While the multiple uses of radiation in various fields including healthcare, communications technology, energy etc is a boon, lack of adequate knowledge in handling it can prove disastrous.

The idea of effectively using this tool while exercising necessary caution was deliberated during a panel discussion held in Mumbai on Thursday. Titled ‘Radiations: Myths and Realities’ the discussion drew participation from various institutions including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.          

Prakash Munshi, member, Indians for safe environment, who helped in removing 13 towers atop Sahayadri State Guest House and prevented the setting-up of a mobile tower near the residence of the Reserve Bank of India governor on Carmichael Road said that the government has adopted international commission for non-ionising regulation protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.

Munshi pointed that in September 2012, the government reduced the original ICNIRP norms to 10 percent. “Why the norm of 4500 mw per square metre (unit of power density) was brought down to 450”, he questioned.

He further said, “This guideline was meant for only six minutes per day but adopted for the entire 24 hours of the day.  If 95 percent of reading was below 450 there is no sanctity of norms. ICNIRP is not a bible on radiation norms.”

Munshi said that instead of reducing the level to 10 percent, the government should have reduced the actual radiation level. He also highlighted the fact that it is not the towers, but antennae that bring radiation and there is a serious need to reduce their number (one antenna emits 20 watts of power).  
According to the revised guidelines of the telecom department that became effective beginning this month, no building of similar height can be constructed within 50 meters of an antenna.

Referring to the interphone study, professor Girish Kumar of the department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, said that the report that came out in 2010 has reveals that 5,117 brain tumour cases have been reported amongst heavy mobile users (those who used mobile phones for half an hour on a daily basis for 8-10 years). It was based on this report that the world health organisation (WHO) classified mobile phones as carcinogen class 2b.

“Many reports available on internet have said that ICNIRP’s funding  has been coming from telecom operators and power vendors. Its guidelines meant for 6 minutes per day have been adopted by the government for 24 hours of the day. Later, the government decided to adopt the one hour per day emission guidelines but applied them for 24 hours,” he said.

The professor also highlighted the fact that health problems have been reported even when radiation exposure was up to 1 mw per square meter over a period of 5-7 years. He further said that the bio initiative report has mentioned a number of health hazards including headache, sleep disorders, lack of concentration, infertility, memory loss, cardio vascular problems and cancers that can be caused due to over-exposure to radiation. In addition, radiations also affect birds, animals and the overall environment.

Dr Anand Gokani, consulting physician and dialectologist, Bombay Hospital said that ionising radiation that emits atomic energy is known to break the bonds between tissues and is used for focussed purposes like treating cancers. He strictly warned against giving mobile phones to children below the age of 12 as ossification of bones is not complete. “In adults, continuous use of mobile phones can produce a bell-like sound in the ears which is the first sign of auditory nerve sickness and these cases have been on the rise. There has been a reported rise in the number of women in the age group of 16-30 years suffering from polycystic ovarian disease which causes infertility. This is because they generally keep mobile phones in their hip pockets which are situated merely three inches from the ovaries,” he said.

While activists called for more stringent regulations on mobile phone transmissions, Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, former chairman, atomic energy commission said that the pros of nuclear radiation often outweigh the cons. “Radiation can cure an ailing cancer patient but the problem lies in over-exposure,” he said.