Courtesy - Daily Mirror By Prof. Rohan Samarajiva
Recently, a student at Sabaragamuwa University died. All reports mentioned that he had gone to the upper floor of a residence hall to make a call on his mobile. He had been electrocuted by an adjacent high-voltage transmission line.
When asked for a comment on the contribution made by the mobile phone to the student’s death, my response, based on the facts presented, pointed to the surprising proximity of a residential building to high-voltage transmission lines as probable cause. My conclusion was later confirmed by the Minister of Power and Energy who stated that the building was an illegal construction.
Why was I, a telecom expert and a former regulator, called upon for comment? It was because of the perception that the mobile could be the cause of death.
Read moreFear of the new
In 2010 Sri Lanka claimed 16.3 million active SIMs for a population of 20 million. Quite an advance on the 430,000 connections that existed just ten years ago and the 2,600 in 1992. It is common to call the man who plucks coconuts on his mobile; sometimes he answers from atop a tree. Soon, he will be paid for his services using the mobile.
The scale of the transformation has, unsurprisingly, led to anxiety about the new technology. That anxiety has taken the form of concern about health effects of electromagnetic radiation from antenna towers and from handsets.
When asked about radiation dangers, I routinely ask whether the concern extends to electricity transmission lines of the type that killed the university student. Both mobile towers and electricity transmission lines emit radiation. The former attract opposition while the latter do not. The physics is identical but the response is different. Is it that one is new and the other is familiar?
Health concerns. Something as natural as sunshine causes cancer. We should be concerned about carcinogenic agents in our environment. We should ask questions about all forms of electromagnetic radiation and take precautions. We should not build residential facilities too close to high-voltage transmission lines.
The World Health Organization has published careful assessments of scientific evidence on radiation from electrical transmission and from mobile network towers and handsets .
Recently the Indian government published a report on the health implications of electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers and handsets (Department of Telecommunications Report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on EMF Radiation.) The main conclusions do not differ materially from those of the WHO that, to date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use; that studies are ongoing to assess long-term effects of mobile use; and that there is increased risk of traffic injuries when drivers use mobile phones while driving.
Informed use
With regard to what has the highest potential for harm, the handset, the Report makes detailed recommendations anchored on setting standards for the rate of radiofrequency energy absorption per unit mass of the body known as Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).
It recommends the adoption of SAR level for mobile handsets limited to 1.6 Watt/Kg and that SAR value information be embossed and displayed on the handset, at the point of sale and on manufacturers’ websites. No handsets above the SAR limit should be manufactured or imported.
The booklet provided with handsets should contain safe-use instructions such as using a wireless hands- free system (headphone, headset) with a low power Bluetooth emitter to reduce radiation to the head; using the handset only when signal quality is good; and keeping the cell phone at least 30 cm away from an active medical implant.
The Report makes further recommendations on base stations, including the lowering by 1/10th the current Indian radio frequency exposure limits; provision of static testing centers for radiation level at prominent locations with the data being sent to a central server for compilation and dissemination. Government should create a national data base with the information of all the base stations and their emission levels. For future expansion of networks, it is recommended that low power micro cell transmitters with in-building solutions be used.
Most decisions in life are based on trade-offs. Sunshine gives me vitamin D and makes me happy, but it can also cause skin cancer. So I have to decide how much time to spend in the sun and whether and when to wear sunscreen.
In the same way, mobiles which give us enormous benefits in terms of being able to coordinate our activities, call for help, seek information and increasingly to even engage in transactions, may also pose potential threats to our health.
The scientific evidence does not establish a threat, but governments such as Indias have proposed actions based on the precautionary principle. As consumers, we must make trade-offs. We cannot both want the conveniences afforded by the mobile and not want the presence of base stations in our neighborhoods. The latter is the precondition for the former.
We have responsibility to buy safe handsets, even if they are a little more expensive than Chinese knockoffs. And to check the information in the pack and not rely entirely on government to address our health concerns. The radiation emitting device next to one’s ear (and therefore one’s brain) is potentially more dangerous than the radiation-emitting tower in the neighbor’s garden.
The government’s task is to equip us to make informed trade-offs, not to make the trade-offs on our behalf.
Prof Samarajiva is the former Telecommunications Regulator.
