Health impact of mobile phone tower: The considerable increase in mobile phone users in the country and accumulation of mobile tower establishments in every nook and corner has raised questions on its probable impact on wildlife and human health.
Health Impact
Electro-magnetic Radiations (EMR) are released by the cell phone towers. More the number of antennas, more the intensity of radiations in the nearby areas. The signal intensity is higher near the tower and it reduces as we move away. These electromagnetic power radiation affect birds and bees.
Birds have larger body-to-weight ratio in comparison to humans, so they absorb more radiations. Also the fluid content in the body of the bird is lesser, so it gets heated up very fast. Magnetic field from the tower disturbs bird’s navigation skills hence when birds are exposed to EMR, they disorient and begin to fly in wayward manner. Not only this, a large number of birds die each year from collisions with telecommunication masts.
How the cell phone tower’s radiations effect humans?
EMR may cause physical and physiological changes in human being due to the thermal effects generated from the absorption of microwave radiations. The exposure can lead to genetic defect and effects the reproduction process. It also affects the central nervous system of the body. EMR can also cause non-thermal effects which are caused by radiofrequency fields at levels too low to produce significant heating and are due to movement of calcium and other irons across the cell membrane. Such exposure is known to be responsible for fatigue nausea, irritability, headache, loss of appetite and other physiological disorders.
What should be done

• Administration should notify the impacts of communication towers for regulation the norms for notification of standards for safe-limit of EMR.
• Regular monitoring and auditing in urban localities, hospitals, industrial residential areas, and ecologically sensitive areas must be done.
• Departments and local administrative units must be assigned with the task of providing regular awareness among the people about the norms on cell phone towers and damages of EMR from them.
• Avoiding overlapping of high radiation fields, new towers should not be permitted within a radius of one kilometer of the existing tower.
• The location and frequencies of cell phone towers and other towers emitting EMR should be made available in public domain.
• GIS mapping of all cell phone towers to be maintained to monitor the population of birds and bees in and around the wildlife protected area and the mobile towers.
• Any study conducted on impact of EMF radiation on wildlife needs to be shared to facilitate appropriate policy formulations.

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