue.

Hi Ishaan, when you say “amount of radiation” what are you looking to measure? Are you looking to measure the amount of energy per unit time (J/Hr) or something else?

Cell phone towers emit in the same portion of the EM spectrum as radio and television waves, which have been around for 100 years and have not been shown to affect people. These types of radiation are “non-ionizing”, and extremely low energy emissions so they are not really harmful to humans, unlike high energy EM portions like the UV/X-Ray/Gamma ray portion of the spectrum.

In the US, our Food and Drug Administration has issued the following guidelines for safe distances to cell towers. The "Minimum Safe Distance" from a mobile phone base antenna is described by the Food and Drug Administration/FCC as follows: "To be exposed to levels at or near the FCC limits for cellular or PCS frequencies an individual would essentially have to remain in the main transmitted radio signal (at the height of the antenna) and within a few feet from the antenna . . . . In addition, for sector-type antennas RF levels to the side and in back are insignificant." Note that the quote about safe distances applies to the actual radiating antenna, not to the tower (or building or structure) the antenna is on. For a mobile phone base station antenna mounted on a tower that is 5+ meters high (about 15 feet), there should be no areas that will come anywhere close to the RF radiation safety guidelines, so the concept of a "minimum safe distance" doesn't really apply to generally occupied areas.

So unless you are basically sitting on top of an antenna in a tower, you are in little danger. The only real hazard is from the power of the transmissions, which is actually more dangerous in radio/TV waves. The main danger there is “EMF heating”.

Nevertheless, in the US you should be able to get information about the cell tower operations, including energy emitted, by requesting it from the company. I am not sure how easy this is to find in other parts of the world.

Best regards,

Sean

Don't worry about it! The power levels you might be exposed to are less by factors of >>millions<< from any power level that could be damaging to you. Practically speaking, the only radiation that you are ordinarily exposed to that could be damaging is >>sunlight<<, and that might have a power density of about 1 kilowatt per square meter at noon at the equator.

Just throwing out numbers, the cell tower transmitter may transmit a power level of 100 watts, and the distance of the antenna is, say 50 meters, so even if the radiation were equal in all directions, the power density at your distance (using 1/(4*pi*r^2)) would be about 3 milliwatts per square meter.

Factoring in antenna directivity (the telephone company wants to beam all that energy to the distant horizon, and not waste it on you), your actual power density experience might be less by another factor of 1000, or 3 microwatts per square meter. That is almost a >>billion<< times weaker than sunlight!

Another consideration is that cell phone tower radiation is at a relatively low frequency (500 to 5000 MHz ball park). At these frequencies, the bundles (or quanta) of energy in which the radiation is packaged are, in energy per bundle, far, far below what might be chemically ionizing, the >>only<< effect being one of heating by an (almost) immeasurably small amount.

In contrast, sunlight at noon in the tropics has energy at shorter wavelengths where each quantum of energy (think of drops of rain as a metaphor) has an amount of energy that is in the ball park of biochemical reaction energies, thus being capable of biochemical effects, both positive (plant growth) and negative (sun burn) that we all experience.

In May 2011, World Health Organization classified ElectroMagnetic Radiation as Possibly Carcinogenic (Cancer Causing). This puts ElectroMagnetic Radiation at a same level of Carcinogenicity with Engine Exhaust, Welding fumes, Carbon Soot, Chloroform and more. There is an increasing array of evidence that is being brought forth to support the adverse health impact of ElectroMagnetic radiation on humans. This includes health risks such as Brain Tumours, Headaches, Chronic Fatigue and Insomnia, Dizziness and Anxiety, DNA damage, Cognitive Impairment in children, Cancer including Breast and Skin, Parkinsons and Alzheimers, Infertility and decreased sperm count and more.

The future risks from electromagnetic radiation are so enormous that it is now considered as the 4 form of pollution – after Air, Water and Soil pollution (each with a different economic and health effect consequence). Electromagnetic pollution may be the most significant form of pollution human activity has produced this century, even more dangerous because it is invisible and insensible.

I haven’t found anything in particular in the supplied link — it’s a large and sprawling site. In your comment on another reply, you mentioned OSHA signs on cell towers, which I’m afraid I’ve never seen, since I’m Canadian and don’t travel very much. (Is it possible for you to send me an image or a link?)

