Download: Study Says Cellphone Towers Damaging Biological Makeup Of Birds, Bees

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Oct 27, 2011

PUNE: The rapid growth of the cellphone industry in India has fuelled haphazard building of base stations without prior planning or regulation, which is impacting the birds and bees biologically, an experts’ committee has found. The panel has formulated guidelines to check their installation in the country.

Nearly 800 million Indians have cellphones, making it the second largest cellphone-subscriber population in the world after China. A 13-member committee was set up by the union ministry of environment and forests in August 2010 to assess the possible impacts of growth of these base stations on wildlife. The members included scientist BC Choudhary of the Wildlife Institute of India, Sainudeen Pattazhy associate professor in S N College, Kerala and Asad Rahmani, director of Bombay Natural History Society. Rahmani was the chairman of the committee. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Study-says-cellphone-towers-damaging-biological-makeup-of-birds-bees/articleshow/10507246.cms

The other experts included PA Azeez, director of Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, HS Jamadagni of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, PK Panigrahi of the department of telecommunications, Naresh Kapalia and Parikshit Gautam from World Wildlife Fund, RK Patney of the department of electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology(New Delhi) and Prakriti Srivastava, director general, wildlife, MoEF.

Recent studies indicate the harmful impact of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from transmission towers on humans and bees, with birds exposed to a greater risk, the report said. Such radiation also resulted in aversive behaviour in bats and sparrows, abnormal behaviour in tits and kestrel birds and reproductive failure in white storks.

“Well-designed long-term impact assessment studies would be required to monitor the impact of ever-increasing intensities of electro magnetic radiation on our biological environment,” Rahmani said .

At present, restrictions on the placement of communication towers are related to human habitation and impact on human health is looked at. However, no cumulative study is carried out on the impact of flora and fauna, Choudhary told TOI. “The committee has suggested restrictions of cellphone towers, particularly in wildlife-rich areas where there are more threatened species,” he said.

The committee recommended that EMF be recognised as a pollutant and regular auditing be conducted in urban localities, educational, hospital, industrial, residential and recreational premises and around the protected areas and ecologically sensitive areas. A law, the experts suggested, that protects urban flora and fauna from such radiation is necessary as conservation issues in urban areas are different from forested or wildlife habitats.

It also sought bold signs and messages on the dangers of cellphone towers and radiation be displayed in and around the structures where the base stations are erected. The panel also recommended the locations of cellphone and other EMF radiating towers along with their frequencies be available on public domain to help monitor the population of birds and bees.

Public consultation should be mandatory before installation of cellphones towers in any area and the forest department should be consulted before installation of cellphone towers near protected areas and zoos, the panel suggested. New towers should not be permitted within a radius of one km of existing towers and if built they must rise above 80 ft and not exceed 199 ft to avoid the requirement for aviation safety lighting.

There must be strict control over installation of cellphone towers near wildlife protected areas, Important Bird Areas, Ramsar sites, turtle breeding areas, bee colonies, zoos. Security lighting for on-ground facilities should be minimized and point downwards or be down-shielded to avoid bird hits, the study said.

Studies in India show that the population of house sparrows was disappearing from areas with high electromagnetic waves arising out of increased number of cellphones in Nagpur, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwaliar, Chhindwara, Indore and Betul. The report, quoting a study by the Centre for Environment and Vocational Studies of Punjab University, said when 50 eggs of the house sparrow were exposed to EMR for durations between five and 30 minutes, all the embryos were found damaged.

The government must formulate rules to prevent unscientific proliferation of cellphone towers across the country, Pattazhy said. In India, studies conducted by him proved that cellphones with a frequency of 900 MHz for 10 minutes kept in the beehives keep worker bees away. “There is a drastic decrease in the egg production of the queen bees. It fell to 100 eggs a day compared to 350 eggs per day in the control colonies,” he said.

The report also said that since electro magnetic fields are an invisible form of pollution there must be an independent system for monitoring such pollution which causes a population decline in sparrows and bees.

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