There have been no properly documented health effects caused by radio frequency (RF) radiation up to the teraHertz gap, other than from heating effects. I don’t know anything about health effects of teraHertz frequencies, which is why I make that point. Since they’re well below ionizing radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum, I doubt there’d be any major problems, but I don’t have any information to work with.

Being exposed to very powerful RF signals can be dangerous, simply from heating. I’ve read of people being severely burned from being too close to high-powered radar antennas. Cell towers operate at low power levels, typically around 10 watts ERP (Effective Radiated Power). That number indicates the effects of antenna design on the ability of a receiver to pick up a useful signal; the actual amount of power radiated is usually about 10% to 20% of the ERP figure. This amount of power isn’t a problem, as you can see from from the FCC’s page Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Fields: Guidelines for Cellular Antenna Sites.

There have been poorly documented accounts of chronic health problems among workers at Russian (actually, Soviet era) high-voltage electrical switchyards. Some researchers have attributed those health problems to the high voltage transformers (up to a million volts in some switchyards), but most of the material I’ve read suggests that the transformer oils used then were more likely culprit. PCB-based transformer oils were the most commonly used then, and those turned out to be nastier than we imagined.

I really can’t speculate on why there’d be OSHA warnings on cell towers, other than the usual warnings about falls and falling debris. It could be that they’re being over-cautious, and considering that we’re in a litigious age, I suppose I can see how that might happen. After all, we still see “turn off your cell phone” signs at gas stations, and that is total rubbish.

The only thing I can imagine causing problems for roosting birds might be from eating or nesting on some of the sealants and insulating materials. That’s all I can think of, at any rate.

Thanks for the A2A, Ali.

The issue isn’t about “radiation.” You want to look out for “ionizing radiation.” The difference is distinct enough to be warranted. Bluetooth, Wifi, and Cellular signals are all within the microwave or radio-wave band, which means they are non-ionizing, so they cannot damage you in the scale of the devices provided. You aren’t strapping a Microwave Oven to a weaponized laser to your head, so the mobile phones aren’t going to heat up your head to the point where things become concerning.

What you need to watch out for is X-rays and Gammas. Those are forms of EM radiation that are also ionizing radiation.

We are safe from mobile radiation because it does not strip electrons from atoms, which is the mechanism of damage seen in ionizing radiation. It cannot give you cancer, not by any known method.

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I believe The wavelength of Mobile radiation is in Radio waves spectrum which is wider enough which is incapable to penetrate even molecules then how it will make cell damages.narrow the band , more damage in cell level occurs so we use gamma rays for cancer treatments.

“What can we do to avoid the harmful effects of mobile tower radiation if it is next to our house?”

Nothing, because there are NONE. That kind of radiation is non-ionizing, thus does no cell damage. They are just plain radio waves.

I’m a long-time amateur radio operator. In my house I have equipment that puts out thousands and thousands of times more powerful radiation than ANY cell tower. I use hand-held portable radios every day, that are hundreds of times more powerful than any cell phone. Many hams are very old, and have been doing this for DECADES, so we have ABSOLUTE PROOF that these things cause NO damage and do NOT increase your chance of cancer.

Add to that, the fact that my last career was as a Radio Broadcast Engineer, where I worked around equipment that put out power THOUSANDS of times more powerful than what I have in my house. And you know what? WE don’t get sick, either. The only injury I ever had at a transmitter site was when I tripped on my own feet, and gashed my head on the corner of a wall. It took a lot of stitches and staples. I was working on a 50,000 watt transmitter, at the time, next to two others in the same building.

More proof? Taxi drivers, ambulance drivers, police and firemen ALL operate radios in their vehicles that are MUCH more powerful than any cell tower.

The only people who are worried are members of Greenpeace and their ilk, but they get sick just by breathing.

One final word. If I had to make a choice about what type of power plant I HAD to live near, it would be in the shadow of a nuclear power plant, because politicians have made those areas institute excessively strong evacuation capabilities, which means I’m safer from earthquakes and other natural disasters, which are MUCH more likely to happen than a nuclear disaster. I’m more likely to get struck by lightning on a cloudless day!

Is mobile phone tower radiation a health hazard?

Does radiation from cellphone towers cause cancer? Is the impact higher in children, who have smaller and thinner skulls? HT reports. Slow roast

Updated: Jul 16, 2012 00:10 IST

By HT Correspondents, Hindustan Times

Does radiation from cellphone towers cause cancer?

Yes, said the Kasliwals, two of who have been diagnosed with brain cancer after three towers were installed next to their upscale C-scheme neighbourhood in Jaipur.

Since then, illnesses, both minor and major, have become a part of their lives and the lives of the 50 other families in their neighbourhood.

“Last year, both my younger brother Pramod and I were diagnosed with brain cancer. Pramod is critical,” said Sanjay Kasliwal, who belongs to a family of prominent jewellers in Jaipur. The Kasliwals have no family history of cancer.

Experts agreed. “Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50m of your home or workplace is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours,” said Prof. Girish Kumar, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on cell tower radiation to the department of telecommunications in December 2010.

“Following that, in January 2011, a report by an inter-ministerial committee made recommendations to reduce the exposure to 450 mw/sq m. It has not been implemented yet,” said Kumar.

Cancer happens in extreme cases, with almost everyone living close to mobile towers reporting disorders such as sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, joint pains, among others.

“Even with cellphone use, benign swelling in the brain and head, hearing disorders, headaches and anxiety neurosis are well established,” said Dr Sameer Kaul, cancer surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi.

The impact is higher in children, who have smaller and thinner skulls.

The industry, predictably, is in denial. "We have extensive factual, scientific research and papers to show that there is no conclusive evidence that EMF, at the levels prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (an international commission for radiation protection) causes any risk to the health and well -being of individuals," said Rajan S. Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India, an apex body of telecom operators.

People who have developed health problems are not buying that. "If towers are so safe, why bother to have laws and limits at all," said AK Anand, who is unsuccessfully trying to get cellphone towers moved from his Vikas Puri H block neighbourhood for five years.

Towering trouble

Are the radio-frequency waves emitted from cellphone towers killing us slowly? Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50-metres is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours, say experts, and carries the same cancer risk as living surrounded by lead, DDT, chloroform and petrol exhaust.

The Kasliwals and fifty other families in the upscale C-scheme neighbourhood in Jaipur live under the shadow of death. Seven people in the neighbourhood have been diagnosed with cancer since cellphone towers were installed here in 2003. Since then, illnesses, both minor and major, have become a part of their lives.

Two of the three Kasliwal brothers were recently diagnosed with cancer. "First, our dog died of cancer. Last year, both my younger brother and I were diagnosed with brain cancer. It was only when the doctor asked whether we were exposed to some kind of radiation that it occurred to us that the cell-phone towers next to our home were to blame," said Sanjay Kasliwal, who is a part of a large joint-family living in C-scheme.

After treatment at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in the US, Pramod Kasliwal has been admitted to Medanta Medicity at Gurgaon. He is critical. "These towers were put up illegally and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has no records for granting any permission for installation of cell phone towers," says Kasliwal.

Killer waves
The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says radiation from cellphone handsets and towers is "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and may cause glioma, a type of brain cancer. Towers are more dangerous than handsets because they emit greater-intensity radiation 24X7.

"The area of concern is base-stations and their antennas, which provide the link to and from cellphones. This is because, in contrast to handsets, it (RF) is emitted continuously and is more powerful at close quarters...," said an inter-ministerial committee of experts on electromagnetic radiation exposure from cellphone towers in 2009.

Despite that, the response from government is predictable. "There is no scientific study to prove that anyone has got any health problem due to telecom towers in India. The WHO has prescribed norms on emission of radiation by Telecom Towers. Our norms are much below the WHO norms," said R Chandrasekhar, secretary, department of telecommunications (DoT). "The government has set up a committee under the department of science and technology to look into the issues. The matter is continuously under review."

But the norms adopted in India in 2009 are already outdated, say experts. "In 2009, India adopted the radiation norms specified by ICNIRP, which are now outdated as they were only intended to protect people against short-term gross heating effects and not against ‘biological’ effects such as cancers and genetic damage from long-term exposure," says Dr Girish Kumar, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on Cell Tower Radiation to the secretary, DoT, in December 2010.

"Also, these safety standards are based on 6 minutes/day exposure, without accounting for people who live close to cell towers 24x7. The norms allow EMF of 4,500 mw/sq2," he adds.

Following the Girish Kumar report, the Inter-Ministerial Committee January 2011 report made recommendations to reduce the exposure to 450 mw/m2. "However, even that hasn’t been implemented yet," laments Kumar.

By the end of 2010, India had 5.4 lakh cell phone towers, of which Delhi alone has 5, 364, including legal and illegal ones.

Sickened nation
The problem is not unique to Jaipur. Sushila Shah, 57, housewife and Wadala resident in Mumbai, was surprised when told one of the possible reasons for her cancer was just 50 feet away. There are some 20 cell towers on the terrace of very next building to where she stays. She called in experts to measure radiation levels in their home and found the terrace was in the danger zone with very high radiation, while the bedroom, kitchen and hall were in the caution zone. "Every day, we are faced with a new problem: severe headaches, body ache, fatigue, skin rashes and unbearable itchiness. Towers have been there for three years, they are a menace to society," she says.

In west Delhi's Vikas Puri H-block, the Anands claim even birds avoid their neighbourhood after tower was installed in their locality seven years ago. "All the five towers have been put up in and around the neighbourhood without ‘no-objection, certificates being sought from the residents," says AK Anand, who plans to move court to get them removed.

"It is not legal to install cellular towers in residential areas without taking formal consent. People can complain at the MCD’s office of their zone," said Mahender Nagpal, leader of the house, north Delhi Municipal Corporation. But complaining to the MCD has not worked for the Anands, who are now planning to move court with some of their neighbours.

Searching for a solution
Like them, the Kasliwals approached several regulators and service providers, but nothing happened. "There is no rule in JMC specifically to regulate mobile towers. We tried to make the bylaws for the mobile towers and sent them for approval of the state government, but due to some legal tangle, we still haven’t got permission. Now the state government will reply in court and further instruct to JMC," says Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal. Tired of the civic authorities and the regulators passing the buck, the Kasliwals filed a writ petition to remove the towers.

Shifting towers is not a solution, as they invariably end up somewhere around for cell phone connectivity. "Instead of removing towers and passing on the problem to other people, the transmitted power must be reduced," says Kumar.

- Himanshu Vyas with Rhythma Kaul and Manoj Gairola in New Delhi, and Sanjana Bhalerao in Mumbai.

Expert speak: Dr Girish Kumar

'Reduce the power or remove the tower'

Disrupted sleep, headaches, dizziness, altered reflexes, depression, fatigue, joint pains, heart disorders, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson, DNA damage and cancers are just some of the health hazards of exposure to cell tower radiation, says Professor Girish Kumar, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on Cell Tower Radiation to the Department of Telecommunications, in December 2010.

Are towers destroying our health, with or without phone usage?

Yes, of course. After 20 minutes of using cell phones, you feel a warm sensation near the ear. This is because the temperature of the earlobes increases by one degree Celsius. A maximum of 6 minutes of cell phone usage is recommended during the day since a cell phone transmits 1 to 2 watts of power, which are very high and dangerous.

In the US, users are told this, but in India, there are no such warnings despite the fact that we adopted radiation norms specified by ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) guidelines of 1998.

Do studies prove that exposure to EMF has a direct health impact?
The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s INTERPHONE study in 2000 done over 10 years in 13 countries showed that heavy cellphone users (1 to 2 hours a day) have a risk of glioma (brain or spine tumour). This risk is 55% for those using it over 10 years. They found 5,117 brain tumour cases in the study.

Several studies done in various countries — such as Germany, Austria, Brazil, Israel, etc — have reported increase in cancer cases in 5 to 10 years, where radiation level was more than 1 mW/m2.

Cancer is the last stage and before that, people living close to mobile phone towers have reported sleep disturbances, headaches, memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, joint pains, vision distortion, miscarriage, heart problems, etc.

In India too, there are many complaints of such health problems among people who are heavy cell phone users and stay near cell towers. Cell phone users start with feeling dizzy and even develop ear problems. This was acknowledged by the Government of India in its Jan 2011 Inter-Ministerial Committee report.

What are the norms for cellphone radiation in India and what is the ideal level of exposure?
Till 2009, India had no standards. India adopted the radiation norms specified by ICNIRP in 2009, which are now outdated as they were only intended to protect people against short-term gross heating effects and not 'biological' effects such as cancers and genetic damage from long-term exposure.

Also, these safety standards are based on 6 minutes per day exposure, without accounting for people who live close to cell towers 24/7. The norms allow EMF of 4,500 mw/m2.

In 2010, I submitted a report to the government on the health hazards from cell towers and how to curb them. In January 2011, the report by Inter-ministerial Committee mentioned several health hazards at levels thousand to ten thousand times below the ICNIRP standards and made recommendations to reduce exposure to 1/10th to 450 mw/m2. Even that has not been implemented yet.

How can exposure be reduced?
At first, I would recommend that the amplification of power in the cell towers be reduced by removing the power amplifier or by reducing the gain of the antenna. By reducing the power, coverage area will be reduced, which can be taken care of by using more cell towers or repeaters or in-building solutions. The height of towers should be increased. All towers in close proximity to schools and hospitals should be checked and removed, if too close.

Where do towers shifted from celebrity neighbourhoods — as in Juhi Chawla's case — go?
They may have shifted these towers to nearby place for cell phone connectivity, so the radiation from these high-power transmitting towers will now be affecting other people. That is why I have always recommended that instead of removing towers and passing on the problem, the transmitted power must be reduced. Reduce the power or remove the tower.

- Sayli Udas Mankikar

Technology is fine, but stringent measures needed

Usha Suradkar, 65

Radiation-shielding machine, shielding films on window, radiation blocking curtains and wallpapers are an essential part of life for the

Suradkar family whose house in Dadar has 12 cell towers on their terrace. "If you have towers in your vicinity, these precautionary measures are a must," says Suradkar, who was diagnosed with brain tumour . The family got two cellphone towers outside their kitchen and bedroom removed after persistent badgering of the cellphone tower company. "We later found out that the issues like severe headache, continuous cough and itchiness that my wife was facing was possibly due to the radiation from towers," says Sudhakar Suradkar, a retired Inspector General of police (IGP).

"These cell also causes structural damage to building. I urge all to not just get lured by the money paid by these companies," he says. Her husband adds: "I am not against technology advancement, but stringent measures should be taken to tap these companies."
— Sanjana Bhalerao

Complaints to authorities have not helped so far
Uma Devi Luthra, 70
The residents of north Delhi’s Model Town-II have unsuccessfully requested the Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD) to get two cellphone towers moved out of their neighbourhood for four years, installed eight years back. After writing several complaint letters to the Delhi Police, MCD and other government departments, the Luthras, and neighbours, are now planning to move Court.

"My daughter-in-law complained of nausea and frequent headaches, my son and grandson felt irritable all the time and my immunity began going down," said Luthra. "After receiving my complaint, police commissioner YK Dadwal, called and said they would take action, but nothing’s been done," she says.
—Rhythma Kaul

I stopped opening my windows for fresh air

Javlika Shah, 58

When cell phone companies placed transmitters outside her bedroom windows eight years ago, little did Shah, a resident of Girgaum

in south Mumbai, know that she would face the consequences years later. "My headaches are not something ordinary. The nerves are strained and it is unbearably painful," she says. She’s also become an insomniac, and gets up in the morning feeling tired and uneasy.

According to the radiation test undertaken in her house, all the rooms have high level of radiation. She says, "I stopped opening my windows for fresh air. The report shows that these areas have highest level of radiation."

"The cell phone towers were put up in most residential buildings for better network. Without knowing the consequences, most society committees agreed to it. "I cannot afford to put up these window films or wallpapers. They are too expensive. I want these towers to be removed for my safety and that of the others around," says frustrated Shah.
—Sanjana Bhalerao

Headaches and insomnia plague Peddar Road
Smita Agarwal , 43
Many residents of Peddar Road suspect there is connection between the increasing number of cancer cases and other health problems and the cluster of cellphone towers put up on residential buildings. Agarwal is one of the victims, staying on the top floor of Maheshwari Niketan. She recently got a doctor’s certificate stating that cause of her health problems are radiations. Her children also complain of headache and sleeplessness.

Peddar Road has already reported two deaths because of cancer developed by radiation. The lane has educational institutions, a well known hospital and several residential towers and bungalow. At present, Maheshwari Niketan has around 18-20 transmitters on their terrace and there are expected to be few more in the coming years. A few months back, the residents of Peddar Road marched to demand the removal of the cluster of towers from their terrace.

"I don’t know how to protect myself and my family. Only proper rules and regulations set up by the civic body can make a difference," says a worried Agarwal. "I don’t want people killed for few lakh," she adds.
— Vaishnavi Vasudevan

Source: Is mobile phone tower radiation a health hazard?

Edit 1: This is to show that a controversial thing is there to “mobile tower radiation isn't a health hazard”. Personally, I don't know which is right answer. If you have any objection, attack on the source.

Yes they are, but not in the way you are thinking.
Cellular towers when getting the signal from the phone need to pass it along to the control centre and this can be done ether by cable in the ground or by a high density microwave beam. When you take a look at the cellular towers, most probably you could see a drum like white or grey boxes.
Those are directional microwave antennas, that are aimed at another such antenna on a nearby tower. They are very powerful since they need to transmit the entire tower traffic thru them, and they do that by having direct microwave beam blasting to another target antenna.
Those antennas are very warm, so in cold climates birds like to sit and even nest next to those antennas, most of the reclamations we had on those were because a bird actually broke thru the housing and made a nest inside the antenna itself. But those things are basically a microwave oven set at 300watt, which is not enough to cook the bird instantly, but sure is enough to kill it over time.

Does mobile tower radiation affect humans?

In the case of cell towers, the answer is no. First of all, it’s non-ionizing radiation — just radio signals. Second, it’s so weak by the time it gets to your cellphone that even if it were ionizing radiation, it wouldn’t be strong enough to do damage.

In the case of cellphones, there has never been conclusive evidence that they cause cancer or brain tumors. There have been studies that have had slight indications one way or the other; but this amounts to 50–50 results. Given the fact that cellphones are ubiquitous, if there was a problem, it surely would be slam-dunk obvious by now. This has been an urban legend that has led to several studies over the past two decades or more. There are no consistent results. This isn’t something as infrequent as getting struck by lightning, if anything has happened at all.

legitimate proof? no.

With thousands upon thousands of engineers and technicians working on all kinds of much, much higher power transmitters day in and day out since the beginning of radio somewhere around one hundred years ago, there has been no indications of any kind of detrimental health effects.

Some poorly designed studies claimed to show something, but the flaws in them were easily spotted. One study even showed that male rats that had high levels of cell type RF sent into their cages, actually lived longer.

People are going crazy spreading all kinds of nonsense by claiming uncertainty where there is none at all after, as I say, around 100 years for something to show up.

Q: Is there any legitimate proof and/or evidence of non-ionizing radiation (from cell towers and antennae) being harmful to living organisms? If so, could you please provide such sources and documentation?

Eggs may get deformed due to a number of issues, particularly when the hen does not have sufficient calcium.

Cell phone radiation is being blamed for human brain cancers - which appears to have been increasing over recent years. However, the cell phone companies have been very active in trying to refute this.

I am not convinced by their arguments - to my mind they are producing science to justify a particular result.

And to my mind, the jury is still out when considering whether high frequency radiation causes or contributes to brain cancers in some people, but not all people.

Back to eggs. If your hen has been properly nourished since being hatched, you ought not get deformed eggs.

If there is an occasional egg, there is probably no reason to worry. But if most eggs are deformed then it is time to seek the advice of an avian vet.

If you are asking because you live near a cell phone tower, I would seriously consider selling up and moving to a different location. The towers are disastrous for property values - and this would be my first consideration.

You put a lot of money into a home and if you can’t benefit well from rising property values then - as a former metropolitan newspaper real estate editor - I would advise you to invest your money into a different location.